A little history.

In 1970 Newburyport, MA, except for a few places here and there, was in really, really bad shape. All those pictures of how downtown looked before Urban Renewal…it wasn’t good.

Even when I moved here in 1981 (I think I’ve blogged about this a little before) downtown had just been restored. The Tannery did not exist, neither did Maudslay State Park. Urban Renewal had just begun to have a ripple effect into the surrounding neighborhoods of the North and South End.

There were places in the South End that I didn’t want to venture into. One person has told me that when they bought a place in the South End they could not get a mortgage from one of the banks because it was literally on the wrong side of the tracks. This is not to say anything bad about whatever bank it would have been; this is to remind folks that not too long ago a lot of Newburyport, MA was in tough shape.

Survival was the name of the game. A lot of folks had a hard time believing that anyone would want to live in Newburyport, MA, much less build an “infill” project in the North and South Ends of town.

When I moved here there were lots of places with apartments. It is my understanding that one family homes had apartments to help pay the bills. It was about survival.

And I am wondering how many of those apartments, like the one on Eagle Street, were given a building permit but never went through the process of getting a variance. I’m guessing that in their wildest imagination many people would never have envisioned that anyone would want to build a large out of scale “infill” structure in their back yard. The idea would have seemed preposterous.

I am guessing that what the neighbors found out about 16 Eagle Street, even though it had a building permit, but that a variance was never given for the upstairs apartment, may well apply to many places in Newburyport, MA.

And if that could be the case, then that opens up a whole can of worms.

And once again, if the “Infill Ordinance” or the Amendment to Section 9 was in existence, all parties would have had a chance to have an open dialogue before anything was done, and this whole fiasco concerning 16 Eagle Street might have been avoided.

If this is an issue that you care about, please contact your Newburyport City Councilor and ask them to vote in favor of the “Infill Ordinance” or the Amendment to Section 9. Also, please write a letter to the editor in support of this zoning amendment. All of this would really help.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

I miss Stephanie Chelf who used to be the Newburyport reporter for the Newburyport Daily News. Stephanie has gone on up the journalistic ladder.

There were at least 3 really good stories in Newburyport this week. Stephanie would have known what the three stories were. And she would have also known not only the issues involved, but also the players.

Stephanie really helped the Newburyport Political Blog by giving me so much to blog about. She was also really willing to go out there and get, for this small town, some fairly controversial quotes and cover your not so run of the mill journalistic stories.

One of the stories this week is 16 Eagle Street.

For me this is a heart breaker. On the one hand I am glad that people are becoming so passionate about the issue of infill. On the other hand it elicits such anger and hard feeling in Newburyport’s neighborhoods.

As I understand it, Jamie Pennington bought what he believed to be a deeded two family home. An 1850 dwelling with an apartment on the top floor. And there was enough land to “legally” build a large addition.

I’ve never talked to Mr. Pennington, but my guess would be that his thinking could have been something along the lines of, “great I can build another attached house, and I can make some money by either renting one of them, selling one or both and help myself and my family.”

If this was his thinking, he is hardly alone. Over the years, I will admit that I’ve had plenty of those thoughts myself. I’ll think, “Oh my goodness, maybe I could make this bedroom into a studio apartment.” And then I’ll come back down to earth and think, “No, Mary, not a good idea.”

I can’t quite remember when infill started to come to people’s attention in such a passionate way, but I would imagine that back when Mr. Pennington bought his home, it was not the issue that it is now.

As I understand it a foundation is poured and part of the back of the house is demolished.

Understandably the neighbors were alarmed that a large addition was going up in their neighborhood. Just like neighbors and residents all over town.

And as I understand it, what the neighbors found out was that the apartment had a building permit, but never had a “variance” so that the apartment was not (I don’t know what the legal term is) “lawful” even though on paper the property was a deeded 2 family. And apparently the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals has agreed with them.

What an incredible mess.

And this is one of the many reasons why the Newburyport City Council so desperately needs to pass the “Infill Ordinance” or the Amendment to Section 9. The zoning amendment not only would help protect local neighborhood character, but it would also greatly clarify things so that neighbors would have a chance of living more peacefully together.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport

What is going on at 16 Eagle Street is an excellent example of why we need this new Amendment to Section 9 or the “Infill Ordinance.”

The owners of 16 Eagle Street, which is an 1850 dwelling, bought the property I believe 3 years ago. As far as they knew it was a deeded 2 family. As I understand it, the third floor was an apartment.

They applied and received a building permit to construct an attached unit that, as I understand it, would be 35 feet by 22 feet, technically two and a half stories, but apparently the plans show straight dormers, making the house look more like a 3 story structure. From what I understand the square footage would be slightly over 2000 square feet.

The neighbors feel very strongly that the house does not fit in, in regards to scale and mass, with the local neighborhood character.

To make things even more complicated, the property is owned by Jamie Pennington, who is a member of the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA.)

The hearing tomorrow night, in front of the Newburyport Zoning Board of Appeals, is to request that the building go no further (at the moment I believe the foundation is poured) and that the building permit be revoked.

At issue, apparently, is whether or not 16 Eagle Street is a legal 2 family. It is my understanding that a variance was never applied for when it was expanded in 1986. It is possible that the statue of limitations for challenging the lack of a variance for this property has run out.

It is complicated.

What is not complicated however, is that we need this new amendment to the zoning ordinance Section 9. As is stands now, a legal two family, with a small apartment, can build a large attached structure that is completely out of scale with the existing neighborhood character.

This is and has happened all over town. 16 Eagle Street is yet one more example of how this loophole has been taken advantage of.

If the Zoning Amendment to Section 9 or the “Infill Ordinance” existed, the neighbors and the City would have been informed of the new large addition and a dialogue would have taken place.

Hopefully a win-win situation would have come about.

As it stands now, this is a lose-lose proposition. Mr. Pennington has stopped construction. The neighbors are faced with the possibility of a large infill project. There are lots of bad feelings all around. And no matter how the ZBA rules tomorrow, it would be my guess that the case, because it is so complicated and the project is so far a long, would go to court.

What a mess.

I would urge everyone to contact their City Councilor and urge them to vote for the Amendment to Section 9 or the “Infill Ordinance.”

There will be a joint public hearing with the Planning Board and the Newburyport City Council. And then this issue will come before the Newburyport City Council for two readings. On the second reading there will be a deciding vote.

The Newburyport City Council hopes to vote on the Infill issue either in November or December of this year.

It is very unclear to me whether this Infill issue has the votes to pass.

I would also urge everyone who cares about this issue to get a Save Our Town bumper sticker and put it on their car, on their door, in their window.

Unless something like this happens in a person’s backyard, people do not appear to be aware of what an acute problem the City of Newburyport, MA is facing.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport