Shutesbury Conservation Commission clears two projects, backs land acquisition bid

Conservation Commission · Meeting of February 12, 2026

Shutesbury Conservation Commission unanimously approved two negative determinations and authorized a $94,000 Community Preservation Act application at its February 12 meeting. The commission cleared the state Department of Conservation and Recreation's "Project Shade" plan for Lake Wyola State Park, which would add accessible paths, shade pavilions, and roughly 400 square feet of new impervious surface within the wetland buffer zone, with construction targeted for September. It also approved a Negative Determination Number Three for Massachusetts Electric Company's reconductoring of approximately 36 distribution poles along Pratt Corner Road, adding conditions that the applicant consult the highway department about a nearby culvert and leave the stump of a removed streambank red maple at least two inches above grade to encourage regrowth.

Chair Beth Wilson noted of the park project, "the drainage will really help and make it just a space that can be more used." The commission also voted to authorize Wilson and Commissioner Scott Kahn to review four bids for a CPA-funded Southbrook trail improvement project, and voted unanimously to submit the $94,000 CPA application — covering an assessed $82,000 land value plus survey and due-diligence costs — to acquire a nine-plus-acre parcel adjacent to Southbrook Conservation Area, with a potential two-acre Habitat for Humanity lot carved from it.

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Source: the Conservation Commission meeting of February 12, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.