The Rules and Regulations Governing the Subdivision of Land, Town of Newbury, Massachusetts (the "Regulations"), have been enacted for the purpose of protecting the safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the Town of Newbury by regulating the laying out and construction of ways in subdivisions which provide access to the several lots therein, but which have not become public ways, and ensuring sanitary conditions within subdivisions, and, in appropriate cases, by making adequate provisions for parks and open areas therein. The powers of the Planning Board under these Regulations and the Subdivision Control Law (G.L. c. 41, §§ 81K to 81GG, inclusive) shall be exercised with due regard for the provision of adequate access to all of the lots in a subdivision by ways that will be safe and convenient for travel; for lessening congestion in such ways and in the adjacent public ways; for reducing danger to life and limb in the operation of motor vehicles; for securing safety in the case of fire, flood, panic and other emergencies; for ensuring compliance with the applicable provisions of the Town of Newbury's Zoning By-Law; for securing adequate provision for water, sewerage, drainage, utility services, fire, police, street lighting, and other municipal equipment and services and other requirements where necessary in a subdivision; and for coordinating the ways in a subdivision with each other and with the public ways in the Town and with the ways in neighboring subdivisions.
Under the authority vested in the Planning Board of the Town of Newbury by G.L. c. 41 § 81Q as amended from time to time, said Board hereby adopts these Rules and Regulations Governing the Subdivision of Land in the Town of Newbury. The Planning Board shall administer the Regulations and have all of the powers assigned to it under G.L. c. 41, §§ 81K to 81GG, inclusive (the "Subdivision Control Law").
For purposes of these regulations, the terms and words defined in the Subdivision Control Law shall have the meaning given therein, unless a contrary intention clearly appears in these definitions. The following other terms and words are defined as follows:
A. 
Applicant: Person, including owner, agent or assigns of the owner, applying for approval of a plan of a subdivision or endorsement of a plan believed not to require approval.
B. 
Base Flood Elevation: The base flood elevation shall be the level of the 100 year flood as designated on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), current edition.
C. 
Board: The Town of Newbury Planning Board. A quorum for a meeting of the Board is three members. Action by the Board requires a simple majority vote of those present at a meeting except where specified otherwise in the General Laws.
D. 
Certified List of Abutters: List of property owners certified by the Assessor's Office as having the necessary proximity to the proposed subdivision in conformance with Massachusetts General Laws.
E. 
Country Drainage: Stormwater drainage off roads into roadside swales, rather than into catch basins, pipes and manholes.
F. 
Easement: A right in land required by a public authority, or other person(s), entity, or entities to use or control property of others for a utility or other purpose.
G. 
Frontage: The length of the line dividing a lot from the right-of-way of the street on which it bounds, measured continuously from the intersection of one side lot line to the intersection of the other side lot line of the same lot. For a corner lot, frontage shall be measured to the midpoint of the arc of the corner curve; either street may be used to determine the frontage.
H. 
Gravel: Gravel is defined as a mixture of stone and sand, of even gradation, free of organic matter, trash or any other deleterious material, whose primary purpose is to serve, when compacted, as a roadway base course. Gravel may be processed or naturally-occurring, but may not consist of crushed or recycled Portland Cement concrete.
Gravel shall conform to following gradation, tested in conformance with ASTM C-136:
Sieve Size
% Passing
3 inch
100
1 1/2 inch
70-100
1/4 inch
50-85
#4
30-60
#200
0-10
I. 
Lot: An area of land in one ownership with definitive boundaries ascertainable from a recorded deed or recorded plan.
J. 
Planning Board Agent: A consultant employed by the Planning Board who is professionally qualified to review subdivision applications for conformance with the Town's By-Laws and Regulations and with good engineering practice, and/or to inspect the infrastructure construction for conformance with the approved definitive plan and with these Rules and Regulations.
K. 
Professional Engineer or Professional Land Surveyor: Individuals registered to practice as such in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
L. 
Roadway: That portion of the way, right-of-way or street layout which has been prepared and constructed for vehicular traffic.
M. 
Streets:
(1) 
Collector: A street which, in the opinion of the Board, is being used or will be used as a thoroughfare across or between different portions of the Town, or which will otherwise carry a heavy volume of traffic.
(2) 
Cul-de-sac, Dead End or Non-through: A street or street system which has only one means of ingress and egress to a through street.
(3) 
Minor: A street which, in the opinion of the Board, is being used or will be used primarily to provide access to abutting lots and which is designed to discourage its use by through traffic.
