Current Local Laws Encourage Mansionization. It Needs to Stop

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There have been several recent articles about affordability and zoning in Newburyport. Mr. Hubbard’s article made me think about great corner shops that we love yet can’t replicate, neighborhoods altered by McMansions, and the very real affordability struggles of our beautiful city. In reading Mr. Zeid’s response, I found it dishonest to say Mr. Hubbard’s position threatens or sacrifices the reader’s neighborhood. If anything, Mr. Hubbard called for saving neighborhood character.

Newburyport’s current zoning incentivizes mansionization: developers are replacing smaller homes with suburban-style mansions, as large as permissible, in part because that is what our 1970s-style zoning allows. This leads to two main consequences: (1) The number of starter homes in the city is rapidly decreasing, and (2) the new mansions are entirely out of line with the character of those neighborhoods.

Mr. Zeid talks about how changing the zoning to allow for more starter homes might “tear up neighborhood fabric” and “wreak havoc,” but that is exactly what the current zoning is doing when the only thing it allows “by right” throughout the City is huge multi-million dollar suburban-style mansions. It is a particular problem near me in Ward 6, but I have seen it across the city, where small starter homes are slowly but surely disappearing. The reality is that nurses, teachers, and others who work here and embrace our community cannot afford to live here. When we look at a project like 18 Highland Ave., do we really need four more McMansions with their own access road? Current zoning dictates that’s about all a developer can offer. But why are we limiting ourselves? I think Newburyport deserves more than one option. Why not allow us the flexibility to even listen to an alternate proposal from a developer who is offering something different? A cottage court would have offered 10-15 homes in this space at a price tag perfect for first-time home buyers or empty-nesters looking to downsize.

Parking minimums can also drastically increase the cost of a project. Look at the condos at 2 Market Street. Despite being 150’ from our parking garage, expensive car lifts and an access street were needed to accommodate mandated parking minimums. These car lifts don’t appear to ever actually be used, but they have significantly increased the cost of this property. Why is a blanket parking mandate a better idea than having parking based on what is actually needed and will actually be used?

So, before attacking the views and ideas of others, let’s learn more about the problem, look at all the facts and potential solutions, and be straightforward and honest in our responses. Let’s not paint the viewpoints of others in the worst light (“ruining your neighborhood” boogeyman talk) when it couldn’t be farther from the truth. “Common sense” tells us that without some additional zoning changes, Newburyport will be less-affordable tomorrow than it is today, and more sterile. Currently, zoning is degrading the character of neighborhoods you claim to be saving.

Eric Tracey
Newburyport resident

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