Citizens have three weeks to prepare their input
At its Sept. 2 meeting, the Board of Selectmen continued the process of refining Harvard’s Devens disposition success criteria, in preparation for a Sept. 27 meeting scheduled to receive input from all Harvard residents. Selectmen expressed their hope that residents will familiarize themselves with the disposition process and the success criteria and will attend that meeting ready to participate.
Success criteria” refers to the categorized list of principles that defines what the town of Harvard wants from Devens disposition. Harvard categories are “community, economic, educational, environmental, and administrative/transitional.” Under each category is a list of principles. In the economics category, for example, the first principle states, “The addition of any part of Devens must not adversely impact Harvard’s finances or expose it to undue risk.” Each principle is calibrated for three scenarios: resuming jurisdiction over some, none, or all of Devens. For each scenario, a principle is either required, dependent on land zoned residential, or not applicable.
Speeding up the process
At the Aug. 26 Board of Selectmen meeting, Chairman Leo Blair proposed that Harvard selectmen meet twice per month through December this year to reach agreement on Devens success criteria. This doubles the pace of the process for reaching success criteria for resuming jurisdiction over Devens. At the Joint Boards of Selectmen (JBOS) meeting on Aug. 28, Chairman Blair used a football metaphor, the “no-huddle offense,” to describe the process he has established to define success criteria “everyone can agree to.”
“This is an intense negotiation,” Blair said, referring to the negotiations on success criteria with the town of Ayer and Devens residents. Blair stated earlier this year that he wants to “put something in front of the voters” at the next Annual Town Meeting. According to the legislation governing disposition, the criteria must ultimately be agreed to by a Super Town Meeting vote of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, and perhaps as well by MassDevelopment, Devens residents, and the Devens Enterprise Commission. That decision will likely affect the character and financial well-being of Harvard for decades into the future. At stake are fundamental issues facing the town: taxes, schools, housing, infrastructure, and the character of the town of Harvard.
Input from other boards
At their Aug. 26 meeting selectmen invited other boards to the Sept. 2 meeting to provide input on the criteria. Some members of other Harvard boards were in attendance, but none reported that they had met in session to discuss the success criteria. Stu Sklar, chairman of the School Committee, stated that the School Committee would meet in session next week to discuss their input. The Finance Committee has put success criteria on the agenda for its Sept. 3 meeting.
The selectmen will hold their next regularly scheduled meeting Sept. 16 at Devens, when they will continue receiving input and refining criteria. By then, they anticipate that other boards will have met and discussed the criteria, and will be able to provide more formal input.
In part, the urgency for this accelerated pace comes from the deadline for funding available for help from the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission (MRPC). The state has funded $102,000 to help Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley work with MRPC to resolve Devens disposition issues. That contract expires April 30, 2009. MRPC is a quasi-state agency which supports economic development studies in the central Massachusetts region.
After success criteria, then what?
Beyond the Sept. 27 meeting, selectmen have not defined the public process for reaching agreement on criteria, nor has the renewed urgency to reach a decision been explained. When questioned about his concept or model for the entire process, Blair said he had one, but declined to comment further because it could “compromise negotiating strategy.” The legislation that established the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone requires that Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley reach agreement on disposition by the year 2033.
The town of Ayer and the Devens residents have also listed success criteria which are, in Blair’s words, “almost diametrically opposed” to Harvard’s, although he has also pointed out that there are criteria shared by all parties. The current draft of Harvard’s success criteria can be found on the Harvard website www.harvard.ma.us.
