Planning Board Eyes Fall Town Meeting Comeback for Defeated MBTA Zoning Plan

WEST NEWBURY -- May 6, 2025, West Newbury's Planning Board moved Tuesday to revive its defeated MBTA Communities zoning proposal at fall town meeting, just days after voters rejected an overlay district on the Knapp's Main Street property. Chair Raymond A. Cook confirmed, via a citation to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A Section 5 read aloud by Town Planner Katrina, that the planning board may bring back a defeated zoning article within two years if it affirmatively recommends it. The board discussed at least three alternative or additional parcel options, the Knapp's site, the Dunn parcel, and Drake's Landing, with Town Manager Angus cautioning that any inquiry to the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities about the heavily developed Drake's Landing site would require a full compliance model, not an informal letter. Select Board member Wendy Reed urged the two boards to agree on who leads the next round before committing legal spending. Two residents from Merrill Street argued that returning to the Knapp's proposal so soon was "insulting to the voters." The board also unanimously approved a minor modification substituting a native maple tree for a weeping Yoshino cherry on the Major Boyd Drive cul-de-sac island, continued the 29 Pleasant Street common driveway hearing to May 20, and heard a pre-application presentation on two CPA-funded pickleball courts proposed adjacent to Action Cove playground.