Well, it’s a good thing there is a disclaimer on the “Guidelines” page of the Newburyport Political Blog. Good grief.

I think that I’ve always said I’m on a learning curve here and that I will and have made lots of mistakes.

Well, a clarification on the “Special Permit” thing and the Towle Overlay District thing is in order. I’m pretty sure that I have this straight (zoning is very complicated.)

This is how I now understand it. The Towle Overlay District is an “Ordinance” not a “Special Permit.” It is an actual change to the Newburyport zoning laws. That is why it was voted on and passed by the Newburyport City Council. It is called (I believe) the “Towle Complex Redevelopment Overlay District” or TCROD – I’m just going to call it the “Towle Overlay District.”

I believe a formal application for a “Special Permit” needs to be filed in order to be able to apply the “Towle Overlay District.”

And when I wrote the post, it was my understanding that no formal application had yet been made.

The Towle Overlay District was created to help create the best possible project for the City of Newburyport. However, if the property was sold, the new buyer could build within the existing zoning laws, “by-right” and not use the Towle Overlay District at all. Hopefully that is never going to happen.

I very much hope that I got this clarification right.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport

(Editor’s note: To make it easier to find the Newburyport Political Blog I have created a web address that will forward you to the main page of the blog. Hopefully it will be easy to remember. It is www.newburyportblog.com. I’ve also put the link at the side of the blog. More on this in a later post.)