Billerica Conservation Commission orders peer review of WL French wetland delineation

BILLERICA — August 11, 2025 — Billerica's Conservation Commission ordered a third-party peer review of a sharply disputed wetland delineation at WL French Excavating Corporation's 14 Sterling Road headquarters and ruled a Federal Street stormwater basin a jurisdictional wetland at its August 11 meeting. Acting Chair Joanne Giannino and members Diane DiCicco and John Nelson said the new boundary proposed by WL French's consultants — CEC's Kyle Hampton and Barry Van Wouwen, along with Jarrett Everton of WL French — diverged so substantially from a line the commission accepted in 2016 and verified in 2018 that they could not approve it, with DiCicco saying, "I can't ever remember a project coming back this fast with a site that they claim is — that we've lost significant wetlands." The French hearing was continued to October 14, 2025, with peer review costs to be borne by the applicant. On Federal Street, the commission voted unanimously to issue a positive determination finding the basin, constructed between 1983 and 1986, had become an isolated vegetated wetland subject to both state law and the Billerica Wetlands Bylaw, over the applicant's argument that its pre-1996 construction date shielded it from jurisdiction. The board also closed wetland hearings for 10 Shawsheen Road and 189 Pawn Street, certified a DPW emergency culvert replacement near 424 School Street, and accepted the withdrawal of a resource area delineation application for Linnell Circle.