In response to Ben Laing’s post, I do not have a Ph.D. in zoning or planning and development, a real amateur here, but as I understand it, the zoning overlay for Waterfront West is to provide the City of Newburyport with some protection for that area.

My understanding is that Waterfront West is the area west of State Street that contains such things as the Fitness Factory and Michael’s Harborside.

The goal is to try and make sure that the land is developed properly and matches the rest of the City of Newburyport, using State Street as the model.

And I think a lot of people in Newburyport share Mr. Laing’s unease about Stephen Karp. (That’s why we need to keep Nick Cracknell as Newburyport’s Planning Director–see earlier post.)