HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-02-05 Miscellaneous i
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By Grace Rubknstein
Staff Writer
NORTH ANDOVER— Planning officials last
night threw their support behind proposals that
would help bring a new ice rink, shopping center
and another CVS pharmacy to town,
The Planning Board voted unanimously :to:
endorse zoning changes
School Committee . that would allow the devel-
meet€ng canceled. opments 'and sup port
Page 18. authorizing selectmenp to.
sell town-.owned land on
Sharpners Pond Road for the rink, .
Voters at the.May 12 Town Meeting will dec€de
on...
:.the zoning changes and land.sale, Selectmen
have also endorsed the plans,
The 80,000.square-foot retail center across Route
114 from The. agle-Tribune Publishing Co.head-
quar ter s.would,inelude.shops.like Talbots, Ann
Taylor,Pier 1 Imports and Staples,developer Ross
Hamlin says.Hamlin,who;plans to.buy the 12-acre
property:from'The:Eagle-Tribune.Publishing.Co.
is asking voters to change the.land's zoning from.
residential to business use.
Responding to.,planning officials' feats that the.
zoning change..would free the. developer to put`
almost any kind`of business:on his land,Vincent
Manzi,Hamlin's lawyer,offered an agreement that.
the.appearance of the buildings will remain similar .
to what has been proposed. The contract, which
officials agreed to review before Town.Meeting,'
also bars'Hamlin from bringing in certain busi
Please see PLANNING,Page.14.
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.P_ 1anm'n' g,*, Route 114 center approved
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Continued from.Page 13 cy. Fle said fie and his colleagues ing the land's zoning from one Favorable action oil Article 23,
nesses, like car repair, allowed have met one-on-one with neigh- type of industrial use to another the plan for $1.8 million in pro-
under the new zoning. bons in recent weeks to discuss and authorizing the town to sell jects through.the Community
their concerns. the land. Preservation Fund. The fund,
The Planning Board made its However,Graydon McCormick, Youth hockey leaders originally approved by voters two years ago,
support for the zoning change 72 Turnpike St. said no one had p proposed the plan to ease the ice charges an extra 3 percent tax on
contingent on finalizing the agree talked to liim yet about putting time shortage in the area. property sales to pay for recce-
►nent, but Town Planner J.Justin ation, opens ace and affordable
[Moods said Manzi's version plantings on his land: Town Manager Mark. H. Rees housing improvements.
appears "substantial enough to The other Route 114 proposal,a said in addition to the ice time,the
ensure we won't have a bait-and- CVS pharmacy at the corner of town will benefit financially from Unfavorable action on Article 25, .
switch situation." Peters Street, requires a zoning selling the land and reaping which would change the zoning of
change from office to business future tax dollars from the rink. 13,000-square-feet of land 642
Hamlin estimated the shopping use The new building would be He added that voters'backing will Turnpike St. from residential to
center would bring the towri $1.1 owned by the Rogers family,own- make tl►e project legitimate in the commercial.
million in its first year— includ ers of The Eagle-Tribune Publish- eyes of potential buyers. Favorable action on Article 29
ing $750,000 in road improve-
ments lie plans to make to Route ing Co.,and leased by CVS. Other Town Meeting recom- which would change the zoning of.
114 -- while a housing develop- Manzi offered planning officials mendations made by the Planning 1003 Osgood St. from residential
meat there would drain money a similar agreerirent an the phar- Board include; to business to allow amixed-use
from the town. Residents require macy to the one on the retail cen building including offices and
t. Favorable action on Article 13, apartments, Developer Louis P.
costly gown and school services ter, promising to stick with the the fan for$4,4 million in ca ital
that businesses do not,he noted. type of business and building p p Minicucci Jr'. has promised to
investments like maintenance
design engineers have proposed if , build a public playing field on the
l Several neighbors reiterated voters approve the zoning change, construction a
and b'uying major land,
concerns that the retail center equipment,ment such as fire truck.
would bring traffic and disrupt For the ice rink, town leaders the area's woodsy character. are proposing to sell 5 acres of
' Annette C. Royal, 111 Peters St., land on Sharpner's Pond Road on
complained that the proposed the condition that the developer
restaurant would look right onto build an ice rink with free ice time
the pool in her backyard. for the high school hockey teams
Hamlin tried to ease the resi- and reserved ice time for the
dents' worries by promising to North Andover Youth Hockey
pay for traffic signal improve- Association,
ments and plant trees and bushes Selectmen are asking voters to
to preserve their views and priva- .make the rink possible by chang-
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By Michael J.Fisher
rmjfisher@cnc.com
A sea of blue cards at`Ibesday night's edition of Town
Meeting indicated overwhelming voter support for the
upscale,mail proposed for Route il4 by developer;Ross
Hamlin.
