Why Have We Made So Much of Newburyport Illegal?

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Do you love Newburyport’s historic neighborhoods, with a mix of homes built over the centuries? How about some of our neighborhood fixtures like Olive’s Coffee & Bakehouse or The Natural Grocer? Did you know that every bit of this is illegal to build under Newburyport’s Zoning Ordinance?

Under our current laws, the only thing permitted to be built in the majority of the city is expensive single-family homes on large lots. This reflects a 1960’s suburban ideal that is completely out of place throughout much of our historic City.

First, let’s look at neighborhood businesses. According to the Newburyport Zoning Ordinance, “Neighborhood bakeries,” “Outdoor café[s]” and grocery stores are “Not Permitted” virtually anywhere other than our downtown core or the Port Plaza area. Olive’s and the Natural Grocer are allowed to exist only because they are “grandfathered” in, i.e., there have been businesses in those locations since before the Zoning Ordinance was passed, and so businesses are allowed to remain.

But there’s a catch: every business that operates in non-conformance with our Zoning Ordinance is living on borrowed time. If Olive’s or the Natural Grocer shut down for just two years, then there could never be another coffee shop, bakery, or neighborhood grocery store in those locations. This is not speculation; a walk through our City shows the signs of many neighborhood stores and hang-outs which have been lost to time and converted into the only thing that our Zoning Ordinance allows: expensive single-family homes. Check out some of the stories of great neighborhood hang-outs which used to exist, but which are now wholly illegal in our City.

Next, let’s look at housing. My own home is a great example, a two-family home built almost 200 years ago. I live in a dense, historic neighborhood where I know my neighbors, and where I feel safe letting my kids play at the local park. It is a desirable spot, and I feel fortunate that we bought here when we did.

Yet my home, in fact my entire neighborhood, would be illegal under the Zoning Ordinance, were it to be built today. Two-family homes are not “Permitted” by right anywhere in the City and instead have to receive a “Special Permit” to be allowed. Even then, the Ordinance requires a 15,000 square foot lot (mine is less than a third of that), with a 25 foot setback from the lot line (my setback is less than 4 feet), and 20 feet from the side lot lines (mine are both less than 7 feet), with 120 feet of frontage on the street (mine has only 53 feet). And the Ordinance requires 4 full parking spaces, which the original builders did not include 200 years ago. So no homes like mine or my neighbors’ can be built anywhere in Newburyport.

My home and neighborhood are not unique. Virtually every building built in Newburyport prior to 1970 is “non-conforming” under our current Zoning Ordinance. That includes almost every historic home or business in the City. Newburyport prides itself on its historic downtown, walkability, and sense of community, yet all of it is prohibited under current law.

Indeed, one of the major reasons that Newburyport is swiftly becoming unaffordable to all but the richest among us is our Zoning Ordinance. Especially outside of the downtown core, neighborhood businesses and multi-family residences are being replaced by large, expensive homes.

Consider 18 Highland Avenue, which is a medical office building where I used to take my son to his pediatrician. The office is located in a neighborhood with many residential houses that is also a stone’s throw from the high school and across the street from the hospital: central and convenient for all. The land has been sold, and the building is being razed, and because its use was illegal under our Zoning Ordinance, there will never again be any use for that property other than residential.

Nor will the residential building that is planned for 18 Highland Ave be consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. A private road is being built so that four large single-family homes can be built to the specifications of the Zoning Ordinance, with large lots, significant setbacks, and the frontages permitted by our Zoning Ordinance. Not a single one of those homes will likely be in any sense affordable for the average Newburyport family.

There is one bright spot. The plans show one of the homes as having an “Accessory Dwelling Unit” (ADU), a smaller home on the property that may be affordable. In 2025, the State compelled Newburyport and other communities throughout the State to allow for ADUs in their Zoning. And the inclusion here shows that where the rules allow for affordable houses to be built, developers will build them.

Overall though, due to our Zoning Ordinance, instead of building densely and affordably in a neighborhood walkable to downtown and just next to the High School, we are going to get a private drive with mainly McMansions straight out of suburbia. Nor is the developer to blame, they are simply building what our City allows, and because land in Newburyport is expensive, and our Zoning Ordinance requires a lot of it in order to build anything here, they build very expensive single-family homes. Nor can they, under the current Zoning, even consider building anything similar to the non-conforming homes that make up our current neighborhoods, or anything with city-like density, including the duplexes, cottage courts, and “missing middle” housing (i.e., not single-family homes or apartment complexes) that Newburyport so desperately needs and historically was able to build. When our Zoning allows for affordable housing to be built—as it now does for ADUs—developers build them.

But we are not doomed to simply accept our current Zoning Ordinance. It was enacted by our City government, and can be changed by our City government. If we want to see more great neighborhood coffee shops and grocery stores, more affordable housing, and fewer suburban-style McMansions, then we need to band together to advocate for the City that we want to see. Reach out to me; if enough of us come together, we can make sure that our beautiful City retains its history and charm for generations to come.

Jared Hubbard
Newburyport resident
Jared can be reached at jared.hubbard@gmail.com

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