Newbury Select Board tables Plum Island easement vote after property owners push back

Select Board · Meeting of March 3, 2026

Newbury Select Board hears challenge to Plum Island beach easements, defers any vote. Attorney George Hall of Anderson and Krieger, retained by the Plum Island Foundation, told the board Tuesday that easements recorded in connection with the 2009 Plum Island beach nourishment project are procedurally defective, never formally accepted by the town, executed with exhibits added after signatures, and recorded by the state rather than by property owners as required, and that "the suggestion that anything that came out of the 2009 permitting process exposes the town to penalties is completely absurd." More than a dozen Northern Boulevard property owners spoke or submitted letters urging the board to take no action; letters from Eleanor Godin and from James McCletchie and Alan Sullivan of 72 Northern Boulevard were read into the record. The board took no vote on the easements and said it would take all materials under advisement.

In other business, the board unanimously approved Fire Chief David Evans's request to continue as a call deputy fire chief with the West Newbury Fire Department under Article 2 of his new contract, effective July 1, 2026, and approved three donations totaling $325 to the Newbury Council on Aging.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.