Harwich Conservation Commission Approves Bonnie Lane Restriction, Fines Route 28 Operator $900

HARWICH -- February 18, 2026, Harwich Conservation Commission approves long-delayed Bonnie Lane conservation restriction and fines a repeat violator $900. The commission voted unanimously at its February 18 meeting to approve a rewritten conservation restriction for 29 Bonnie Lane, a deal more than seven years in the making that will transfer remaining lots to the Harwich Conservation Trust once the Select Board signs off at its expected March 2 meeting. Attorney William Croll told the commission that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs had sat on the commission's November 2024 approval for six months before rewriting the document entirely, saying, "They didn't look at it for six months and then they rewrote the whole thing." Separately, the commission fined the owner of 188 Route 28, a repeat offender who also received unpermitted-work orders from the building department and the zoning compliance officer, $300 each for vegetation alteration, grade change, and fencing installation in the flood zone, and required an after-the-fact engineered site plan at double the standard filing fee by May 18, 2026. A second enforcement matter, a $5,100 fine against Champion Tree Service for wetland clearing at Standish Woods Circle, remained pending service of the certified notice to the contractor's Yarmouth address.