Conservation Commission members visit Jerry’s Pond in North Cambridge on Thursday. (Photo: Hue-En Lin)

Reclaiming North Cambridge’s fenced-in Jerry’s Pond as a public nature area will wait a little longer for approval as land owner IQHQ submits revised plans to eliminate more paving, make a wetlands area slightly bigger and put additional trees along Rindge Avenue.

More trees to be chosen by the city are expected to go on the north side of Rindge Avenue under power lines, so long as the plantings won’t disrupt utilities, said representatives of the life-sciences developer on Monday at a meeting with the Conservation Commission. IQHQ consultants also believe they can keep one of the pond’s two mature ash trees, costing only one of the plan’s 29 new trees.

Good news – but at a small cost, given what has been a three-year process to get to this point.

“It’s very clear that we would need updated plans to be submitted to the commission and for the public to review,” commission chair Purvi Patel said.

The meeting itself was a continuation of one Jan. 22, but commission director Jennifer Letourneau confirmed that the developer had to make a choice between the changes and immediate approval.

“We can’t permit this unless we know what the numbers are and we know what the impacts mean and we know what the mitigation is,” Letourneau said. “Unless it’s on the plans that are before the commission right now, then you are not removing any more pavement.”

The developer opted to postpone until Feb. 26.

IQHQ’s plans will also increase flood storage, extend the sidewalk into a multiuse path, add a Mass Audubon eco-center and floating wetlands, and construct a boardwalk for around $3.8 million, with another $1.5 million for five years of maintenance and operations. 

A group called Friends of Jerry’s Pond and its allies have pushed for city government to contribute $12 million to $15 million to the plan to maximize its environmental and recreational benefits. For the affordable-housing community across the street, Jerry’s Pond will be the closest green space after decades of it being fenced in for environmental concerns.

The changes Monday come in response to requests by the Alewife Study Group, another neighborhood organization, and the Mass Audubon nature group, and follows a visit to the pond area on Thursday to better understand conditions there. The site walk drew around 35 people including project leaders, commission members and community advocates.