An embattled Longmeadow Planning Board member has resigned - months after he was caught intruding on a resident's property and making discriminatory comments.
Walter Gunn is resigning effective immediately, according to Select Board Chair Vineeth Hemavathi.
Residents and town officials had been calling for Gunn to resign following a January incident in which he ventured onto a resident's property uninvited.
At the time, Gunn said the property was involved in planning board business and that he wanted to scope it out.
However, when initially confronted by the homeowner, Fabricio Ochoa, Gunn was filmed asking if Ochoa was a housekeeper and if he spoke English. The planning board member also gave a false name at first and claimed that he had been arrested for trespassing in the past.
Months later, Gunn would endorse a public apology issued by the planning board in May, but resisted calls to resign until Tuesday.
The incident would spotlight how Longmeadow appears to lack a recall mechanism for elected officials.
It also led to the select board drawing up a special town meeting for July 15 - one that would ask residents to consider making the planning board an appointed body rather than an elected one.
