Amphibians to keep their vernal pools
The ancient oak tree that since 1794 has marked the boundary between Boxborough and Harvard may now be allowed to fade away, instead of being cut down to accommodate a driveway at the intersection of Stow and Codman Hill roads.
A series of Conservation Commission and Planning Board hearings over several years accrued a lengthy record of input from wildlife biologists, arborists, and fire, road, and safety officials. The evidence, read at a hearing Oct. 6 by Planning Board member Mary Essary, caused the board to deny the pending special permit requests, effectively killing the project in its current shape.
The driveway would have served a single house that Vincent Palmieri of Fox Realty Trust wanted to build on a steep, 6.5-acre lot that was already home to several large vernal pools and at least one threatened species of wildlife. Even if the tree were not cut down to improve sight lines, as had been suggested by public safety officials, the driveway’s pavement would have smothered the tree’s last set of unpaved roots.
Garden clubs and historical commissions from both Harvard and Boxborough had spoken up for the tree, with the Garden Club of Harvard offering detailed instructions for preserving the tree’s health and the Boxborough Historical Commission showing up at a Harvard hearing to plead for the tree. At that time, the commission asked Harvard’s Planning Board, “What can we do to save the tree?” In the end, the house and driveway plan died a death of a thousand cuts.
Speaking before the Planning Board’s Oct. 6 decision, but apparently anticipating that decision, Palmieri said, “I am putting the land up for sale and I am just going to walk away and forget I ever heard of Harvard. It is a sad and costly day.”
Palmieri said it had once been his dream to build a family compound at the site.
Abutter Robert Douglas, a wildlife biologist by profession, bought his house lot from Palmieri when Fox Realty subdivided the lot about eight years ago. He has followed the case from the start and commented, “It is fair to say that from the beginning it was apparent that the site had very serious problems with wetlands, animals protected under the Mass Endangered Species Act, the health of a historic tree, public safety access, and a driveway entering into what is an already dangerous corner.”
