Essex Planning Board Backs Associate Member Article, Opposes OSRD Repeal at Town Meeting

ESSEX — April 15, 2026 — Essex Planning Board votes 5-1 against recommending repeal of open space residential development bylaw. The board, chaired by Peter Webster, sent two zoning articles to Annual Town Meeting on May 4 after a public hearing Monday night, voting 6-0 to support Article 14 — which establishes how associate members are appointed to fill in when regular members have conflicts — and 5-1 against supporting Article 28, a citizen's petition to repeal Section 6-8, the open space residential development bylaw first adopted in 2011 with more than 82 percent of the Town Meeting vote. Member Ariel Breen cast the lone vote in favor of the repeal. No proponent of the petition appeared to testify. Online commenter Jack Gale, 105 Pond Street, urged the board to amend rather than repeal the bylaw, specifically targeting the provision allowing a density bonus: "I feel that they should be able to trade that for leaving open space. But I would not offer them an increase in the number of houses." The board separately continued a public hearing on a 36-lot OSRD subdivision proposed by Bell Point LLC on Essex Park Road to May 6, after peer reviewer Jesse Johnson of Weston and Sampson Engineers flagged stormwater compliance gaps, constructability concerns for fill-supported detention basins of up to 12 feet, and unresolved questions about a natural pond adjacent to an abutting property with a prior documented environmental release.