Published in the February 2, 2017 edition
By Bill Laforme
NORTH READING – The town is working on finding a new use for a 2.49 acre parcel of vacant land off Route 62, with an eye on attracting a commercial development to the property. The property, 102 Lowell Road, is currently valued at about $280,000, with a portion of the eventual sale to be shared with the state under a program that encourages the re-development of idle properties.
At their meeting on Monday evening, selectmen discussed the request for proposal process for 102 Lowell Road, adjacent to the “other” much larger portion of the 30+ acre Berry Property, which has been unused for some years now. At a special town meeting on Monday, March 13 at the High School Performing Arts Center, voters will be asked to approve zoning changes that could bring a large 55 and up housing unit there.
For the much smaller 102 Lowell Road parcel, much of the discussion Monday night between selectmen, community planning commission and economic development committee members focused on whether the town should specifically call for a commercial use of the property in its RFP, or whether it should merely state a preference for it or not specify a preference at all. One argument for doing a commercial-specific RFP was that commercial developers would not typically be able to compete with what a real estate developer may bid for a property.
Despite the considerable support for specifically trying to attract a commercial property to 102 Lowell Road, Richard Wallner of the economic development committee maintained that “we should let the market decide what happens to that property to a large degree.” He suggested keeping the RFP open to residential and commercial proposals, while including a statement that the town’s preference is for commercial. “We don’t know how creative the market might be,” he added.
Selectman Stephen O’Leary also advocated for a more open RFP, saying that “if there’s some other types of proposals that we haven’t considered, I’d like to see what they are.” He added that the town seemed to be limiting its opportunities with by specifying commercial development in its RFP. “This could be a model for Route 28 (development) but we aren’t letting the market show us how to do it,” he added.
Selectman Jeffrey Yull observed that the town had considerably exceeded its goals on the previous Berry property transaction by keeping open to various proposals. “I don’t feel we should try to restrict or determine what the opportunities are before us,” said Yull, who also backed the idea of language stating that commercial development would be preferred.
Selectmen voted 3-2, with Yull and O’Leary in the no camp, in favor of the RFP to specifically seek commercial development at the property.
