North Andover Select Board Recommends $7.5 Million Fire Station Bond for Town Meeting

NORTH ANDOVER — April 6, 2026 — North Andover Select Board sends $7.5 million fire station bond to Annual Town Meeting voters. The board voted unanimously Monday to recommend favorable action on a 30-year bond for a new Fire Station 3 on Berry Street, carrying an estimated annual debt service of $437,589 funded through new industrial-user tax growth rather than an additional levy on residents. Fire Chief William Weir told the board that Precinct 8 in the town's southeast currently averages six minutes and 53 seconds for a first unit to arrive — well above the national NFPA 1710 standard of four minutes — and that consultants modeling 10,800 calls found the Berry Street site would cut those times by nearly one minute and 45 seconds. The board also tabled an Eversource petition to relocate a flood-zone gas regulator station from Mill Road to Oaks Drive, citing the need to notify abutters before voting; that item returns April 28. In licensing, a motion to approve Ralph Carlson Jr. as alternate manager at Ralph's on Main Street failed, with board members citing a serious alcohol violation at the establishment just five months prior. Town Meeting is set for May 12 at 6:30 p.m. at North Andover High School.