Zoning in Andover Massachusetts

From Andover Answers
Revision as of 13:55, 28 March 2024 by Stephanie (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Andover's first zoning by-law was enacted at the March 9, 1936 Annual Town Meeting. [1] [2] The Town of Andover's first Planning Board had been voted into law ten years earlier. [3]

In 1960, Andover adopted 'cluster zoning,' the first town in Massachusetts to create special development by-laws that allowed sub-divisions of ten acres or more to create residential lots sized smaller that the required two acres and for them to have frontages that were less than the required existing laws permitted. [4] [5] [6] [7]

In the 1960s, in the wake of the newly announced 495 highway construction project, multiple attempts were made to pass a two-acre minimun lot size for new development. [8] [9] [10]

In 2015, The Town of Andover approved The Historic Mill District at the May Annual Town Meeting. The Historic Mill Distric is an area of over 100 acres including the Town Yard, commercial, residential and open space properties in downtown Andover. [11]

Important Massachusetts State Zoning Laws In 2004, Governor Mitt Romney passed a law creating financial incentives for municipalities and towns to zone and permit more multifamily, apartment and condominium housing near public rail stations.

SEE ALSO
Town of Andover Zoning Board of Appeals Town of Andover Zoning By-law, revised 2022
Andover Zoning for Beginners
Map of the Town of Andover, Made for the Planning Board, 1955
Proposed Zoning Map, 1956

REFERENCES

  1. Estimate $29.50 rate; zoning law passed, The Andover Townsman, March 13, 1936.
  2. Andover Zoning Law Approved, The Boston Globe, April 12, 1936.
  3. Annual Report for the Town of Andover, 1926
  4. Clement, John Roland. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City and Regional Planning. Thesis. 1966. M.C.P
  5. First cluster zoning in state The Boston Globe, January 21, 1962.
  6. All eyes on Andover cluster development, The Boston Globe, November 20, 1961.
  7. New cluster zoned houses for Andover, The Boston Globe, January 14, 1962.
  8. Merrimack Valley uneasy about the growth of towns, The Boston Globe, September 9, 1962.
  9. Suburban towns wrestle with zoning woes The Boston Globe, October 12, 1960.
  10. Route 495 to affect 75 towns, The Boston Globe, April 10, 1961.
  11. Town Meeting okays mill district proposal, The Andover Townsman, May 14, 2015.

--Stephanie (talk) 12:44, 28 March 2024 (EDT)