The Haverhill City Council on a unanimous roll call vote reconfirmed and adopted a zoning ordinance amendment updating the city’s floodplain overlay district to correct a clerical omission and preserve eligibility for future state funding.

Council President Sullivan said the council needed to “reconfirm or confirm the vote” taken several weeks earlier because “through clerical error, inadvertence, and omission” the final page of the ordinance filing was missing. He said the council had a July 7 deadline and its next regularly scheduled meeting was July 8, meaning the council needed to act that night to comply with state requirements.

Document 68, described on the agenda as a zoning amendment regarding the floodplain overlay district, was listed as an ordinance to amend Chapter 255 by deleting Section 9.1 in its entirety and replacing it with new Sections 9.1 through 9.10.14 to provide required updates to the city’s floodplain overlay district. The filing was noted as consisting of seven pages and was filed May 15, 2025, with a related communication from William Pillsbury, the city’s economic development and planning director.

Councilor LePage moved to confirm and adopt the ordinance; Vice President Jordan seconded. The clerk conducted a roll call and the motion passed with 10 yeas, 0 nays, and 1 absence. The council took no additional amendments or conditions during the vote.

Council President Sullivan framed the vote as an administrative reconfirmation necessary to meet the state deadline and to ensure the city could “apply for future state funding.” Beyond that explanation, no substantive debate or proposed changes to the text were recorded during the meeting.

The action reconfirms a vote the council said it had taken previously; the council did not describe substantive policy changes in the public record beyond the ordinance language summarized in the agenda packet. The record identifies William Pillsbury as the sender of related communications to the council but does not include additional staff presentations or public comment on the amendment at this meeting.

The ordinance adoption is intended to update the floodplain overlay district code; the transcript does not state when changes will take effect or whether implementation requires further state or regional approvals.