N. Andover Select Board Approves Revamp With Royal Crest Project

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The North Andover Select Board approved Development Agreements with Merrimack College and the proponents of a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the Royal Crest apartments property by a vote of 4-0 with one member abstaining.

The agreements will only go into effect if a proposed zoning overlay passes the proposed Royal Crest project at the Annual Town Meeting on May 17.

This project would include $9,000,000 in community benefits for the town including resident displacement, concerns on pedestrian safety, traffic, and noise concerns.

Royal Crest Estates have been around since 1970, providing North Andover with 588 rental apartment homes throughout the 76-acre site. Fifty years later, the buildings have deteriorated and need replacement. In lieu of repairing the outdated Tutor-styled apartments, the Royal Crest project will replace the building with safe and sustainable construction.

The agreement between the town and proponents of the proposed redevelopment of the Royal Crest property includes:

• $550,000 for water capacity projects
• $50,000 for a town-wide sewer assessment
• Up to $1,000,000 in post-construction traffic mitigation
• Up to $1,000,000 in post-construction pedestrian safety mitigation measures
• $20,000 for a walking trail study to make connections to the downtown area and a walking trail for the Franklin School
• $850,000 for improvements to parks and fields
• $500,000 to fund the town's community policing initiative
• $650,000 to fund the design of Fire Station 2
• $150,000 for the Senior Center
• $200,000 for the stevens Memorial Library Bookmobile
• $500,000 for the Youth Center addition
• $3,500,000 for the Franklin School gym (addition and improvements)
• $300,000 to fund a downtown properties improvement grant

A per capita mitigation payment is also included in the event that the population at the property is greater than anticipated by the project proponents. The agreement also memorializes the developer's responsibility to provide support for alternatives to automobile usage, such as public transit and bike racks.

"This development agreement kickstarts Facilities Master Plan II in ways we could never imagine," said Laura Bates, Select Board Chair. "The negotiated payments will allow us to move almost $6,000,000 of the improvements at the Franklin School up by almost a decade."

The agreement also requires the developer to continue to pay taxes for a period of 10 years if a nonprofit or other tax-exempt organization becomes the owner of any of the parcels other than the proposed dormitories and requires that the developer maintain a sufficient number of units to ensure the town meets its 40B housing requirements at the time that the developer pulls permits.

A separate Development Agreement with Merrimack College requires the college to make a payment of $1,000,000 to the town to be used for education, public safety, and/or town infrastructure at the town's discretion. The agreement also requires the College and town to form a committee with the developer to create noise/nuisance guidelines, to enter into an agreement in regards to public safety incidents that occur on campus and with students, to have a responsible party at the residence hall at all times, and to require students to undergo pedestrian safety training.

"I'm pleased to see this collaboration with Merrimack College on community issues, and I look forward to seeing more partnerships in the future," Bates added.

Both agreements can be read here.