Scituate Conservation Commission Closes Contested Turner Road Coastal Dune Hearing

SCITUATE -- March 16, 2026, Scituate Conservation Commission closes contentious Turner Road dune hearing after three rounds of peer review. The commission voted 5-0 on March 16 to end the public hearing on a proposal by Frank Snow to raze and replace a flood-damaged home at 164 Turner Road on a coastal dune within the Sandhills salt marsh system, directing Conservation Agent Jen Smith to draft an order of conditions incorporating up to ten special conditions recommended by peer reviewer Devon Taber of Lucas Environmental. Residents Joanne Wyckoff and Stephen Shepherd argued the commission still lacked a surveyed salt marsh boundary and key engineering data; Wyckoff disclosed a $50,000 Sandhills water-monitoring study is now going to bid. Attorney Jeff DeLisi countered that the project meets all six coastal dune performance standards under 310 CMR 10.24 and represents an improvement over the current scoured, concrete-block-foundation condition. In a separate enforcement matter, the commission tabled action against the owner of 42 Crescent Avenue after learning a conditioned 300-square-foot patio had been built to 493 square feet, with commissioners calling the overage "blatantly done" and rejecting a proposed mitigation package as insufficient.