Manchester Select Board Defers Transgender Flag Vote, Approves Housing Agreement

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, March 2, 2026, Manchester Select Board defers transgender flag vote and approves Powder House Lane affordable housing agreement. The board voted 5-0 on March 2 to authorize Town Administrator Tony Barletta to sign a regulatory agreement with the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, the final step needed to count Powder House Lane units toward the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory; Barletta agreed to develop written compliance roles after members pressed for clarity on a provision requiring the town to notify the state within seven days of any owner default. A request by Dr. Hope Wapucci, founder of North Shore Pride, to fly the transgender flag on the town's commemorative pole from March 28 to April 1 was deferred two weeks pending a formal proclamation, while a 5-0 vote reauthorized the progress flag for a June LGBTQ Month proclamation. The board also approved a one-year canteen contract with Captain Dusty's Ice Cream for Singing Beach, authorized Trinity North Shore's Sunday morning use of Jewett Chapel through August with a condition that congregants park in the school lot, and declined to reconstitute a separate Dredging Advisory Committee, instead directing staff to retrieve the Harbor Advisory Committee's charter for Select Board review.