Preservation Commission wants to protect Powder Mill site
Dig it: A Revolutionary idea       Andover Townsman  10/19/00

By Neil Fater

    Because  Andover  residents once ran three Revolutionary War-era mills on the site of the proposed Powder Mill Square project, the Historic Preservation Commission wants selectmen to join it in asking for a state-run archeological dig at the site.
   The state is reviewing the Powder Mill Square proposal to build 72 housing units and an office building on five acres near the Shawsheen River and the intersection of North Main and Stevens streets.
   If the project is rejected by the state, then Andover should take the land by eminent domain, says Karen Herman, commission chairwoman.
  "We stiongly suspect that evidence of these early mills would be located on the east side of the river," says Herman. 
  "We believe that this area should not be developed.What we would like to see is this area considered for less intensive use," she says, such as a park.
   The commission has called on selectmen to join it in asking the state office of enviromental affairs to allow the Mass. Historical Commission to make a series of small trenches at the Powder Mill Square site to see what's there.
   "There's nothing wrong with getting more information," says Herman.
   "I don't know what they'd find there. There's a good possibility they'd find quite a bit," said Herman. "There was a powder mill, a grist mill and a paper mill.They did a dig in Charlestown for the Big Dig and they found (evidence of) a governor's mansion."
   Selectmen will tour the site next Thursday, to determine if they want to make any recommendations to the state. But getting them or other officials to support a taking of the land seems doubtful, judging by indications from selectmen and the town manager.
   Asked about the option, Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski noted that the Powder Mill Square project was approved before Town Meeting 2000 by both the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board.
   "How would that look?" he asked rhetorically.
Problems
  Historical and archeological concerns are only some of the issues raised by opponents of the Powder Mill proposal.
   Residents at Town Meeting 2000 voted down any proposal they felt dealt with the Powder Mill project, at least in part because they didn't like the idea of another project in an area withperceived flooding and traffic issues.
   "It's clear that people are having a real problem with this," says Herman. "We're going to lose a huge number of structures that are on the national register. There's a river down there that floods."
   Health director Everett Penney has also written a letter to the state, raising concerns about "incorrect answers" supplied in a document to the state by the developer, Northpoint Realty.
   Residents have also said that the development would eliminate some of the few affordable apartments in town, though Bob Lavoie, attorney for the project, says that 20 percent of the units in the proposed development would be affordable.
   Because of the various concerns, selectmen John Hess and Mary French pushed for selectmen to meet at the site and further discuss the issues involved before Oct 30, the last day residents — and selectmen — can submit comments about the site to the Bob Durand, state secretary of environmental affairs.
   Lavoie has given permission for town officials to conduct a tour of the site next Thursday, Oct.26.
Selectmen, preservation commission, Conservation Commission, Andover Historical Society members and Penney are being invited.
   "Anyone who wants to be on there is fine with us," says Lavoie, who says the owner is willing to give the existing buildings on the site to anyone who is interested in removing them.

Click Here to Read Historical Commission Letter to EOEA:

Click Here to Read Andover Historical Society Letter to EOEA:

Click Here to Read History of Powder Mill Square: