Newburyport Planning Board Advances Bank Radiator Fix, Continues Highland Avenue Subdivision

NEWBURYPORT -- March 4, 2026, Newburyport Planning Board advanced three permit cases and approved a housekeeping subdivision covenant release at its March 4 meeting. The board voted unanimously to grant submittal waivers and determine complete a site-plan-review application from the Palmer Capital Foundation for a battery energy storage system on the roughly two-acre, Industrial One-zoned property at 13 Hill Street. It continued the Caswell Development four-lot courts-and-lanes subdivision at 18 Highland Avenue, where revised plans show rear setbacks expanded to 35 feet on three lots and maximum building coverage reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, to March 18, with open questions remaining on lane alignment, tree preservation conditions, and building footprint documentation. In the most technically complex matter, the board voted unanimously to grant conceptual approval of an amended special permit allowing Institution for Savings to relocate a non-compliant rooftop radiator at 93 State Street roughly six feet lower to the bank's older 1980s addition, screened by a new stucco wall, with work targeted for completion by July 30, 2026; the formal written decision will be finalized at the next meeting. Town Planner Andy Ford also briefed members on a tentative April 15 joint public hearing on zoning amendments, including a pending city council proposal to address starter-unit preservation in non-conforming structure expansions that Ford said may warrant a broader, coordinated amendment package.