Category Archives: Environment

The environment, Newburyport, MA, the air, water, minerals, organisms, plants and other external factors surrounding and affecting the ecology and physical environment of Newburyport

Newburyport, Passionate about Open Space

I’m still thinking about the editorial in the Newburyport Daily News, saying basically, enough with the open space (see earlier post.)

And I think that so much emphasis has been place on open space because there are so many people in Newburyport, Massachusetts who are passionate about open space.

Getting anything done civically or politically takes an enormous amount of time and energy. And people just don’t spend that kind of energy unless they are passionate about something.

People in Newburyport are beginning to get passionate about affordable housing, and because of that, affordable housing is going to get a whole lot more attention, which is a great thing.

Marlene Schroeder is one of those people who is passionate about open space.

Marlene sent me a map that shows a little better the 126 acres of open space that are being considered by the City of Newburyport.

The area in the dark green on the map is the 126 acres. This area, if purchased would be called “Wet Meadows.”

map.jpg
Map showing what would be “Wet Meadows” in dark green

As you can see from the map the area abuts Rt. 95 and Hale Street.

When you come from the South on Route 95, getting off at Rt. 113, it is your first glimpse of Newburyport. It is the pastoral land with the cows. And it is stunning.

It is a pastoral gateway, if you will to the City of Newburyport. It speaks of our agricultural heritage.

It brings me a sense of peace and relief every time I pass it. One of the things I love about Newburyport is its wonderful balance of these pastoral scenes, combined with the historic district and historic downtown.

I would disagree with the editorial in the Newburyport Daily News. I think one of the things we’ve learned over the past 10 years, Cherry Hill being the most extreme example (see earlier post on the history of Cherry Hill,) is that when opportunities like this come along, we as a City dare not pass them up, because we will have one chance and one chance only, and we can never, ever get that opportunity back again.

And I for one am very grateful to all the people who have worked so hard to make this a possibility. And I hope that the Newburyport City Council would also agree.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport

Newburyport, Massachusetts, Infill, Magical Places

There are absolutely magical places in Newburyport, Massachusetts. And many of them are hidden away in Newburyport’s Historic District. They are often found in side yards and backyards.

And yes, many of them are in danger because those spaces are just so juicy for the possibility of development.

And as an artist, I often go hunting for those magical places, and I’ve included two in this post. A hidden garden treasure on Milk Street.

garden-1.jpg
Milk Street Garden
Oil on Paper 7” x 7”
Mary Baker © 2005

And speaking of Milk Street, in Newburyport Massachusetts, there is a rumor there that very much upsets the neighborhood. The rumor is that 22 Milk Street is for sale. That alone is no problem. What has neighbors worried is that the property contains one of those large magical places, a large back yard that is ripe for development.

And what really has the neighborhood worried is that to get to that juicy back yard, part of a very historic home would have to be demolished.

Now this is all rumor, but the neighborhood is extremely concerned. And if anyone out there in web-land could offer some concrete (no pun intended) information that would be most helpful.

The magical garden depicted in this post is right next to the area that the neighborhood is so concerned about. If there is any truth to this rumor, you can see that not only an historic home would be endanger, but yet another one of those amazing Newburyport magical places would be effected as well.

Garden-2.jpg
Milk Street Garden
Oil on Paper 5” x 10”
Mary Baker © 2005

Mary Baker Eaton, Newburyport

Newburyport, Open Space

I don’t know who wrote the editorial in the Newburyport Daily News, Wednesday, July 5, 2006, but let me tell you I was offended.

The editorial was talking about the possible acquisition of 126 acres between Hale Street and Scotland Road, along Route 95, that is owned by Arturo Gutierrez, if purchased by the City of Newburport it would be called “Wet Meadows.”

The editorial seemed to say, enough with the open space, let’s concentrate on affordable housing (this of course is a very rough paraphrase.)

Of course I’m for a whole lot more affordable housing in Newburyport, Massachusetts, who is not. And good people are working on making that goal a reality.

But, the Open Space folks have been working on open space really, really hard and they deserve a whole lot of credit. And to quote Mayor John Moak in the Newburyport Daily News, June 27, 2006:

“It seems like a good space to buy. It’s not a priority of mine, but its timeliness and availability means it has merit to it.”

Good for Mr. Moak. He’s right, the land is available and it has merit for all kinds of reasons, the subject of which could be a whole variety of posts in itself.

But since a picture is worth a 1000 words, I’ve put up a map showing the parcels that are owned by Mr.Gutierrez. They are kind of hard to make out. Mr. Gutierrez owns 3 large parcels and they are in a bright turquoise color on the map and they have his name on them.