The mall will purportedly bring the town a new'com-
mercial tax revenue stream of$400,000 per year.
A two-thirds vote was needed to change.the zoning of
the.proposed lot across the street frorn the Eagle Tribune
from residential to general.business so the`project could
move forward. Of the 261 votes cast, only 15`were
opposed.
In a rehash of the Planning Board hearing on the pro.
posal last month, abutters stood up to decry the mall for
the negative effect it would have.on the quality of their
lives. Increased traffic.and decreased property values
were among a fist of inconveniences and problems they
would bear on the behalf of the town,they said.
However,the consensus wasclearly in favor of the new
'RE MALL,.PAGF 3
i
green 11gM
A tVIALL,FROM PAGE I
mall, and it came to the floor of two "major arteries" thou,
TOWn Meetin t
with town'
Maus backing of the Board of Progress has never be(
Selectmen, the Planning Board achieved without Soule pain,,';
and the Finance Committee, said' This project seems
Many residents spoke in favor of address the needs of many of o
the mall for the significant com- residents,
mercial tax revenue stream it As Part of the project,develol
would introduce. They also ers will place anew traffic light;
noted the benefits it would have the main entrance to the situ
rn comparison to less desirable directly across from the currer
entrance to the
alternatives such as a 40B hous-
ing development, which under traffic lights on Waverly Road
the residential zoning was a os- Peters Street and Route 133 wil
sibility, P all be coordinated according to
A presentation by Hamlin Mass Highway plan to make traf
illustrated net Iosses to the town fic flow more smoothly througl;
of$I96,000 and$588,000 if the the area,according to developers.
This is a $750,000 traffic pro-
Iand were to be developed with hous- ject,that would otherwise remain
residential housing or 40B
ing respectively, Conve
undone, noted Mark DiSalvo, of
rsely, Great Fond Road.
Hamlin's numbers showed a net
Hamlin, when presenting his
gain of about$400,000 per year
in taxes from Iris proposed mall Plans to the town, said he has
which he mentioned could fit talked with a number of abutters,
inside the Kohl's at the North offering them concessions to ease
Andover Mall and still leave the pairs they say the project will
23,000 square feet leftover. brrrrg to them.
The only potential costs to the He has Offered to move the
town, he said, would be ohee northern entrance farther from
and fire services. P the property of Waverly Road
"I sympathize with the abut_ resident Howard Wilkins,build a
ters," said Lenny Degnan, aF stockade fence to decrease noise
Sylvan Terrace, ,But this project and litter, and provide them with
is a no-brainer a larger side-lot then they Current-
rf we don t ly own.He said he will also pr t
approve this, it would be a big vide landscaping services. `"The
iristake,,, y
Degnan also pointed out . will actually be better off than
fact that the maker they are now, mli
said Han.p ofRoute 1I4 the Willdns did not see it that way,
is already largely commercial.
"They knew when they botr ht "Everything about this project
houses an 114 that it was heavy is going to negatively affect my
cormercial,"he said. Y Property, he told voters, His
Dana Cri staldi, .of words were echoed by other abut-
sachusetts Avenue,agreed, I can tens, but the voters were not
totally sympathize with the abut-
ters, but ... this is what we need Hamlin said residents c swayed.
an
to do as a community, expect to see the rrrall open by
Sam Ameen,of Coventry Lane Nov 2004,
said he has watched the town In a similar vein, voters
struggle for the last 10 ears approved the rezoning of a Parcel
d�king for ways to increase on the he corrrerOf Peter's Street and
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Commercial develn Route 114 to general business for
pment. the purpose of a new CVS that
Routes 133 and 114,said Amean, i�rirag in about$75,000 annu-
will Were the natural choices for areas
td develop because they are the all, in taxes.The vote was 226 to
18 apposed,