At the Oct. 2 meeting of the Joint Boards of Selectmen, Ayer Selectman Rick Gilles suggested trying a completely different approach to the process of Devens disposition.
“Instead of approaching Devens from the point of view of individual towns, think of ourselves as a region. Devens is the best thing we’ve all got going,” he said. “If we think about Devens as an economic engine,” he continued, the communities could ask, “What is it that the engine needs…how does it work with the surrounding communities? What are all the parts and pieces that make it work? If we get it going sustainably, we’ll find potential economic cost and economic benefit.”
Gilles said the economic benefit is in the long-term economy of the region.
“If we have a good business base here with good jobs and stable housing, we will put ourselves in a good place for the next 50 years. How it is governed will come out of that.”
Harvard Board of Selectmen Chairman Leo Blair responded, “In Harvard, we have one industry: schools.” He continued, “Our schools drive property values, influence our mix of citizens…it’s our crown jewel. We need to protect it.”
Gilles pointed out that “Leo just defined the criterion! So regardless of what we decide for Devens, that principle becomes the base criterion for Harvard.”
Harvard Selectman Ron Ricci disagreed, saying, “The reason Harvard wants to look at the housing number is to assess financial impact of adding 200, 300, 400 students as measured by property values, and some people will look at it from an economic point of view. And at a given tax rate, this is the revenue and this is the expense, and this is not a good deal for Harvard.”
Gilles pointed out that there were “30,000 hours of analysis done on the work for 2B,” referring to scenario 2B, which was voted on at Special Town Meeting in 2006. He urged the JBOS to review their process, leverage people who have institutional knowledge and leverage work that has already been done.
He said that he doesn’t want to rehash all the issues that have been studied, saying, “If we are trying to get to April, we have an awful lot of work to do.”
Blair responded that Gilles’ idea had merit.
“What you are suggesting,” a new way of looking at the process JBOS is using to approach Devens disposition, “is intriguing. I need to think about it,” he said.
Housing and schools a concern
Ricci expressed concern that “we might get hung up on the number of houses on Devens” in developing a disposition process.
He suggested that Harvard charge MRPC with getting independent housing estimates. Blair replied that based on a recent conversation with Alana Murphy of Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), he believes that “we will have data that will speak to housing from the state.”
Harvard Selectman Tim Clark reported recent interest in Vicksburg Square at the quarterly MassDevelopment meeting with Devens residents. At that meeting Rich Montuori, executive vice president at MassDevelopment, announced that two developers have shown interest in developing Vicksburg Square.
Clark said that “intervention is required because Vicksburg Square straddles two zones” and requires an independent decision that may not fall under the 400-unit cap.
“It could be 400, it could be 800. MassDevelopment is one transaction away from someone else owning the land and developing it the way they want,” Clark said.
Blair reported that he had had a meeting at MassDevelopment about Vicksburg Square and said, “They are preparing to go out for proposals for 300 to 500 units on that housing. They will solicit endorsement of Boards of Selectmen from Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard. If they get that endorsement, they will go to the Legislature.”
Blair said he believes “we need a temporary cap until disposition;” then the cap can be removed and housing density can be managed with zoning. Blair further stated that he wants to move the discussion on housing from caps to rate of growth.
“Then we can tie a disposition to the rate of growth until permanent governance is in place. It gives the School Committee something to plan with and sets voters expectations.”
Harvard selectmen brief JBOS on Devens forum
Harvard Selectman Peter Warren told the JBOS that he was “disappointed in the turnout” of the Harvard Community Forum on Devens disposition, which was held Sept. 27. “But,” he said, “MRPC did a great job and I thought it was a very productive meeting.” Forty-five Harvard citizens attended the forum on Devens at the Bromfield cafeteria.
Blair said of the forum, “Some participants were ahead of the process, knew the right questions, having learned from past experience where some of pitfalls were.” He also commented that it was “clear that our JBOS labors are under the radar” in Harvard.
To raise visibility on the JBOS work, Blair proposed having JBOS meetings rotate locations from town to town, rather than having them all at Devens.
Blair said that “the public, by and large, was supportive of the criteria” and that the criteria had “held up pretty well.”
Clark said he had heard concerns from the public about Harvard’s approach to the overall Devens disposition process and asked, “What is the process for moving to the disposition outcome? How are we going to get there? How are we going to funnel this down into some type of a process?”
Blair replied, “That is the next logical step.”
Warren, Blair, and Ricci expressed surprise that some people at the forum thought the process was “going too fast.” Ricci said, “People were shocked because it’s a change from not doing anything.”
