Preparing a Planning Board Application

Thank you for your interest in bringing your project to Amesbury! We want your experience to go as smoothly as possible. To help this along, we created this guidance page to help you prepare a successful application and plan. We strongly recommend you review all the information in this document.

If you are developing or building a project that has already been approved, please check our Projects page for documents pertaining to the project.

To find out what uses are allowed at a specific site, please refer to Section V (Use Regulations) of Amesbury Zoning Bylaw (AZB) (PDF). You can also check out the density and dimensional regulations in Section VI. Provisions for converting or using a non-conforming structure are listed under Section IX.

View an overview of the Peer Review Process (PDF).

  1. Pre-Development Meeting
  2. Pre-Application Conference
  3. Submitting the Plans for Approval
  4. Helpful Tips

As you are working on a conceptual plan for your project, we suggest that you schedule a Pre-Development Meeting with the staff in the Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED). This is especially important if you have a large project and/or if this is your first time developing in Amesbury. Depending on the scale and scope of the project, OCED staff may invite other city officials to guide you on specific aspects of the project. Contact the OCED Permit Coordinator to schedule this meeting. The Pre-Development Meeting will be most productive if you are prepared to discuss basic information pertaining to the site, such as: zoning, allowed uses, wetlands/environmental resources, non-conformity, and historical use limitations.

Bring all of your ideas! You never know which one will be the most productive unless you have met with us and discussed all of the options to develop the site.