Planning Board Reaffirms Visioning Scope, Urges Select Board to Sign MVPC Contract

Planning Board · Meeting of March 3, 2026

West Newbury Planning Board reaffirms $45,000 MVPC visioning scope amid Select Board contract dispute. The board voted 5-0 at its March 3 meeting to formally approve the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission visioning scope — funded by a Town Meeting appropriation last May — and urged the Select Board to sign the contract so the comprehensive planning process can begin. At least two Select Board members, including one identified as Wendy, pushed to add explicit language in the scope naming climate change resiliency, elementary education, housing, and governance as priority issues; Planning Board members including MVPC Representative Brian R.

Murphey and Vice Chair Rob Phillips countered that those topics are covered by the nine statutory elements of a Massachusetts comprehensive plan and belong in the fuller master plan, not the visioning scope. The board also voted 4-0-1 — with CPC Representative Deborah R. Hamilton abstaining — to endorse a subdivision approval not required plan at Zero Middle Street, clearing the way for a non-buildable parcel to be transferred to Essex County Greenbelt by a tentative May 20 closing date; Chair Ann E.

Bardeen noted the parcel protects a headwater stream that feeds the Artichoke Reservoir, the drinking water supply for both West Newbury and Newburyport.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of March 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.