West Newbury Select Board Picks New Audit Firm, Backs Cortland Lane Conservation Access

WEST NEWBURY -- May 29, 2025, West Newbury Select Board unanimously selects CLA as new audit firm and hears a developer's pitch for a 40B housing project on the NAP property at 187 Main Street. The board voted 3-0 to hire CLA (Clifton Larson Allen) at a not-to-exceed price of $45,000 for FY26, replacing Roselli Clark Associates, whose roughly $25,000 annual fee Town Manager Angus Rennie described as "well below market." Developer John Sarkis, who holds a purchase-and-sale agreement on the 70-plus-acre NAP site, told the board he is exploring a friendly 40B through the Local Initiative Program, projecting roughly 54 to 56 unrestricted rental units or up to 66 units if restricted to 55-and-over occupancy, both limited by a 10,000-gallon-per-day septic capacity. The board also voted unanimously to proceed with the long-contested Cortland Lane conservation access project, gravel parking, split-rail fencing, and tree removal to open the Coffin Street parcels to the public, and directed town counsel to send formal encroachment notices to abutters if they decline to cooperate. PEG cable fund approval authority was transferred from the Cable Advisory Committee to the town manager's office by unanimous vote; a proposal to convert the town's AV contractor to a staff position was tabled pending a full cost analysis.