North Andover Receives Almost $400,000 In Grants

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover officials recently accepted nearly $400,000 worth of grants for a variety of town programs.

The Select Board approved the six grants at their Jan. 11 meeting.

"We're really excited to have these all tonight," Town Manager Melissa Murphy-Rodrigues said. "It's really a lot of collective work done by a lot of the departments to bring these funds in and it's nice when you see that pay off."

The town received $175,000 from the Municipal Discretionary Fund established following the 2018 gas explosions for two projects:

• $150,000 went to the town's small business relief grant program, the most recent round of which closed Jan. 18. Grants were available to restaurants and personal service businesses.
• $25,000 went to a study of the Route. 125 corridor from Sutton Street to the Haverhill line. The town previously received a $50,000 MassDevelopment grant for the same purpose.

The other four grants were:

• $200,926 from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for 1,100 feet of sidewalk along Main Street from Greene Street to Garden Street.
• $11,700 from the Department of Environmental Protection for town recycling programs.
• $500 from resident Elizabeth Armstrong for the Fire Department
• $5,000 from Lowell Five Bank for the Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Murphy-Rodrigues said this will go to a speaker series.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.