I am so relieved that the Zoning Amendment to Section 9 or the “Infill Ordinance” passed at the Newburyport City Council Monday night, and by such a huge margin — 10 to 1.

And I am so proud of the Newburyport Planning Board, that they did not give up after the “Infill Ordinance” failed to pass last year, but instead calmly and very professionally went back to the “drawing board” and took another look. I admire their perseverance.

They set a great example for other boards and committees in the city — when something doesn’t work, don’t give up, but go back and take another gander.

And a very big “thank you” to Jim McCarthy, a member of the Newburyport Planning Board, for his diligence, thoughtfulness and all his incredible hard work. And this is a volunteer board folks. No one’s getting paid for all this time and hard work.

The passing of the “Infill Ordinance” feels like a huge collective weight off many collective shoulders.

One of the things that I learned is that our Zoning Ordinance is a “living document.”

The Newburyport Planning Board will see how this new “Infill Ordinance” works out. And if it needs “tweaking,” they will tweak away.

It is my understanding that the Newburyport Planning Board would like to take a look at the 3 different residential areas in the city, R1, R2 and R3 which all have very different standards, and see if they need “tweaking” too.

So, many thanks again — a great first step.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport