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.