The town’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) will deliver a white paper later this fall that spells out the actions that Town Meeting and Harvard boards would have to take to attract a grocery store to the commercial district north of Route 2.
Committee Chair Elaine Lazarus announced the initiative Tuesday night before a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board, where she reported on the results achieved by the five-member committee over the past six months.
The committee, she said, had “decided to respond to the results of the master plan survey” in which residents identified having a grocery store in town as one of their top priorities.
“That’s something we’ve heard before,” she said, “so we thought we would look into whether we could host a grocery store today. If a store wanted to come in, could we do it under our regulations?”
Lazarus said the committee had been talking with grocery chains to find out what they required, as well as improvements to infrastructure and changes to permitting and zoning rules the town would have to make to attract them. She said once the committee had delivered its report later this year, it would do the same things for restaurants, which she identified as the second highest priority in the same 2011 survey.
The Economic Development Committee was created by Town Meeting in 2010 to drive development of Harvard’s Commercial District, which stretches along Ayer Road from Route 2 to Myrick Lane.
Town Meeting gave the committee two major tasks: to act on behalf of the town to develop the Commercial District, and to either create or join an existing Massachusetts Economic Target Area so the town could qualify for state grants and be able to offer tax and other incentives to new businesses.
Lazarus reported Tuesday evening that the committee had accomplished the second task. Town Meeting authorized town officials in 2011 to petition the state legislature for membership in the Devens Economic Target Area, which includes Shirley, Pepperell, Ayer, and West Groton, and this year Governor Deval Patrick signed the law that made it official.
The first task, however, is the more ambitious and open-ended of the two. In its role as the town’s advocate for commercial development, the committee is responsible for: coming up with a plan that is consistent with Harvard’s master plan; acting as liaison to local businesses, Commercial District landowners, and potential developers; defining infrastructure improvements, such as sewer and water access; and advising the Board of Selectmen on policies to attract and retain businesses.
Work on all four of those tasks is ongoing, Lazarus told Selectmen and the Planning Board. The new signage bylaw that Town Meeting passed in May was informed by discussions with local businesses, who complained that existing rules were too restrictive, she said. New signs at town center, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Harvard Plaza are the result.
Keeping North Harvard residents informed
The committee has also investigated and confirmed that a physical link with Devens for water and sewer service is possible, and that the former army base has the physical capacity to handle the needs of a more fully developed commercial district.
But while the committee had hoped to be further along with a marketing plan for the district and communications plan to keep businesses and residents of the district informed of its progress, both, said Lazurus, had been “put on the back burner, due to lack of time.”
Michelle Catalina, Planning Board Chair, said she was concerned that the work of the Committee was occurring “without any communication with [the residents of] north Harvard.”
“My worry,” said Catalina, a former resident of the district, “is that things are going to start coming together and people are going to think they’re being presented with something that’s way far along and they’ve never been asked or talked to about it. And the backlash is going to be to come to Town Meeting and vote down whatever it is.”
People need to feel they are part of any decision that is made, she said.
Lazarus’s summary of Economic Development Committee progress set off a wide-ranging discussion among the Selectmen and members of the Planning Board. What about town center, which is also a business district, but not supported by proper zoning? wondered Selectman Tim Clark. Shouldn’t the development committee be including that part of town in its work, given recent completion of the town sewer? Might that be a better place for service businesses, like a restaurant, to locate?
And what about Devens? asked Selectmen Chairman Lucy Wallace.
“We have a big, big, big commercial district that’s right next-door to us that may or may not become part of the town,” she said. “Depending on what happens…it could have a huge impact on whatever we put into [Harvard’s] commercial district.”
Lazarus said she thought the Economic Development Committee should be taking a look at town center, but that would require legislation to change its charter. As for its work to determine what would be required to bring a restaurant or grocery store to town, she said the goal was to provide Harvard with information to make decisions.
“We don’t control the market,” she said.
Balancing taxes and community character
Selectman Bill Johnson reminded the committee that one of the town’s goals with the Commercial District is to take pressure off residential tax rates by increasing—doubling—tax revenue from commercial sources.
Asked if the committee had a specific tax revenue goal in mind for the district, Lazurus told the Press in an email that while committee members had discussed it, they had decided not to set one.
“Having that kind of goal does not allow us to factor in the importance of community character, neighborhood concerns and traffic mitigation,” she wrote.
“Our mission also requires us to be mindful and take into account the town and neighborhood concerns regarding future development of the [Commercial] District,” she said. “So achievement of a revenue percentage at the expense of town character, traffic problems or neighborhood preservation would not be something we would want.”
