During the public comment portion of Monday’s Andover Select Board meeting, resident Becky Backman raised concerns that work has not started on the Town Yard redevelopment 14 months after a contract was awarded to North Andover-based Minco Development.
Backman said she had failed to get an answer when she asked town officials “several times” for updates on the project that voters approved in 2020. Officials promised the mixed-use, transit-oriented development on the three-acre site would increase Andover’s tax base.
“It would have been nice for a really valuable property in the center of town to begin yielding taxes,” Backman said. “But here we are, and I keep asking, ‘Where are we in the process?’ It’s a little bit startling, it has taken this long.”
More coverage of Monday’s select board meeting:
- Select Board Presses For AHS Cost Estimates
- MBTA Rules Could Create 2,301 Affordable Units In Andover: Select Board Notebook
The select board chose Minco as developer in December 2021, and the town was to enter negotiations to sell the land at Lewis Street to Minco. The approval called for the signing of a land disposition agreement within 60 days of the select board’s approval.
Since then, Minco has acquired five additional properties surrounding the parcel.
While the select board typically does not respond to citizen’s petitions, Chairman Alex Vispoli said the negotiations are “in process. It’s moving along.”
Town Manager Andrew Flanagan said the delay was “not for a lack of effort.”
“I appreciate your concern and apologize for the vagueness over the past year or so. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to provide an update…if not at our next meeting, a meeting in March,” Flanagan said. “Without going into details, because we can’t right now, sometimes delays are in the best interest” of the town.
It’s not clear if Article 37 on the Town Meeting warrant the select board reviewed Monday is related to the Town Yard redevelopment. The article asks for approval of a tax-increment financing deal, but the private-sector recipient and the amount of the TIF are both blank in the draft warrant.
“At this point, it’s just a placeholder,” Flanagan said by text message when asked for more information Monday.
TIFs are a redevelopment tool where local government subsidizes the private-sector developer with anticipated future taxes that would come with the anticipated increase in property values.