Salem Planning Board unanimously approves four apartments at 401 Main Street

SALEM -- June 23, 2026, Salem Planning Board unanimously approves four apartments at 401 Main Street and adopts new open space master plan. The board voted 5-0 on both items at its June 23 meeting, granting conditional site plan approval to Main Street 401 LLC, owners Kimberly and David Hebert, to convert 3,960 square feet of vacant second-floor office space into four one-bedroom apartments, while assessing impact fees of $14,966.40 covering public safety, recreation, and school costs. A condition requires one unit to be deed-restricted as affordable, with income qualification handled by an outside agent at the applicant's expense, after the Zoning Board of Appeals denied a workforce housing waiver in April. Town Council Representative Paul Pelletier said the ZBA ruling "does not align with the master plan," adding that the owners are "being forced to provide 25 percent affordable housing on a project that you're only allowed to provide 10." The board also adopted the 2026 Open Space Master Plan, produced by the Rockingham Planning Commission with Salem's Conservation Commission, which prioritizes protection of roughly 2,000 acres of existing open space and guides spending from a conservation fund of just under $2 million.