Newbury Planning Board Continues Sunset Club Hearing, Demands Lighting Plan

Planning Board · Meeting of January 21, 2026

Newbury Planning Board continues Sunset Club pavilion hearing and pushes forward on broad zoning amendments. The board unanimously continued the Level 2 Site Plan Review for The Cottages Commercial LLC's proposed 40-by-40 pavilion at 2-8 Old Point Road to February 4, directing owner Vincent Godin and engineer Steve Sawyer of Millennium Engineering to return with a photometric lighting plan and a site-wide lighting schedule after Vice Chair Peter Paicos pressed the applicant on lights left on at the closed restaurant. "I'm disturbed every time I go down there and I see the string lights on — the business isn't functional," Paicos said.

The board also accepted a two-lot definitive subdivision application at 15 Central Street from Michael Becker and Carissa Vitus, setting a public hearing for February 18. Town Planner/Planning Director Kristen Grubbs presented a revised inclusionary zoning draft that would allow one bonus market-rate unit for every affordable unit included in a qualifying project of three or more net new dwellings, with affordability capped at 60 percent of Area Median Income. The board anticipates voting February 4 to recommend a package of zoning amendments — including updated use-table permissions for clean energy, outdoor storage, and special permit granting authority — to the Select Board ahead of the 2026 Annual Town Meeting.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of January 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.