Andover developers to have plans reviewed      Eagle Tribune 10/13/00
The Health department is urging the state to require a full environmental impact report for the proposed Powder Mill Square development 

By Shawn Regan
Eagle-Tribune Writer

   ANDOVER — Developers for the proposed Powder Mill Square complex gave incorrect information to state regulators conducting an ongoing environmental review of the plan, according to the town's health department.
   The developers say the health deparament is wrong.
   Northpoint Realty Development Corp. received approval earlier this year from the Planing Board and Conservation Commission to build 72 apartments and a 65,000-square-foot medical office at the old mill property near downtown Andover.
   In the North Andover company's Environmental Notification Form (ENF) to the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the developers said the project is not in or adjacent to "areas of critical environmental concern. The ENF added the project will not require any hazrdous waste permits.
   "A red flag went up as soon as I saw a copy of their ENF," Public Health Director Everett F. Penney Jr. said. "They answered that their project is not in an environmentally sensitive area. And, when asked if there is any hazardous waste on the site, they answered 'no."'
   Mr. Penney disputes that, saying the property sits on the banks of the Shawsheen River, which has overflown three times in the last year and flooded the surrounding residential neighborhood and development site — an abandoned 5-acre lot at Stevens and North Main Street.
   "The town's main sewer trunk, the Shawsheen River Interceptor Sewer, directly abuts the river and has been subject to overflow and the release of raw sewage on several occasions," Mr. Penney said in a letter to EOEA secretary Robert Durand. "Clearly, this is an environmentally sensitive area."
   As for the hazardous waste issues, Mr. Penney said the developer's attorney, Robert W. Lavoie, recently told him a hazardous waste consultant has been hired and is examining the property.
   "The Board of Health has not yet heard back on the results of the site assessment," Mr. Penney said.    "There could be pollution left over from a previous company out there, or an old dump. It may turn out that the site is fine, but our information is the examination is ongoing."
   Steve Stapinski, Northpoint's engineering consultant, said yesterday the company's ENF is accurate.
   "Under DEP's regulations, an area of critical environmental concern is a defined term for areas that are specifically listed by DEP," said Mr. Stapinski, a land engineer for Merrimack Engineering Services.

Click Here to Read Health Director's Letter to EOEA: