Andover Offering Multiple Sessions About Zoning Recodification

ANDOVER, MA — With Andover's zoning recodification set to go before a Town Meeting on May 1, town officials are offering multiple opportunities for residents to learn more about the project.

The town's current zoning bylaw was adopted in 2001, and Andover has undertaken a multi-year recodification process to make zoning more accessible and to clarify existing provisions — though the process will not change existing zoning or introduce major policy changes.

Throughout February and March, the Planning Board has multiple virtual meetings scheduled during which they will discuss zoning recodification. The meetings take place at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 14, Feb. 28, March, 14 and March 21.

Meanwhile, at 6:30 p.m. on March 20, the town will host a Recodification Workshop with Barrett Planning Group, the Hingham-based consultancy that has been assisting Andover with the zoning recodification process.

More details about the meetings are available on the Planning & Economic Development page on the Town of Andover website.

"Recognizing the tremendous effort and work the Planning Board and residents have put into this (recodification) document to date, the next series of public meetings are to help inform the public of what the recodification project is and is not," Paul Materazzo, the Town of Andover's director and planning and land use, told Patch.

The Planning Division also has announced details about this month's Coffee With a Planner session. The in-person session is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Feb. 22 at Old Town Hall, located at 20 Main Street.

Since the meeting falls during school vacation week, Materazzo said his department is inviting students for a conversation that will center on planning through a kid/young adult lens.

"We thought it might be fun to invite the town's future community planners to help us imagine their ideas around downtown," Materazzo said.

Materazzo added: "We will also be available to discuss more specific projects like the zoning recodification and/or any other planning related topics. But the focus will be on cultivating kid ideas for the community."

Another Coffee With a Planner is scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 22 at Old Town Hall.