Andover Select Board Endorses Sale Of Town Yard Land

ANDOVER, MA — The select board voted Monday night to endorse the sale of the Town Yard land, 11 Lewis St. The town manager and town clerk presented to the board reasons they believed sale would be better than a 100 year lease on the land, which is at the heart of the recently created Historic Mill District (HMD) overlay district. The proposal to sell will go to a town meeting as a warrant article for approval.

Town Clerk Austin Simko laid out a long list of reasons to prefer sale over lease. The number one reason, he said, is that developers would be less likely to buy up surrounding properties and build on them.

"We would prefer that developers have the opportunity to acquire abutting properties ... to widen the canvas on which developers would make their developments," said Simko. "We want the best possible development in the old town yard."

Leasing would also scare away condo developers, Simko said, and broadly reduce the number of proposals and the overall price. "You can expect about 30 percent less revenue from a lease relative to a sale."

Simko listed some secondary factors related to the challenges of being a lessor. On the other hand, he said, with a lease the town continues to control the land after the lease term.

The board voted to endorse the suggested method, unanimously.

The select board also voted to rename the Senior Center the Robb Senior Center after recently-passed residents Don and Vicky Robb. Town Manager Andrew Flanagan described the intense involvement of the couple in the community, including Don sitting on a half-dozen boards over the year and Vicky managing the lifeguards at Pomps Pond. Public commenters and selectmen spoke enthusiastically in favor of the renaming, and it passed unanimously.

The board voted to set the "useful life" of certain equipment to 10 years, for borrowing purposes. They also held a first reading on potentially raising ambulance fees.

Flanagan updated the board on Columbia Gas restoration work. The company is in the process of verifying hundreds of abandoned gas service lines, following the September gas leak in Lawrence. The first set of 183 lines have been checked, while the company has checked 270 of a second set of 420, he said.

"It's our hope that over the next 2 weeks that that 420 will be wrapped up," Flanagan said. "This has put significant strain on our paving program."

Simko described a resident survey the town is working on with UMass Lowell researchers, and the town counsel told the board that the town has filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.