I would like to thank the voters who attended Town Meeting last week for their thoughtful discussion of the Ayer Road commercial development warrant article submitted by the Economic Development Analysis Team (EDAT), and for their patience as we explained the real-time wordsmithing of the article.
In the best spirit of collaborative government, members of the EDAT team, the Planning Board, and the Board of Selectmen worked together to improve the clarity of the warrant article to ensure that we could bring a broadly supported initiative to the voters. Town Meeting provided an opportunity for all three groups to finally have a shared dialogue—even if it was at the 11th hour. The passage of the article speaks to the success of this collaboration.
Let me add one quick note of clarification for the careful readers of the Press article on the EDAT vote last week. While I, as EDAT chairman, had one-on-one discussions with individual members of the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen prior to the start of Town Meeting, EDAT did not meet as a team to discuss the revisions to the warrant article until after our posted meeting time of 9 a.m. We waited in order to comply with the state’s Open Meeting Law.
And finally, I want to thank the members of the EDAT team—Michelle Catalina, Rick Maiore, and Brian Smith—and our liaisons for their dedication of significant time and effort to the comprehensive and highly impactful analysis of Harvard’s commercial development opportunities and issues.
Bill Johnson
EDAT Chairman
