Newburyport Planning Board Approves 18 Highland Avenue Subdivision After Extended Review

NEWBURYPORT -- March 31, 2026, Newburyport Planning Board unanimously approves 18 Highland Avenue subdivision and special permit after months of neighbor opposition. The board, sitting with six full and associate members on March 31, voted 7-0 on the special permit and 5-0 on the definitive subdivision for a private-lane residential development proposed by the Council of Development, closing a review process that had drawn sustained public comment from Arlington Street abutters. Engineer Steve Sawyer presented revised tree-protection plans showing one-foot-per-caliper-inch protection zones, construction fencing limits, and a requirement that equipment operating near root zones first lay down four to six inches of wood chips. Special conditions adopted at the meeting require a Homeowners Association to maintain the lane and drainage infrastructure in perpetuity, prohibit parking in turnaround areas for fire access, and mandate a new concrete sidewalk along the Highland Avenue frontage before any occupancy permits are issued. Abutter Stephen Hawking of 5 Arlington Street, closing a process he called the longest and most protracted he had witnessed, told the board: "It seems tonight that feeling has changed", referring to his earlier sense that neighbors had not been heard fairly.