Planning Board Approves Harbor Dredging Permit, Redraws Downtown Zoning Boundary

Planning Board · Meeting of January 12, 2026

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA -- Manchester Planning Board approves harbor dredging permit and strips Elm Street from proposed Town Center District. The board voted five to one, Chair Sarah Creighton abstaining, to grant a special permit for maintenance dredging at the Manchester Harbor entrance and Proctor Cove, per a plan by Both dated September 17, 2025, and separately voted unanimously to remove Elm Street properties from the new Town Center zoning district, leaving them in the existing General District with commercial parking requirements intact. Property owner Mark Loveski, husband of the owner of 1 and 5 Elm Street, told the board during public comment that "the true retail corridor is Central Street to Beach Street" and that the dead-end street lacks the foot traffic to support a commercial mandate.

The board also endorsed two approval-not-required lot-line adjustments, one on Flatley Avenue for Manchester Village Properties LLC and one on Fine Street for the Goodrich family trusts, and advanced draft senior housing and inn articles toward a February 23 town meeting submission deadline, with members debating whether to cap independent senior housing facilities at 60 units or rely solely on a density standard of 10 units per acre.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of January 12, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.