West Newbury Planning Board unanimously endorses MBTA Communities working group formation

WEST NEWBURY -- May 20, 2025, West Newbury Planning Board endorses a five-member MBTA Communities working group and approves native-plant revisions at Boyd Drive. The board voted 4-0 Tuesday to endorse the Select Board's proposed working group structure, which will operate under open meeting law requirements on a roughly two-month timeline to identify a compliant multifamily overlay district site; the Select Board is expected to ratify the working group at its next meeting. Chair Ray Cook shared a written memo with parcel-evaluation considerations, covering steep slopes, scenic roads, parcel geometry, agricultural land, and the status of sites including NAPS and Drake's Landing, for the working group's optional use, noting that Drake's Landing would be "impractical" because it would require displacing existing residents. The board also voted 4-0 to approve a revised native-species landscaping plan for the Boyd Drive cul-de-sac turnaround island and an updated Homeowners Association maintenance document, and continued a 29 Pleasant Street common driveway special permit hearing to June 3 pending a narrowed independent engineering review of proposed porous grid paving. Town Planner Katrina O'Leary reported the state returned the town's Housing Production Plan requiring additional changes, including language on Chapter 40B development sites; the Affordable Housing Trust is awaiting legal clearance from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership before the town can name the Mullen property in the plan.