Ipswich Construction Moratorium

Residents in Ipswich filed a citizen’s petition calling for an outright ban on all new construction for one year. Residents will have the opportunity to vote on the associated Article 24 of the warrant at the May 9th town meeting. With Ipswich below the 10% subsidized housing inventory, the moratorium would not prevent 40B projects.

Last year, the Ipswich Selectboard considered a 2-year moratorium on new multi-family residential construction. The moratorium would have done the following:

• Building permits would not be issued for multifamily (3 or more units) residential development
• Multi-family residential development would only be permitted if at least 25% of the units were affordable and added to the state’s subsidized housing inventory
• Single family houses and subdivisions that create single-family houses would still be permitted

The proposal in Article 24 does not have an affordability exception, nor does it outline a planning process to address water shortages. Updates will be posted on the NSR blog.