Douglas Conservation Commission Approves Depot Street Retaining Wall Amendment, Continues Woodland Road Wetland Crossing

DOUGLAS -- December 15, 2025, Douglas Conservation Commission continued a long-stalled subdivision wetland crossing application to February while approving an amended retaining wall order and clearing the way for geotechnical borings tied to a mill pond removal study. The three-member quorum, Chair Mark Mungem, Kate Rowland, and Mike Grocco, voted unanimously on all items at the December 15 meeting. Deer Crossing Development's notice of intent for a 1,300-linear-foot Woodland Road extension, which requires a bottomless three-sided box culvert over an intermittent stream, was continued to February 2 pending state DEP comments and a commission site walk; conservation staff raised questions about whether the proposed 2,090 square feet of wetland replication meets the town's one-to-one-and-a-half bylaw standard versus the 2,797.5 square feet required. The commission approved an amendment to the 59 Depot Street town retaining wall project expanding a riprap apron by 136 square feet in riverfront area and adding two steel road plates after an emergency certificate expired November 19. Blackstone Watershed Collaborative received a negative determination with conditions for four geotechnical borings at 26 North Street, each roughly one square foot, in support of the Douglas Mill Pond and Old Mill Pond removal project.