Preservation / Do I need approval?
Fences and walls
Fences are reviewed as historic features only downtown and on Fruit Street. Elsewhere the questions are about height and the lot line, which are zoning and building-permit matters.
Last reviewed against the ordinances September 30, 2026
Or read the part for your area: Fruit Street district · Downtown · Rest of the historic district · Elsewhere in the city
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Fruit Street Local Historic District
Fruit Street and a few neighboring lots on High and Prospect Streets, sixteen buildings in all. Its own commission reviews any exterior change seen from the street.
Fruit Street Historic District Commission decides
In the district a fence, wall, terrace, walk or driveway counts as a structure, so one seen from the street is reviewed. Before any building or demolition permit, you need one of three certificates: of appropriateness (the work suits the district), of non-applicability (nothing reviewable is involved), or of hardship. The Commission decides within 14 days whether the work is reviewable, holds a hearing within 45 days, and decides within 60 days of filing; if it doesn’t act in time, a certificate of hardship issues automatically. It looks only at what can be seen from a public street, park or the river, never at interiors.
Code ch. 16 §16-2; Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C
Design guidelines guidance
The 2008 guidelines favor keeping traditional wood, cast-iron, wrought-iron and granite fences; new fences along the street should be open and low, no more than 42 inches. Vinyl fences, and tall solid fences seen from the street, are not recommended.
Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C
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Downtown Overlay District (DOD)
The downtown part of the Newburyport Historic District. The Planning Board reviews work on historic buildings and all new construction.
Office of Planning and Development reviews at staff level
Building, altering or replacing a fence or site wall at a historic building downtown is approved by the planning staff, provided no other downtown-reviewable work is planned within three years. Traditional materials are expected, and anything over 4 feet needs the Planning Board.
Zoning §XXVII-E.3, F.5.d–f, i, k; Zoning §XXVII-C, E, F; §X-H.7–8
Zoning Administrator determines
Downtown review doesn’t reach everything. Excluded, on a written determination: ordinary maintenance or replacement in kind (no change in design, material or appearance; a new paint color counts as in kind); work on a building or feature that isn’t historic; and alterations (not demolition, not new construction) of a one- or two-family house whose lot is in one of the residential (R-1, R-2, R-3) pockets downtown. Work excluded from downtown review falls under the demolition delay ordinance instead, if it is “demolition” of a building 75 or more years old.
Zoning §XXVII-C.3, §XXVII-E; §X-H.5
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Demolition Control Overlay District (DCOD)
The rest of the Newburyport Historic District, outside downtown and Fruit Street. The Zoning Board reviews major demolition of contributing buildings; the Historical Commission keeps roof changes.
No historic review not reviewed
The DCOD regulates demolition of buildings, not fences or site walls.
Zoning §XXVII-D.5–6; §XXVIII-D.1–2; DCOD demolition diagrams (Apr 8, 2022)
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Everywhere else
Outside Fruit Street and the two overlays: most of the city, and a few lots at the edges of the historic district. Only the citywide demolition delay ordinance, for buildings 75 or more years old.
No historic review not reviewed
A fence or garden wall is not part of a building, so the demolition delay ordinance doesn’t reach it. Height limits and whether you need a permit are zoning and Building Department questions.
§5-307
Wherever the building is
Zoning Administrator first stop
Every project starts with a zoning determination. The Zoning Administrator says which of the reviews on this page apply to your building and your plans, and whether the work also needs zoning relief. The site can tell you what the ordinances say; only that determination tells you what applies.
§5-308(A); Flowchart
Repair first