At its Feb. 25 meeting the Planning Board backed away from the overlay district bylaw it had been working on for more than a year with its subcommittees, Town Center Planning and Master Plan Implementation.
Planner Joe Sudol led the committees in creating the district, and had recently eliminated elements that the public and other planners had objected to, such as allowing multifamily dwellings, thereby whittling the district down to what he and Selectman Tim Clark called a “core” district.
The idea for the district originates with the Master Plan, which calls for improved septic, parking, and walkways for the center of town. It also suggests the overlay zoning district, which leaves current residential zoning in place, but allows for some business uses and straightens out the tangles common to obtaining permits for nonconforming properties. (All town center lots are nonconforming to current zoning law.) Although the Master Plan called for parallel implementation of the improvements, that notion required a leap of faith that most planners were unwilling to take.
Peter Brooks said enacting the zoning change before creating a parking plan was a “cart and horse problem.”
Barbara Brady said she supported the plan “in theory” but that it was “too open-ended” on its own.
Mary Essary wanted to know more about the sewer district before accepting the overlay district. For the record, Essary read a letter from Historical Commission Chairman Jonathan Feist, who wanted to delay a decision until the overlay district’s boundaries were made clear in relation to the existing historic district.
Opposition and support from the audience were about even.
Rhonda Sprague of Still River Road adamantly opposed the district in the belief that it would open Harvard’s center to undesirable development. “Do you want your house to be next to a day spa or hairdresser?” she asked.
Don Green of Oak Hill Road said he simply wanted the overlay district and the town center septic plan to be presented to the town as a package. (The selectmen are guiding the town center septic plan). On the other hand, Carlene Phillips of Oak Hill Road was “very disappointed” in the board’s vote to take no action on the district.
Al Combs, also of Oak Hill Road and a member of the Master Plan Implementation Committee, reminded the board that Harvard was “seven years into a 10-year Master Plan” and appealed for progress toward the plan’s goal to keep the town center alive with a mix of homes and businesses.
General Store owner Adam Horowitz spoke for the district and warned against “fear-mongering” in relation to the district.
Town Counsel Mark Lanza, when asked by Selectwoman Lucy Wallace, said the proposed bylaw contained a “framework for denial and approval” that would effectively prevent unwanted uses of town center properties.
