News

PA PLANS PROPERTY SWAP WITH TOWN

Phillips Academy and the Town of Andover are collaborating on a proposed land swap that would allow Andover to acquire lots near Graves Hall and Borden Gym, the Eagle-Tribune reported yesterday. Both lots are completely landlocked by the Andover campus. In exchange, the school would send the town seven acres of mostly marshy land on Salem Street and Route 125 far past the athletic facilities. That land is not buildable. According to the Eagle-Tribune, Andover’s Board of Selectmen have approved the deal, which is subject to final approval by a Town Meeting in April. The South Main Street lot near the Gym could eventually become an entrance to Andover’s athletics complex, said Director of Facilities Michael Williams, as quoted in the Eagle-Tribune. “At some point in the distant future we may reorganize it so the entrance to the athletic complex makes sense,” Williams was quoted as saying. That lot is presently a triangular parcel of land, with South Main Street, Dwight Street and Highland Road on its three sides. According to the Eagle-Tribune, the school had always assumed that it owned the area. One of Phillips’ Artists-in-Residence planted trees there in the shape of a triangle for a visual representation of the Pythagorean Theorem. “For us, this is an important area,” Williams told the Eagle-Tribune. The second parcel the school will acquire is a quarter acre of abandoned property near the intersection of School and Wheeler streets. According to the Eagle-Tribune, the town’s Conservation Commission approves of the swap. The land the school will surrender is home to wildlife and may be connected to other town trails, according to a memo from the Commission’s director, Bob Douglas. That memo was read during this week’s selectmen’s meeting. “The commission does feel it would make an extremely attractive addition to the town’s conservation land,” said Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski, as quoted in the Eagle-Tribune. The Conservation Commission currently controls 1,600 acres of town-owned land.