Letter to Ipswich Local News April 2026:

As has been reported in this publication, AvalonBay Communities has a Purchase and Sale agreement to develop the Bruni property on Essex Road. The Ipswich Zoning Board approved the proposed 214-unit development in hearings that took place in closed-door Executive Sessions, with no public input.

Our group, Ipswich Citizens for Sustainable Growth (ICSG), filed an appeal objecting to many aspects of this proposal and the way it was approved. The appeal represents hundreds of Ipswich citizens who have supported and funded our legal work. AvalonBay initially reached out to ICSG in 2024, but then last fall secretly went behind the backs of the group--and our lawyers--and reached a financial settlement with the three abutters who were named on the appeal. AvalonBay then immediately went to the court and requested that the appeal be dropped.  All of this took place without the knowledge of the members of ICSG.

ICSG has now filed an Intent to Appeal with the court asking to replace the abutters who settled with other members of our group (including Peter Gordon of Gordon’s Florist, the closest abutter to the proposed development).Instead of allowing the appeal to be decided by the court, in an effort to block the appeal, AvalonBay has asked the court to require that ICSG put up a $1.5-million bond before having the appeal heard.

In their objections to this bond request, our attorneys wrote: “A bond of the magnitude AvalonBay seeks would violate the constitutional limitations…because it would “unreasonably … prohibit, directly or indirectly,” the Proposed Intervenors’ ability to pursue appellate review.”  “AvalonBay seeks an unprecedented $1.5 million bond…designed not to “protect rights pending appeal” but to foreclose appellate review entirely.”  This conduct is incompatible with standards of fairness and transparency.

AvalonBay Communities is a publicly traded (AVB) real estate investment trust (REIT) worth $23 billion. They scarcely need to protect themselves by demanding a $1.5 million bond.  There can be little doubt that demanding such an unreasonable bond is one of their standard bullying tactics, coming from the same playbook as negotiating secret settlements with individual members of a group that is standing in their way.

We are trusting that the Massachusetts legal system will uphold the rights and values of Ipswich citizens and not allow a large corporation to steamroll the legitimate concerns of the people who live in this town. ICSG is at a crucial juncture in our efforts to curtail this project. We encourage the people of Ipswich express their concerns about a company that acts this way, and to continue to voice their opposition to this oversized and inappropriate development in every possible way. The objections that hundreds of Ipswich citizens and our town boards and officials have raised over this project are not frivolous and should be allowed to be heard in the State Court.

Sheffield van Buren and Marni Clippinger