Marshfield ZBA Rejects Airport Buffer Waiver, Orders Site Plan Modification Process

MARSHFIELD -- May 26, 2026, Marshfield ZBA turns away airport buffer waiver, orders formal site plan modification. The Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously Tuesday to continue a contentious airport commission request to July 14, declining to waive site plan approval after crews used a tracked marsh master machine to clear a Plymouth Avenue vegetation buffer that a 2014 ZBA site plan agreement specifically restricted to hand-cutting only. Airport Commission Chairman Paul Van Kalmenberg and Conservation Commission liaison William Finn said the 12-year-old planting plan had "failed miserably" and that federal grant assurances require vegetation control in the airspace protection zone off Runway 24. Board Chair Brian Murphy said the commission's Conservation Commission-approved Vegetation Management Plan and the ZBA's 2014 site plan must be reconciled: "We need to have our site plan approval line up with your vegetation management plan." Board member Eric Murphy was skeptical of urgency, saying the sequence "looks like someone went and said, let's do something and then ask for forgiveness later." The board also approved special permits for residential additions at 14 Pamela Way and 169 Webster Street, both 5-0.