Newbury Planning Board advances four zoning amendments, defers solar permit closeout

Planning Board · Meeting of February 4, 2026

Newbury Planning Board unanimously refers four zoning amendments toward a public hearing and grants a last-chance extension to a stalled Main Street subdivision. The board voted 5-0 to send a package of bylaw updates to the Select Board for referral back for a public hearing, including a new inclusionary zoning bylaw developed with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission that would reward developers of four or more units with one bonus market-rate unit for each affordable unit at 80 percent AMI, or two bonus units for a 60 percent AMI unit, and a new clean energy article tied to Chapter 239 of the Acts of 2024. A fifth proposed item, boundary changes to several zoning districts, was dropped before the vote.

The board also extended the Triple Q Inc. five-lot subdivision at 108 Main Street to March 31, 2026, after Town Planner Kristen Grubbs reported a required Form D performance covenant, first requested two years ago, was filed only days before the February 17 expiration; the applicant must present a construction schedule for peer engineer review at the March 18 meeting. Separately, a closeout request for a 2018 solar special permit at 136-140R Main Street was placed on hold after Clerk Lawrence Murphy argued that the applicant's proposed substitution of a tree fund payment for a failed vegetative screening condition constitutes a modification requiring town counsel review and potentially a public hearing.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of February 4, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.