Newbury ZBA Continues Plum Island Permit Hearing, Cites Application Deficiencies

NEWBURY -- March 19, 2026, Newbury's Zoning Board of Appeals continued a special permit hearing for a proposed 4,098-square-foot single-family dwelling on pilings at 15 Sunset Drive on Plum Island to April 15, citing multiple application deficiencies and substantial neighbor opposition. The board, including Member Mario Carvalho, Associate Member Michelle Wiedler, and Associate Member Josh Walker, flagged mismatches between the application and the surveyor's stamped drawings, including a discrepancy between a listed existing lot coverage of 5 percent and the survey's figure of 6.4 percent, and asked the applicant, Daryl Fandetti of the Red Wing Trust, to document the existing cottage with measured drawings, reconcile all figures, and clarify whether a ground-floor room labeled "office" with a closet and adjacent half-bath constitutes a bedroom under the bylaw. Neighbor Jay Martelli of 4 Bryn Mawr submitted a formal written opposition raising five objections, including a merger-doctrine argument that the lots at 11 and 15 Sunset Drive may have legally merged decades ago under prior owner Janet Minahan, potentially rendering the board's 2024 lot line adjustment void. The expanded Chair, responding to the merger argument, said town counsel had been consulted before the 2024 vote and found a legal pathway to the lot line change, and stated he would request that opinion be resent ahead of the April 15 hearing.