The map is courtesy of www.ceport.org. I downloaded the map, I didn’t tell them, but I thought that they would not mind. You can see a bigger and much better version on their website under “Common Pasture.”

In the “Common Pasture” section look under maps and try: “Newburyport parcels and GIS Layers with Vernal Pools.”

The “Newburyport parcels with SLUC Baseline Report Map 9 and GIS layers Document” will download, and that is the one I used.

I’d definitely go and take a look.

Wet-Meadow.jpg
Map Showing Wet Meadows

Mary Eaton, Newburyport

Newburyport, Wetlands

Well, I’m learning about wetlands. I’ll have to admit, even though I’m a Liberal Democrat, I’ve never quite gotten quite what all the whoop-la was about wetlands thing until recently.

My wetlands learning curve has been due in great part to people who one way or another have been connected to the Newburyport Political Blog. So a big “thank you” to all of you out there in web-land that have added to my wetlands education.

Basically, what I now get is that wetlands are like a big sponge that absorbs the water that would otherwise flood us.

So in the big flood this spring, Newburyport, even though it is on the Merrimac River, was largely sparred the enormous damage that other communities further up the river incurred. It was spared because of our marshes/wetlands. All that water spread out instead of up and was absorbed by all those marshy, wetland bogs.

So now I’m even a bigger fan of marshes than I was before. And as a painter, I’m a very, very big fan of Newburyport’s marshes.

So, the wetlands around the Little River, down around Low Street, act like a sponge during large, flooding rains. Ok, now I’m beginning to get that.

I’m also beginning to get that it’s not a good idea to fill those wetland/sponges up with cement, because then they cannot absorb all that water anymore. And that it’s also not a good idea to have a whole lot of cement around those wetlands, because all those hard surfaces act like a funnel, and it’s just too much water for the wetland/sponges to absorb.

And if we fill those wetland/sponges up with cement or have too much cement around them that means among other things that Newburyport’s Industrial Park will flood on a regular basis. And if Newburyport’s Industrial Park floods on a regular basis, no one is going to want to have a business there (who could blame them.) And if no one wants to have a business there, then we Newburyporters are in big trouble, because we need those businesses to help our tax base.

So, for a whole lot of reasons, including the wetland/sponge reason, it would be a really, really bad idea to have that large 40B project on the Woodman Property on Low Street.

So, now I’m beginning to get it, that preserving Open Space isn’t just for the “touchy-feely,” “crunchy-granola” folks. Preserving Open Space, especially around the Little River, is important to everyone. Including those folks who very much want to keep business in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

And one of the things that really helped me is the link which shows the Little River Basin during the recent floods. As Marlene Schroeder, who sent in the link in to me said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” If you haven’t seen this map, I think it’s really, really interesting.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport

(Editor’s Note: Unfortunately the very excellent site www.cebport.org is no longer up.)

David Hall, Solar Power, Newburyport, Massachusetts

Dear Persons Interested in Solar Powered Electricity,

I am excited to announce we are closer to getting solar power to numerous residential homes around the Newburyport area. There will be two types of systems: a 1kW and a .5kW, both ground mounted. We have been in contact with Solar Market of Arundel, Maine, which is the same company that put the solar panels on The Tannery. The 480 watt (~.5 kW) and the 960 watt (~1 kW) will account for approximately 770 kWh and 1540 kWh respectively of your annual electric bill. This is about 10% of the average American’s annual electric bill.

Our goal is for you to get the most for your money in order to maximize your satisfaction with solar power. So the numbers end up being a total of approximately $4,500 for the 480 watt module and $9,050 for the 960 watt module. These are not including any rebates or incentives. To give you an approximate picture of the rebates and incentives here is what we believe will apply to each module:

_________________________________

480 watt 960 watt
_______________________________
Initial Cost**
$4,500 $9,050
_________________________________
State tax credit of 15% rebate up to $1000
$712 $1000
___________________________________
Federal tax credit of 30% rebate up to $2000
$1,422 $2,000
_____________________________________
MTC rebate
$960 $1920
_______________________________________

Estimated cost
$1,406 $4,130
________________________________
There would also be these annual savings:

Renewable Energy Certificate Rebate***
$40 $80

Savings on electricity bill***
$110 $220

Annual savings
$150 $300
___________________________________________
** These prices do not include installation and shipping, we do not know those prices at this time.
*** These savings may vary due to varying electricity prices.
_________________________________________

We will be holding a meeting on Friday June 23rd at 5:15pm at the offices of Hall and Moskow (Mill#5, The Tannery– under Doherty’s meat market) to execute contracts, fill out applications for rebates, and making an initial payment of 33% of the system cost ($1485 for 480 and $2986.50 for the 960). Checks are to be made out to Solar Market or a credit card can be processed for a fee if preferred. There will be a full refund of the deposit if the application is rejected by MTC. System buyers are ineligible for MTC rebates if the systems are purchased or installed before the application for the rebate is approved, hence the urgency of getting all this paperwork out of the way. Please let us know if you can or cannot attend. Thanks!