(4) 
Non-through street: A street that comes off a through street and loops back upon itself at a point on its edge of right-of-way with geometry as described in § 117-23D below. A non-through street has only one means of egress to a through street.
(5) 
Paper: Any way or right-of-way shown on a recorded plan or sketch but which has not been constructed or otherwise prepared for vehicular traffic.
(6) 
Subcollector: A street intercepting one or more minor streets and which, in the opinion of the Board, is used or will be used to carry a substantial volume of traffic from minor street(s) to a major street or community facility, and normally including the principal entrance street of a large subdivision, or group of subdivisions, and any principal circulation streets within such subdivisions.
(7) 
Through street: A street that has a connection to at least two existing streets, or two connections to an existing street.
N. 
Subdivision:
(1) 
The division of a tract of land into two or more lots, which shall include resubdivision, and, when appropriate to the context, shall relate to the process of subdivision or to the land or territory subdivided; provided, however, that the division of a tract of land into two or more lots shall not be deemed to constitute a subdivision within the meaning of the Subdivision Control Law if, at the time when it is made, every lot within the tract so divided has frontage on:
(a) 
A public way or a way which the Town Clerk certifies is maintained and used as a public way; or
(b) 
A way shown on a plan theretofore approved and endorsed in accordance with the Subdivision Control Law; or
(c) 
A way in existence when the Subdivision Control Law became effective in Newbury (December 14, 1966), having, in the opinion of the Planning Board, sufficient width, suitable grades and adequate construction to provide for the needs of vehicular traffic in relation to the proposed use of the land abutting thereon or served thereby, and for the installation of municipal services to serve such land and the buildings erected or to be erected thereon.
(2) 
Such frontage shall be of at least such distance as is then required by zoning or other by-law of the Town of Newbury for erection of a building on such lot.
(3) 
Conveyances or other instruments adding to, taking away from, or changing the size and shape of, lots in such a manner as not to leave any lot so affected without the frontage above set forth, or the division of a tract of land on which two or more buildings were standing when the Subdivision Control Law went into effect in Newbury (December 14, 1966) into separate lots on each of which one of such buildings remains standing, shall not constitute a subdivision.
O. 
Way or Right-of-Way: The full strip of land designated as a street consisting of the roadway, utility routes and any planting strips and sidewalks.
No person shall make a subdivision, within the meaning of the Subdivision Control Law, of any land within the Town, or proceed with the improvements or sale of lots in a subdivision, or the construction of ways, or the installation of municipal services therein, unless and until a plan has been endorsed "Planning Board Approval Not Required" or a Definitive Plan of such subdivision has been submitted to and approved and endorsed by the Board and recorded at the Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds.
Not more than one building designed or available for use for dwelling purposes shall be erected or placed or converted to use as such on any lot in a subdivision, or elsewhere in the Town, except where specifically allowed by the Town of Newbury Zoning By-Law, without the consent of the Board, and such consent may be made conditional upon the providing of adequate ways furnishing access to each site for such building, in the same manner as otherwise required for lots within a subdivision.
The following requirements must be met for Planning Board approval of a subdivision plan:
A. 
Written approval from the Byfield Water District or the Newburyport Water Department, as applicable, for the connection of the subdivision to its public water supply system and for distribution therefrom; OR
A written statement from a local well-drilling company regarding the probability that a well at reasonable depth and with a yield satisfactory to the Newbury Board of Health can be drilled on each lot.
B. 
Each proposed lot has a passing percolation test and two acceptable test pits, performed and observed by an approved soil evaluator, as defined by the State Environmental Code, Title 5 (310 CMR 15.000) and witnessed by the Newbury Health Agent. This report shall be stamped by the approved soil evaluator.
The Board may waive strict compliance with any of these Regulations if it deems it in the public interest and if written record is kept of such waivers, and the reasons for them.
The Planning Board shall not approve or modify and approve any Subdivision plan of land unless all buildings, structures, and lots shown on said plan comply with the Zoning By-Law of the Town of Newbury or unless a variance from the terms thereof has been granted by the Board of Appeals.
A. 
The subdivision design shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991 Accessibility Guidelines and with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board Rules and Regulations (521 CMR), both as amended from time to time.
B. 
A statement must be made on the endorsement sheet of the submitted drawings that the subdivision design is in conformance with the above-stated Federal Accessibility Guidelines and State Rules and Regulations.