The rape of the Ridge has begun. This is one of my worst nightmares for Newburyport, MA.

The “Ridge” is the area on High Street on the upper side of the roadway that goes roughly from State Street to about Lime Street. It is one of the most beautiful and stately areas of High Street and one of the most beautiful parts of Newburyport, MA.

And folks we have been sold out by the Board of the Wheelwright House, the realtor that listed the property and the lawyer, who ironically was Newburyport’s Mayor for 3 terms and the Mayor under whose administration the Newburyport Master Plan took shape, former Mayor Lisa Mead.

To say that I am beside my self is an understatement. I really thought long and hard about using the phrase the “rape of the Ridge,” but this morning I thought it was more than appropriate.

And many thanks to Stephanie Chelf and the Newburyport Daily News for putting this story on the front page and also having the aerial view of the entire property on page A8.

According to the Newburyport Daily News, August 31, 2006, the property was bought by Todd Smith and Peter Nordbloom of Willis Lane Investments, LLC. Both men are officials of Nordblom Real Estate Solutions of Burlington, “one of the regions largest real estate and commercial property firms.” Believe me, they do not have our best interest at heart.

The firm bought the entire property for $1.6 million. The property is “nearly 5 acres.” That’s a lot of land folks.

Willis Lane Investments, LLC has already put the Wheelwright House, the historic gardens and the carriage house back on the market for $1.3 million. The house and the carriage house “are protected through a preservation restriction that prevents alteration or demolition.” The historic gardens are not protected and it doesn’t mean that the Wheelwright House and carriage house could not be converted to condominiums.

And basically the rest of the property was bought for $300,000…not a bad price folks. And the firm would like to develop the roughly “4 acre” land at the back of the property and put in a 5 single-family home subdivision.

This is on the Ridge.

It sounds from the paper that the firm will have to get a number of permits for the “subdivision proposal.” Thank goodness for that.

Let us not welcome these folks to town. Let us make their lives as miserable as possible. I cannot imagine that the Newburyport Planning Board or residents of this City would be amenable to this proposal.

And for goodness sakes let us start pestering our City officials, especially the Newburyport City Council for zoning amendments that protect our historic assets. This project alone helps destroy our economic vitality.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport