Andover Planning Board Approves Dascomb Road Project

ANDOVER, MA — The Andover Planning Board approved a special permit Tuesday that will allow Lupoli Companies to move forward with a plan to build 524,000 square feet of office and retail space on the town's border with Tewksbury. The latest version of a proposal from Lupoli to remake a 16.2-acre industrial parcel on a busy stretch of Dascomb Road near an Interstate 93 interchange is scaled back from an earlier proposal, which included housing. But residents in both towns are worried about increased traffic in the area.

The project would create 3,000 car trips daily in the area, according to a peer review of the developer's traffic study. When the board met in July, much of the discussion focused on traffic. The project would require changes to the I-93 north and south interchanges, as well as new traffic signals at Smith Way, Fron­tage Road and Dascomb Road.

Andover Special Town Meeting voters rejected changes in January 2018 that would have allowed housing to be built on the property. Lupoli revised the proposal, which now calls for 1,760 parking spaces, a 66,000-square-foot, 100-room hotel, 80,000 square feet of retail space, 20,000 square feet of restaurant space, a 30,000-square-foot fitness center, a 35,000-square-foot grocery store, and 293,000 square feet of office space.