Stockbridge Conservation Commission Rejects Lakeside Garage Expansion Near Wetland Buffer

Conservation Commission · Meeting of June 23, 2026

Stockbridge Conservation Commission pushes back on lakeside garage expansion near wetland buffer. At the June 23 meeting, commissioners signaled strong opposition to a proposal by engineer Brent White of White Engineering and architect Brian Borbonar, representing property owners Harold and Nomi Colton-Max at 15 Mackinac Road, to replace a 97-square-foot shed with a 432-square-foot garage and living space at just 19 feet from a bordering vegetated wetland — well inside the commission's 50-foot no-disturbance zone. "300 square feet loss of buffer is a big deal," one commissioner said, adding that conversions of lawn to native plantings do not compensate for new construction within the buffer.

The commission also continued a hearing on the town's Rattlesnake Mountain Road culvert replacement project, pressing applicant GZA for tree replacement plans, wooden guardrail alternatives on what commissioners called "an absolutely beautiful dirt road in the middle of an ACEC," and a conversation with Town Administrator Michael Canales about whether monetary wetland mitigation fees are feasible when the town is both applicant and fee recipient — a project funded entirely through a Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration grant now fully expended. The commission unanimously approved the Housatonic Railroad's annual vegetation management plan and closed the Austin Riggs Center determination of applicability hearing.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• The question before the body
• Substantive content
• The deliberation
• Procedural steps and outcome
• Implications and what is next
• The complete report — 3,450 words

Source: the Conservation Commission meeting of June 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.