City of Methuen Master Plan

Methuen Master Plan 2007
inside the ring with the exception being one RA zone located along Washington Street just north of
Route 213 and the Loop commercial area. There is another multi-family development (Spicket
Commons) located in a Limited Business Zone (BL) along Hampshire Road on the New Hampshire
border.
Downtown Methuen is zoned Central Business District (CBD) which requires 4,000 sq. ft. minimum lot
sizes and allows retail and offices uses. It encompasses only 83 acres and accounts for less than 1% of
Methuen’s land area. Methuen does not have an extensive downtown area. Much of Methuen’s
business activities are located along arterial roadways and in the regional shopping plaza called The
Loop, located along Route 213. Arterial roads with small business concentrations along them are
Broadway north and south of the downtown area, Lowell Street in the West End and Merrimack Street
in the East End. These businesses are in BN (Neighborhood Business, less than 1% of land area), BH
(Highway Business, 4% of land area) and BL (Limited Business, 2% of land area) zones.
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