David Hall and Rachael Nealer

RSVP to rnealer@student.umass.edu

(Editor’s note: This blog software does not do justice to the chart that was submitted. For a better chart on “Initial Cost,” “Estimated cost” and “Annual Savings” please contact Rachael Nealer at the above email address.)

Infill Proposal at 347 High Street Touches a Nerve

Wow, there has been a lot of concern about the proposal that went in front of the Planning Board about a large infill project at 347 High Street.

The proposed infill project is a 2,800-3,200 square foot Greek Revival replica in front of a very historic Federal House. Apparently 347 High Street was one of the first Federal Houses on High Street (Possibly the first. I believe research is being done on that subject.)

The Newburyport Planning Board very intelligently decided not to give the applicant the go ahead. The Newburyport Planning Board felt that it would set a very bad precedent, building houses in front of existing houses on historic High Street.

As I said in an earlier post, since apparently a fair amount of effort has gone into the preliminary presentation, that it would not be unlikely to see this infill project at 347 High Street go before the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA.) One only hopes that the ZBA is as wise as the Newburyport Planning Board and also says “no.”

One of my concerns is that one of the members of the ZBA has recently sold their house at 325 High Street, thus enabling a 3 house infill project by Jim Mellett of Marlin Properties to take place. It would seem that this would be an enormous conflict of interest on the part of this ZBA member.

At the moment there is “open space” in front of 347 High (as well as on the other side of the historic colonial at 349 High Street.) The proposed dwelling would certainly impact both 349 and 343 High Street (which are both very close to the property line,) as it would the rest of this historic street.

There is also a very large street tree that would be impacted by a proposed driveway.

I know that two members of the Newburyport City Council who are on the Planning and Development Committee, Bruce Vogel and chair of that Committee, Tom Jones feel very strongly that this project should not take place. I cannot imagine that Councilor James Shanely, who is also on that committee, would not feel exactly the same way.

This particular proposal has hit a real nerve within the community of Newburyport. So much so, that it is reported that members of the neighborhood are investigating protecting at least part of the street by looking into forming a Local Historic District (LHD.)

This is music to my ears folks. Newburyport has fought having a Local Historic District for at least 50 years, feeling that it would impinge too greatly on people’s property rights.

But I cannot say it enough. The only sure way to protect the intrinsic character of historic Newburyport is a Local Historic District. (And we are one of the very few municipalities that do not to have a Local Historic District – they are the norm.)

The folks on Fruit Street are working on a Local Historic District for that street. I certainly hope that when that comes in front of the Newburyport City Council for a vote, that the Newburyport City Council will vote “yes.”

The eroding of the intrinsic character of Newburyport, Massachusetts has gone on for too long. I am always heartened when people are moved to take action.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport

Newburyport, GIS Map, Wetlands and Flooding

Hello Mary,

I noted your discovery of GIS. This is actually a system that has many
layers maintained by the Mass GIS. There is a wetland layer, a priority
habitat layer, potential vernal pool layer, land use layers, layers that
have various economic aspects, transportation layers etc.

The Parker River Clean Water uses most of the maps as does the Newburyport Conservation Commission.

Joe Teixeira, who is a Newburyport Conservation Commission member, is an expert at utilizing this information. He produces most of the maps that the Parker River Clean Water uses.

Below is the link for the map he produced for the CEB website showing the wetlands of the Little River Basin and photos at various locations in the watershed during the recent flooding.

http://www.cebport.org/new_page_1.htm

If you have not seen this map, you might find it interesting.

You can follow the dark blue lines of the largest feeder streams for the
Little River and see how potential projects and their associated storm water
runoff affects the various wetlands.

As you look at the Industrial area you can see all the channelized waterways. Once that area had wetlands resembling the rest of the map…. no wonder it floods in the industrial area.

All those impervious, solid surfaces are like putting a cork in a funnel since all the water flows that direction starting from up near Storey Ave and sheeting across the parking lots of the shopping centers and down the wetlands and feeder streams.

Norbert Carey’s proposed Russell Terrace project will drain here as well.

Any project on the Woodman land will also drain to the feeder stream just to the west of the landfill.

