Newburyport Commission Continues Plum Island Sauna Hearing, Demands Flood-Zone Proof

NEWBURYPORT — February 17, 2026 — Newburyport Conservation Commission continued a Plum Island sauna case and demanded mobility documentation before issuing any determination. The commission voted 4-0 to carry the hearing for Scog and Stone Sauna Company's wood-fired trailer sauna at 082 Second Street to March 3, after the commission's conservation agent warned that the filing — submitted as a request for determination of applicability seeking a negative determination — may need to be elevated to a full notice of intent because any approval would likely require special conditions. Members raised concerns about the sauna's position near the boundary of a FEMA V-zone, where regulations prohibit new non-water-dependent structures unless elevated above base flood elevation, and about the absence of documentation showing the unit's trailer undercarriage, axle configuration, and emergency removal route. "We were out there and it looks like it is everything you say it is — it's just putting it in writing would obviously take any questions out in the future," one member said. The commission separately voted unanimously to issue a certificate of compliance for a completed 10,000-square-foot building addition at 3 Stanley Tucker Drive, closing out the permit for Chuck and Jeff Brunel of Dryer Systems.