City of Methuen Master Plan

Methuen Master Plan 2007
City Owned Vacant Land
According to a manual review of tax assessor’s records the City of Methuen owns 529 parcels of land.
A computer tally by the assessor’s office staff shows 516 parcels of city owned land. These contain the
city’s buildings and facilities, parks, schools, utilities, cemeteries and public safety buildings identified
and described in the Chapter on Community Facilities and Services. The assessor’s records show that
424 city owned parcels are vacant. Many of these are adjacent to parcels that contain city buildings and
facilities and are ancillary to them for such purposes as parking, materials storage, access and land for
future city needs. Some other vacant parcels are identified for open space and conservation use.
Many parcels are undevelopable owing to physical conditions such as wetlands, steep slope, small size
and odd shape. However, a good number are developable and could contribute to city objectives such
as providing land for affordable housing, recreation facilities, additional committed open space,
economic development, neighborhood beautification and local access. Methuen has a program for
disposing of surplus land via periodic reviews and auctions by city agencies of their needs for land. The
City uses the figure of $16,000 in assessed value to distinguish high value land from low value land. Low
value land is often sought by abutters to expand or buffer their property. A review of city owned land,
as related to the goals and objectives of the Master Plan, should be done as part of the implementation
of the actions proposed in the Master Plan. Before auctioning City-owned property, conditions
established as deed restrictions, should be imposed for any property in which there is a City interest in
controlling use and dimensional restrictions beyond those imposed by current zoning. These deed
restrictions may affect the value of the property. This is a trade-off the City should make on a case-bycase
basis as part of its review. Examples of deed restrictions the City may want to impose are keeping
the property open, permitting only recreational or gardening uses; limiting the amount and type of
materials that can be stored on property that is acquired by an adjacent commercial/industrial use; and
requiring additional buffers such as sound and light attenuation devices and measures, beyond those
required in zoning.
METHUEN’S NEIGHBORHOODS
In the broadest sense there are five sections or neighborhoods of Methuen; the Center, the Arlington
Neighborhood which is a continuation of the Arlington Neighborhood in Lawrence, and the North,
East and West Ends. There are smaller more localized areas such as Marsh’s Corner in the West End,
and Pleasant Valley in the East End, however, most local identity is associated with the five major
sections of the City. In terms of land use the five sections of the City can be described as follows.
The Downtown/Methuen Center
Methuen’s central business district and city offices and services headquarters are located in the Center.
It is an area of small retail shops, offices and older institutional buildings and homes. It is a relatively
dense part of Methuen and is entirely built-up. The central core area along Broadway and Charles and
Osgood Streets has 3 and 4 story older buildings that are used for offices. Some of the buildings are
historically significant. Homes surrounding the retail and office core are mostly single-family residences
built on small lots. There are a few multi-family residential buildings on small lots. A narrow industrial
corridor extends south along the Spicket River into the Arlington Neighborhood and on into the City of
Lawrence. An institutional corridor extends from the center southeastward along Lawrence Street. The
Center is bounded by Routes I-93 and State Route 213 on the east and north, by the Caritas Holy
Family Hospital on the east and by the Arlington Neighborhood and the City of Lawrence boundary on
the south. The Center is essentially urban in character.
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