A proposal to develop Vicksburg Square at Devens as 300 to 500 housing units came before the Joint Boards of Selectmen last week and could come to a Town Meeting vote.
In a letter to selectmen Chairman Leo Blair, MassDevelopment, the quasi-public agency responsible for redevelopment of Devens, explained that “based on MassDevelopment’s own architectural and engineering studies and the two unsolicited offers the agency has received for Vicksburg Square in recent months, it appears that the most feasible reuse of the buildings may be multi-family residential. While the regional housing market has slowed in recent years, planned hiring at Devens for both the new Bristol-Myers Squibb and Evergreen Solar manufacturing facilities may result in a significant market opportunity for a carefully-targeted residential development at Vicksburg Square.”
But under the current Devens bylaws, “the Vicksburg Square area is zoned as an ‘innovation and technology center,’” the letter continues, so this current zoning would have to be changed to accommodate residences and retail. The letter went on to characterize MassDevelopment’s strategic intent, saying that their “goal is to solicit proposals for any and all feasible redevelopment scenarios for the buildings. The preservation and reuse of these historic structures is the agency’s foremost goal.”
To approve rezoning of any portion of Devens defined in Chapter 498 requires that any plan be approved in a “Super Town Meeting venue,” meaning that Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley would each need to approve the rezoning at Town Meetings held on the same day. The approved plan would then be sent to the Legislature to be enacted into law.
Challenges inherent in such a plan include the approval of 300 to 500 new housing units, which would add to the 282 residential units currently authorized by Chapter 498. Twenty-five percent of these units would be affordable housing. The impact of 300 to 500 units on local school systems would be significant if those units were occupied over a two-to-five year timeframe. Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Evergreen Solar predict an increase of approximately 4,700 jobs over the next four to five years.
Also, Vicksburg Square, an architecturally significant red brick structure that is in a National Register Historic District, is physically located in both Harvard and Ayer. This means that, in order to keep the structure within the boundaries of a single town, jurisdictional borders of both Harvard and Ayer would need to be adjusted and the decision made as to whether Harvard or Ayer would assume governance of the redeveloped Vicksburg Square area.
At the JBOS meeting Blair said that MassDevelopment hopes “to get a feel for a level of cooperation” from the towns of Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley. If the towns agree that the project is in their interest, MassDevelopment would publish a public Request for Proposal (RFP). Responses to a formal RFP would provide costs and pricing data as well as architectural visions of a renovated Vicksburg Square.
Harvard Selectwoman Lucy Wallace requested clarification about the scale of the redevelopment proposal. A map included with the letter from MassDevelopment shows an area not limited to the physical quadrangle usually referred to as “Vicksburg Square.”
This map also showed areas occupied by an old theater and a police station. Wallace’s question was whether these additional areas shown on the MassDevelopment map would be a part of the overall redevelopment project.
Blair estimated that the project “would take up to five years,” adding he’d like to “see if we could take it through Town Meeting.”
Harvard Selectman Peter Warren said he thinks “we need help on economics of how many units to develop.”
Wallace suggested that the board create a working group to work with MassDevelopment on the RFP to provide input on zoning changes.
