Conservation Commission Continues Nelson Street Home Hearing, Orders Restoration Plan After Unpermitted Tree Clearing

EAST LONGMEADOW — March 11, 2026 — East Longmeadow Conservation Commission continues Nelson Street home hearing after unpermitted tree clearing stirs neighborhood outcry. The commission voted unanimously at its March 11 meeting to carry the Notice of Intent for a single-family home at 0 Nelson Street — filed by applicant Ted Pukowski — to April 8, when a site visit is also scheduled for 5 p.m. Engineer Mike Petus of Engineering Land Solutions agreed, under commission pressure, to move a proposed retaining wall from within the 25-foot wetland buffer to the buffer line itself. Member Thomas O'Brien said flatly, "We haven't made that exception before, and I'm not looking to do that." Neighbors from Nelson Street and Low Street testified that mature trees had been removed from the site without any commission permit and said the neighborhood was "dead against" the project. The commission's required list before the next hearing includes a topographic profile, test boring data, fill sourcing information, identification of who cleared the trees, a native plant replanting plan, and a map of targeted knotweed herbicide treatment areas.