Weymouth commission defers Jackson Square redevelopment over disputed FEMA flood maps

WEYMOUTH — November 15, 2022 — Weymouth's Conservation Commission continued a contested 22-unit Jackson Square mixed-use redevelopment and opened a public hearing on a five-year Whitman's Pond vegetation management plan at its November 15 meeting. The commission voted unanimously to defer action on 1441 Commercial Street — a proposal to replace an existing gas station with a mixed-use building containing 22 residential units and roughly 1,600 square feet of commercial space — until December 13, citing an unresolved FEMA flood map revision and a missing DEP file number; applicant's engineer Sean Hardy of Hardy and Mann Design Group noted the applicant faces pressure from a building moratorium petition with a November 18 permit deadline and a Town Council hearing set for December 5. The commission did approve unanimous orders of conditions for a $3.5 million MassWorks-funded concrete sidewalk along Libby Parkway, with Fox Rock Properties covering any cost overruns, and for Back River maintenance dredging covering approximately 1.6 acres and up to 11,100 cubic yards — the first such dredge since 1998. Herring Warden Phil Hoffman urged the commission to reject proposed herbicide treatments at Whitman's Pond, telling members the pond "is second to none as far as spawning on the East Coast" and citing a steep post-treatment herring decline he attributed to chemical application at Pembroke's Old Ham and Furnace ponds.