Essex Planning Board Opens First-Ever OSRD Hearing on 85-Acre, 36-Lot Subdivision

ESSEX -- May 21, 2025, Essex Planning Board opens public hearing on first-ever open space residential development, a proposed 36-lot subdivision on 85 acres off Essex Park Road. The board, reviewing an application by Bell Point LLC engineered by Moran Cameron, heard that the project's conventional yield plan shows 30 allowable lots, with a 20 percent density bonus claimed for providing over 70 percent open space, bringing the proposed total to 36 lots. Weston and Sampson consultant James Pearson flagged ten categories of concern in a 20-page review letter, including an apparently undersized lot on the yield plan, a FEMA Flood Zone A encroachment, and unresolved questions about whether stormwater basins can count toward open space. DPW's Wesley Burnham warned that the impervious coverage and parking setback requests are bylaw provisions requiring variances, not waivers, and pushed back on a proposed emergency-only road connection to the private Turtleback Road, citing fire department access concerns. Residents raised questions about a monitored hazardous waste site, RTN 3-0-2603, on the property's northwest edge, and the similarity of the plans to a 2012 preliminary subdivision that was approved but never built. The hearing was continued to June 4 at 7:15 p.m.