Planning Board Sets Marijuana Prohibition Hearing, Eyes Interim Planner Hire

Planning Board · Meeting of April 7, 2026

West Newbury Planning Board schedules emergency public hearing on marijuana prohibition bylaw after a last-minute procedural discovery. Chair Ann E. Bardeen disclosed at the April 7 meeting that the Select Board's proposed town-wide ban on marijuana establishments — which must pass at both town meeting and the ballot to take effect — was only recently recognized as a zoning bylaw requiring a Planning Board public hearing; legal notices went out April 7, with the hearing set for April 21.

Select Board member Chris Weil attended the Zoom session and confirmed that if the prohibition fails at either stage, the Planning Board's own cannabis zoning overlay article — setting a 250-foot parcel-boundary buffer — becomes essential protection. MVPC Representative Brian R. Murphey separately pressed the board to retain an interim planning consultant at $150 per hour, citing a coming large development on the town's NAP parcel and an indefinite vacancy in the staff planner role.

A Horsley Witten red-line draft of revised stormwater regulations was described as days away from submission to the board.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of April 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.