Bellingham Conservation Commission approves $6,500 peer review for contested Blackstone Street project

BELLINGHAM — January 28, 2026 — Bellingham Conservation Commission unanimously approved a revised $6,500 peer review scope for the contentious Blackstone Street road extension project at its January 28 meeting. Chairman Michael O'Herron and Conservation Agent Hannah Chace walked the seven-member board through a tranche of new materials submitted by applicant Louis Petrozzi of Wall Street Development Corp., including Allen Engineering's responses to peer reviewer Beals and Thomas's prior comments, updated stormwater plans, and a suite of wetland documents from Goddard Environmental Services — though a required habitat assessment from Goddard had not yet arrived. The commission also reached a working consensus, without a formal vote, to allow Chace to authorize incremental peer review expenditures between meetings administratively, with mandatory public disclosure at the next hearing — a compromise after Member Pamela Francis argued that "keeping as much as we can in the open public hearings is in the best interest of everyone." In a separate matter, the commission directed homeowner Renata Ferraz of 375 Maple Street to plant eight white pines, two to 3.5 inches in caliper in a zigzag pattern, to replace two large pines cut without a permit within a wetland buffer zone. All hearings were continued to February 25, the commission's only scheduled February meeting after the cancellation of its February 11 session.