By Carol Britton Meyer

Former planning board Chair Jeanne Paquin, who narrowly lost her bid for re-election last spring, is back on the board at least until the May 17, 2027, town election, with plans to run for re-election.

Jeanne Paquin is once again a member of the planning baord.

Paquin, who lost her seat in May by eight votes, was appointed this week to fill the vacancy created by the earlier resignation of Cindy Borges at a joint select board and planning board meeting. In addition to Paquin, three other candidates were interviewed – Elizabeth Chapman, Eric Osterberg (currently an advisory board member), and Francine Townsend.

Zoning board of appeals member Edwin Parsons initially expressed an interest in the position but withdrew Tuesday night citing an increased ZBA workload.

In accordance with the process – designed to be equitable – for filling the single vacant seat recommended by Town Counsel Brian Winner to the two boards in advance and ] shared with the candidates ahead of time, each candidate had two minutes to make an opening statement.

Each member of both boards (select board member Irwin Nesoff was not present) had an opportunity to ask the same one question of all the candidates. Then each candidate was allowed to make a one-minute closing statement, followed by a roll call vote.

The winning candidate required a majority (six) of the votes of the remaining filled seats on both boards. Absences did not affect this requirement.

Since no candidate received that majority in the first round of voting, the two top candidates – Paquin and Townsend – were advanced for a revote.

The result of the first vote was five for Paquin, three for Townsend, and two for Osterberg. The second time around, Paquin won the required six votes, with planning board member Abby Klieman abstaining and planning board member Nathan Peyton changing his vote from Townsend to Paquin, who has served on the planning board for 20 years.

Throughout her comments and responses to various questions, Paquin emphasized the importance of listening to citizens, including their involvement in the upcoming restart of the master plan process.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the town,” she said.

“Being a member of the planning board requires attention to deadlines and balancing the concerns of the community and the rights of a developer – which can sometimes be a difficult line to walk,” Paquin said in her closing statement. “I’ve met that challenge for years and would love to continue.”

In her remarks and answers to questions, Townsend emphasized the importance of everyone who goes before the board feeling comfortable and respected.

“[The board] needs to know what [their] guardrails are and enforce them. It’s not our job to please the public, but it is our job to do what’s right by the town, which [can be difficult].”

Townsend – who was involved with the development of Sandcastle Condominiums on Beach Avenue, Spinnaker Island, and the renovation of the historic Victorian building at the former Sunset Marine site – said that while she wouldn’t advocate for development as a planning board member, she would advocate for “positive discourse representing all points of view” and that she would have voted to continue The Point hearing rather than to deny site plan approval when asked a question about whether there was a planning board decision from which she would have differed.

She also objected to the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) “no growth” attitude she said she has encountered in Hull during the last few years.

To that same question, Paquin said she would have liked the town to have “[gotten] a little more” from the Paragon development. She also mentioned a number of initiatives she has been involved with – including “shepherding the Community Preservation Act” in Hull, serving on the waterfront access group, and attending meetings with the Department of Conservation and Recreation representing the planning board.

Chapman talked about the importance of weighing development against neighborhood concerns. “Hull is a special place to me,” she said.

Osterberg thinks this is a “fascinating time to serve on the planning board,” and he would be interested in serving, “but I don’t mean to be jumping boards and am happy to serve in whatever way [works out],” he said.

Paquin noted before her appointment that “the planning board has gone for a quarter of the year without a full board, and I would like to assist the board with their work.”

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