Proposed Zoning Amendments
Proposed Zoning Amendments for Annual Town Meeting 4/29/25
On behalf of the Board, I would like to give the Planning Board Report regarding the Zoning Amendments proposed in Articles 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 on the Warrant for this Annual Town Meeting. As required under Mass General Law, Chapter 40A, section 5, the Planning Board held a public hearing on these proposed Zoning Amendments in February of this year.The Board opened the hearing on February 19, 2025, and continued it on February 26, 2025.On that date the hearing was closed and the Board voted unanimously to submit the proposed Zoning Amendments to the Select Board for inclusion on the Town Meeting Warrant.The Planning Board recommends adoption of all of these proposed Zoning Amendments.
- Woody Knight, Chair of the Newbury Planning Board
The rationales for these Zoning Amendments are included in the Finance Committee’s Appropriations Booklet. In addition to that information, you may review the Zoning Amendment Presentation Slides which will be presented at the 4/29/25 Annual Town Meeting, and see more information below from the earlier discussions held about these amendments.
The presentation slides from the public hearing are linked below:
Planning Board 2.19.25 Public Hearing Slides
Please forward any comments to Kristen Grubbs, Planning Director at [email protected].
In addition to the Public Hearing opened on 2/19/25, the Planning Board discussed needed revisions and possible updates to the Newbury Zoning Bylaw at their regularly scheduled meetings held on December 4, 2024; December 18, 2024;January 8, 2025; and January 22, 2025. All of these meetings are available for viewing here. On January 22, 2025, by unanimous vote, the Planning Board requested that the Select Board submit the following Zoning Bylaw amendments back to the Planning Board for a Public Hearing, as required by MGL c. 40A, s. 5.
The Select Board considered the Planning Board's memo at their public meeting on January 28, 2025, and then voted unanimously to refer the following amendments back to the Planning Board, for a Public Hearing to be held on February 19, 2025. The Public Hearing legal notice was posted with the Town Clerk on February 3, 2025, and was published in the Newburyport Daily News on 2/3/25 and 2/10/25.
The proposed zoning amendments include revisions to certain bylaws as required for compliance with State, FEMA, and EPA requirements, as well as revisions recommended as part of the Zoning Recodification project that former Planning Director, Martha Taylor, has been working on with Town Counsel, Planning Board members, Zoning Board members, the Building Commissioner, the Planning Department and other town staff over the past six months. This recodification project has been identified as a priority goal in the Planning Department’s annual work plan and budget detail for several years.
A summary of each proposed zoning amendment is below, and the text of each proposal as submitted to the Select Board on 1/23/25 is hyper-linked from the title of each amendment.
Proposed Amendments to Chapter 97, Zoning:
1. An amendment to Article I, General Provisions
Language recommended by Town Counsel to be included as General Provisions of the bylaw.
2. An amendment to Chapter 97, Zoning, Article IV, Regulations of Overlay Districts:
Updates to the flood hazard bylaw, required by FEMA for the Town to stay eligible for the National Flood Insurance Program, along with adoption of Newbury’s new Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), which will become effective on July 8, 2025. Town Counsel, MA DCR staff, and Newbury’s Floodplain Administrator (Building Commissioner Peter Binette) have provided the language and reviewed these amendments. Newbury must adopt the new FIRMS and FIS dates and update our floodplain regulations at Town Meeting before the effective date of July 8, 2025, to maintain it's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
This is a riverine mapping update only, so Newbury does not have many changes, however there are some. The changes to the FIRM maps can be viewed online at the FEMA Flood Map Changes Viewer. Generally the yellow indicates where the floodplain is getting larger and purple shows where the floodplain is going away.
Digital copies of all of Newbury's FIRMs can be found here: FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Look up Newbury and then look under the “preliminary” folder for all new map panels. Newbury's map panels are: 25009C0114G, 25009C0116G, 25009C0117H, 25009C0118H, 25009C0119G, 25009C0136G, 25009C0137G, 25009C0138G, 25009C0139G, 25009C0141G, 25009C0143G, 25009C0252G, 25009C0256H, 25009C0257H, 25009C0276H, 25009C0277G, 25009C0281G. You can also search by address. The public may call the FEMA Mapping and Insurance eXchange at (877) 336-2627 (877-FEMA MAP) to request assistance.
3. Amendments to Chapter 97, Zoning, Article V, Special Permits General:
- Section 97-5.A. General: Language has been added to provide guidance and decision criteria for the granting of special permits;
- Section 97-5.C. Open Space Residential Development: Language has been amended and added to clarify certain provisions of the bylaw. Along with the proposed bylaw edits, the Planning Board intends to review and update the OSRD regulations, which will be done through a public hearing process later this spring;
- Section 97-5.D. Common Driveways: Language has been added and amended to clarify certain provisions of the bylaw regarding Common Driveway Design Specifications and application requirements;
- Section 97-5.G. Registered Marijuana Dispensaries/Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers: As recommended by Town Counsel, to adhere to State regulations, this section is proposed to be deleted and combined with Section 97-5.H. Marijuana Establishments;
- Section 97-5.H. Marijuana Establishments: This section has been amended to include language related to Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers.
4. Article IX, Special Regulations: Section 97-9.A. Site Plan Review
New language regarding pre-construction meetings has been added as recommended by the Town’s stormwater consultant, for the Town to stay compliant with the EPA municipal stormwater ("MS4") regulations. In addition, new language is proposed by the Planning Board is to provide additional guidance for review and approval of projects requiring site plan review.
5. Article X, General Regulations: Section 97-10.C. Customary Home Occupations
Language has been added to clarify that uses which require a Special Permit per the Table of Use Regulations cannot be permitted as a customary home occupation.
6. Article X, General Regulations: Section 97-10.D. Accessory Apartments
As part of the Affordable Homes Act, passed by the Massachusetts’ legislature in August of 2024, the construction of an accessory dwelling unit on a single-family lot must be allowed “by right” (without the requirement of a “special permit”) if it meets certain dimensional criteria. This law goes into effect February 3, 2025. In order to be compliant, the Town must update its Accessory Apartment bylaw (originally adopted by Town Meeting in 2006). The proposed new Section 97-10.D. has been reviewed with the support of MVPC housing planners as well as Town Counsel and is intended to replace the Town’s existing bylaw.
Here is a fact sheet regarding Newbury's proposed ADU bylaw - Fact Sheet
Town Counsel has recommended the addition of language regarding granting of building permits and granting of variances, and amendments to written definitions.
8th Warrant Article: In addition, Town Counsel has recommended an additional article, accompanying these amendments, which would ask Town Meeting approval to:
- Change “Board of Selectmen/man” to “Select Board” throughout Zoning Bylaw
- Change “By-law” to “Bylaw” throughout Zoning Bylaw
- Authorize the Planning Director to create a Table of Contents for Zoning Bylaw, once all updates are made