Select Board pushes Ocean Street plan to September

Select Board · Meeting of August 17, 2026

Manchester-by-the-Sea's Select Board pushed its Ocean Street flood-resilience plan to September and split 4-1 on a new mooring-reporting rule. Consultants from Fuss and O'Neill told the board the town has spent $100,000 studying coastal flooding on Ocean Street, and Town Administrator Antonio Barletta said a full structural assessment of the seawall and culvert, needed before most other work, would roughly double that cost. Member Ann Harrison said she wanted the structural review and a regulators' meeting treated as the only "must-do" near-term steps.

The board also deferred a vote on its updated Housing Production Plan to September, with members questioning whether accessory dwelling units are moving the town further from, not closer to, 40B safe harbor. In separate business, the board set a $2-per-hour electric-vehicle charging rate, reverted the electric permit fee to $3 per thousand dollars of value, approved the transfer of 26 Central Street's liquor license to Sofia's, and voted 4-1, with Harrison opposed, to adopt a new format for the harbor's mooring transaction report.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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• The complete report — 3,560 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of August 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.