ANDOVER — A resident-led task force expects to have a location and purchase price for a new town yard identified in time for a Town Meeting vote this spring.
"Selectmen have asked us to shoot for the spring Town Meeting and that's what we're going to do," said Hooks Johnston, chairman of the town yard task force.
The ongoing town yard relocation project is one of several topics that will be discussed tonight during the annual midyear review at Memorial Hall Library, 2 N. Main St.
Sponsored by the Board of Selectmen and The League of Women Voters of Andover/North Andover, the event will begin at 7 p.m. It is expected to last two hours.
In addition to a presentation from Johnston on the town yard project, the midyear review will include updates about Andover's plan to combat H1N1, the ongoing Shawsheen River dam removal study, and the recently completed Main Street redesign project.
Andover Planning Director Paul Materazzo also will speak about a town economic recovery plan.
The review will conclude with a question-and-answer session.
The town yard is on Lewis Street and is considered inadequate. It is where road sand and salt is stored and vehicles and equipment are repaired.
Johnston said the task force is considering two privately owned properties as potential sites for a new town yard — 5 Campanelli Drive and 146 Dascomb Road.
He said two other landowners submitted offers to the town, but the properties were either too small or too close to residential neighborhoods to be considered.
The town is looking to purchase at least seven acres and hopes to redevelop the 2-acre town yard on Lewis Street into a mix of residential, commercial and office space.
Located off River Road, 5 Campanelli Drive offers 15 acres of undeveloped land zoned for industrial use. The parcel is owned by Burlington-based developer Gutierrez Co.
Home to a 200,000-square-foot warehouse, 146 Dascomb Road is the former distribution center of millwork wholesaler Brockway-Smith Co., and is near the Tewksbury border and Interstate 93.
Johnston said the town will hire a commercial real estate appraiser to evaluate both properties.
If money is approved to buy one of the two properties at Town Meeting, Johnston said construction on a new town yard could begin in the fall of 2010. It could be open for operation by 2011, he said.
