Stockbridge Commission Votes to Convene Special Session on Loveless Property Impasse

STOCKBRIDGE — May 26, 2026 — Stockbridge Conservation Commission votes to hold special joint session on stalled Loveless property conservation restriction. The commission voted unanimously at its May 26 meeting to convene a special joint session with the Stockbridge Land Trust and the Laurel Hill Association on June 30, after a member read aloud a three-page Land Trust letter warning that the organization may withdraw from the co-held conservation restriction on the 4.36-acre Loveless parcel on Westdale Road — a step that would require forfeiture of Community Preservation Committee grant reimbursements estimated at roughly $100,000. The core dispute centers on whether the restriction should allow up to one-quarter acre for a future parking area, as the Land Trust argues the 2014 deed supports, or limit parking to 600 square feet, as the Laurel Hill Properties Committee prefers. One commissioner said he had no confidence in the Land Trust's shifting positions: "Their rationale has changed every time we've met — it was about trails, then emergencies, then the legacy of Virginia Loveless." The commission will set the June 30 date unilaterally and plans to identify a mediator before the session.