Cohasset Commission Approves Four Wetland Permits, Rejects Seawall as Inadequate Protection

COHASSET -- October 9, 2025, Cohasset Conservation Commission approves four wetland permits and forces withdrawal of a proposed coastal seawall during a four-hour remote session October 9. Acting Chair Steve Magnell presided as commissioners voted 5-0 to allow Fabrizio Lombardi to restore a pre-existing trail at 695 Jerusalem Road on Straits Pond, and voted 4-0 on permits for drainage improvements at 76 Beach Street, a garage rebuild at 19 Heather Drive, and a driveway overhaul at 95 Atlantic Avenue, the last of which cuts impervious surface from roughly 9.8 percent of the site to 5 percent. The most contentious matter was a proposed 165-foot stone seawall at 45 Joy Place, which commissioners found ineligible under the town's local rule because, at a top elevation of 7.5 feet, it would protect only lawn rather than the house above elevation eight, and because the applicant's own submission acknowledged no erosion on the property. Abutter Brian Nelson of 40 Joy Place argued the project also failed to provide compensatory flood storage required under commission regulations. The applicant withdrew the wall; a 121-foot dock proposal for the same property will return October 23 with a revised plan. Conservation Agent Charlotte Peckham also announced a $117,000 state Coastal Habitat and Water Quality grant for a two-year study of the Gulf River in collaboration with Scituate and the Woods Hole Group.