Merrimack Valley

North Andover to own credit union building by Sept.

By Crystal Bozek
cbozek@eagletribune.com
Published: August 19, 2008

NORTH ANDOVER — Town leaders had hoped to own the site of the future police station by now. But they will have to wait a little longer before taking possession of the former Merrimack Valley Federal Credit Union.

The town is now expected to close on the property Sept. 15.

Assistant Town Manager Ray Santilli said the holdup came when the title company requested a plot plan for the property. There was a question of whether a neighbor was encroaching on the property.

"It's nothing to be concerned about," said Assistant Town Manager Ray Santilli. "Everything is still set to go."

Residents approved $5.8 million at Town Meeting in May to buy and renovate the former credit union building at 1475 Osgood St.

Police Chief Richard Stanley has pushed for a new station for 20 years.

He said the current station, built in 1978, is outdated, cramped and deteriorating, with mold, only one bathroom for 67 employees, no locker rooms for women, and nowhere to speak to victims privately. The station is on Main Street across from Kittredge Elementary School.

The town considered the Bradstreet School on Main Street as the new site for the police station before the credit union property became available.

The Merrimack Valley Federal Credit Union moved its North Andover offices to the Riverwalk in Lawrence last year.

Once the town signs off on a sale agreement, officials expect to bring in architect Alan Lieb and Associates of Boston to start work.

An environmental study of the property done earlier this month showed no signs of petroleum or other hazardous materials in the soil. There was some concern because the land sits near the former Microwave Engineering site, where there were documented releases of chlorinated solvents in the soil and groundwater in the 1990s.

Santilli said the new station should be ready by 2010.

"I think some people think we'll move in in less than a year," he said. "But these processes are time-consuming."