More options for new town yard

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October 22, 2009

By Bethany Bray

Andover now has four options for where it could move its town yard.

With bidding closed, Andover has received four offers from land owners willing to sell their parcels, including two West Andover sites not previously on the table. Starting this week, the Town Yard Task Force will consider:

146 Dascomb Road, a 238,000 square-foot warehouse and 22.9-acres owned by the Brockway-Smith company;

5 Campanelli Drive, a 15-acre site owned by the Gutierrez Company;

167 Greenwood Road, two lots for a total of 8.4 acres, owned by the Belanger family; and

69 North St., 9.51 acres, owned by the estate of Arthur Levesque.

"We have some viable opportunities here, that's the good news. But everything is a function of cost," said Town Yard Task Force Chairman Hooks Johnston.

Each proposal included a cost figure, yet Johnston would not disclose these figures.

The Greenwood Road and North Street sites are new to the table, while the town has been considering the Brockway-Smith and Gutierrez Co. sites.

The town yard is where Andover repairs and houses some vehicles, and stores its road sand and salt. Its roughly 3-acre Lewis Street lot is woefully inadequate, say many town leaders, and buildings on the property have structural issues.

Johnston said he hopes the task force can chose a location, get Town Meeting approval and have the move take place in 2011.

"The sooner the better, before the place falls down," Johnston told selectmen on Monday, Oct. 19.

Over the summer, the task force opened a "request for proposals," which closed on Oct. 12. Three of the four properties are open land up for sale, with no development. The Brockway-Smith company has a warehouse building which the company is willing to either sell or lease to the town.

If the town were to buy the Brockway-Smith property, the company wishes to keep operating out of a 25,000 square foot office in the building, and would lease the space from the town.

"We would be their landlord, so to speak," said Johnston.

The property at 69 North St. was one of several parcels being considered for Northfield Commons, an 88-unit affordable housing development. In 2007, a Groton-based entity named 69 North St. LLC applied with the Andover zoning board to build a development near the intersections of North and Webster streets. Proposed to be built on 14 acres, the development would include 22 affordable units.

Town Planner Lisa Schwarz said this week the Northfield Commons application is still alive, and "pending with the developer."