Regards,
Marlene Schroeder, Newburyport

Newburyport, Biodiversity Day 2006

Hello Everyone – As Scarlet said, “Tomorrow is another day,” and I hope the weather on Sunday, June 4 will allow folks to venture forth and enjoy the many free events being offered for Biodiversity Day 2006. You can see many live, rare species of turtles at the Spencer Peirce Little Farm from 9:30 – Noon or Live Rehabilitated Animals in the afternoon at the Refuge Headquarters and nature walks during the day at the Audubon Center. A tour of the Shellfish plant at the end of Plum Island is being offered at 10:30. All events are free.

I especially want to call attention to David Hall’s offer to have an ongoing self-guided “green tour” of his new building and the other Tannery buildings – including roof top views. The meeting place is by the entrance to his new building – His intern will be there to show folks the way. The self guide sheet can be picked up at the Joppa Audubon Center and at the meeting place as well. As the City moves forward with thoughts about housing and other development, we hope they will keep “green” in mind.

Parker River Clean Water Association wants folks to realize that biodiversity awareness is more than going on nature walks, but is part of the local scene in our buildings and economic activities such as the shellfish plant.

Marlene Schroeder, Newburyport

Parker River Clean Water Association

Newburyport, Massachusetts, New Venture LLC Landfill, Public Hearing

Landfill Public Hearing Wednesday, May 10, at 7 pm — Please Attend, Your Health is in the Balance.

Dear Friends,

This project taking place in Our Newburyport, New Venture LLC landfill, could be the greatest tragedy in the history of this community since some politicians and deep pockets wanted to build a thermo-fix plant in the wetlands.

This project should frighten every citizen who plans to live in this community for the foreseeable years.

The project was conceived by political intelligences to build a soccer field on top of the mountain, between the gas flares, once completed. That one example will give you the consideration given to the public’s welfare. I have seen other landfills of this LLC group.

The citizens of this community, after raised voices, finally won a seat at the table of discussion; not in the original plan. The air and water pollution that is being created has not been totally evaluated of its potential lethalness to all life in the surrounding area. The Little River runs along side the west slope of this man made style of Three Mile Island. Within a short walk of the Little River is the Artichoke and the citizen’s water supply.

If this project is allowed to continue with the mentality that created its conceptual plan, the effects may be experienced by our great, great grandchildren.

I urge all who may read this to tell everyone you know.

The status of the landfill today was arrived at by ignorance and pure greed.

If not completed properly, not only is the public’s health at risk, but years of Proposition 2 1/2 overrides to try and correct the ill results. The LLC of Delaware will not be available to help. It is only the public awareness and involvement that can bring the pressure to save the day.

Albert G. Decie II, Newburyport
Citizens for Environmental Balance ®
www.cebport.org

Newburyport, David Hall a Great Example of a Thoughtful Developer

In another response to Ron Martino’s post, David Hall, of Hall and Moskow, is a great example of someone in the community who has combined the old with the new.

David has also won the trust of the community.

David Hall has done an incredible amount for historic preservation–the gallery for the Art Association and moving an historic building that was on his property to another site are two examples. He has the well earned trust of people in town who value historic preservation.

He has also been working on the Rail Trail for years and managed to raise the money as well as help build the Skate Park at the Newburyport Nock Middle School.

I think part of why David Hall has been so effective is that he also appreciates and respects all the work that the City boards and commissions do. He has his ego in check. He works well with the Planning Office and enjoys them. And has had, I think, a pretty good relationship with various city councils and administrations, partly because of his easy going personality, and partly because all of the variety of ways that he has enhanced life in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

David Hall has built, what I consider to be a beautiful new building at the Tannery (not to mention the Tannery itself, which is a whole other post) which is contemporary, but fits in with Newburyport’s environment. To my knowledge there hasn’t been any contention about the new building (he also had a terrific opening where he invited the public in for a huge all day party for free–great public relations and marketing.)

The new building exists where two huge and unsightly storage tanks were once located. The new Tannery building consists of both residential and commercial units. It also provides parking and a pedestrian walkway connecting Water Street to the proposed Bike Path and to the Newburyport’s Waterfront. (And also in response to Ben Laing’s post, I think that this is an excellent example too of a development that benefits the citizens in Newburyport, Massachusetts.)

The Federal Street Overlay has been criticized by some architects as “being like Disney Land.” ( People tend to forget what might have gone in there, a huge 40-B housing project and also that the two historic homes on the property have been saved and beautifully renovated) Although I don’t agree with that opinion, I hope that most architects would agree that the new Tannery building is an architectural accomplishment as well as being an excellent example of a “win-win” situation for Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport