Planning Board Votes Unanimously to Send MBTA Overlay Zoning to Town Meeting

WEST NEWBURY -- April 1, 2025, West Newbury Planning Board unanimously recommends MBTA overlay zoning to spring town meeting, with a 35-foot height cap. The board voted unanimously April 1 to send the proposed MCMOD multi-family overlay district bylaw, targeting 187 Main Street, to town meeting voters after confirming the site meets state minimum density requirements of 15 units per acre on at least 5.8 acres. In a separate three-to-two vote, members Brian R. Murphey, Chair Ann E Bardeen, and Deborah R. Hamilton prevailed in keeping language that would allow the planning board to waive the inclusionary housing requirement when an applicant demonstrates financial infeasibility, over objections from Raymond A. Cook and Tim Cronin, who called the standard too vague to enforce. The board also unanimously recommended amendments to the town's ADU bylaw capping special-permit units at 1,500 square feet, and heard its first ADU special-permit application, a request from Christopher and Nancy Weill to convert an existing barn at 150 Main Street into a 1,400-square-foot accessory unit, deferring a final vote to April 15 pending a written draft decision.