DEP makes site visit to Powder Mill Square       3/23/00

   The Department of Environmental Protection is taking comments about the proposed Powder Mill Square Project, which has been appealed by a group of neighbors.
   Assistant Section Chief Phil DePietro of the DEP's wetland division and Derek Standish, also of DEP, visited the site of the proposed medical office building and apartment complex last Thursday.
   Residents who appealed the project's approval by the Conservation Commission and the project's developers met last week with DEP officials around a table of maps and plans set up in the vacant lot across from the Stevens Street post office, next to Marland Place, where the buildings would be built.
   Other residents, Andover Conservation Commission agents, Planning Director Steve Colyer, and a representative from state Sen. Sue Tucker's office also attended.
   Neighbors Peter Hadley and Patrick Robbins told DEP they feel the project would block the Shawsheen River floodway, and cause more water to flow onto nearby properties.
   They also feel that even if the project is approved with conditions, it is unlikely the town will have the resources to enforce the conditions.
   Developers say the building is not in the floodway, and asked residents to help them develop a maintenance plan to meet conditions and avoid flooding.
   DEP is accepting comments from the public about the issue until March 30, Hadley says.

— Rebecca Lipchitz