Traver joins Agricultural Advisory Committee
The selectmen approved the appointment of Rob Traver to the Agricultural Advisory Commission to serve as an alternate for one term, to expire June 2014. Traver, a 20-year resident of Harvard, said he has always loved farms and loves driving past the farmland in Still River every day. He helped start a farm-school program in Lincoln and is very interested in such projects.
Board grants licenses to Fruitlands and Apple Blossom Festival
Executive Director Wyona Lynch-McWhite requested a one-day liquor license for Fruitlands Museum to serve alcohol in a section of the property not covered by its current license. The venue is the grounds of “Fruitlands,” the farmhouse so named by Bronson Alcott. The event is a Farm to Fork dinner on June 21, the summer solstice, and is a fundraiser for the museum’s education programs. The selectmen unanimously approved the request, and Lynch-McWhite invited them all to the event.
The selectmen also granted an entertainment license for the Apple Blossom Festival, to be held on May 18.
Chelmsford Housing Authority to develop Great Elms for affordable housing
Harvard Trust Nonprofit Properties, Inc. (HTNPP), the temporary custodian of the Great Elms property on Stow Road, has entered an agreement with the Chelmsford Housing Authority (CHA) to buy the property and develop it as affordable housing, increasing the bedroom count from the present nine to seventeen.
CHA executive director David Hedison and his development team came to the selectmen’s meeting this week seeking three changes to the existing deed restrictions on the property; several years ago, Annual Town Meeting gave the selectmen authority to approve such requests.
The first change would be to the definition of affordability, which is now linked to a state program that no longer exists, Hedison said. The second would amend the preference for town employees by adding “to the extent allowable by law.” And the third would grant permission to change the appearance of the property from the road, although Hedison assured the board that any additions would be designed so they won’t look “out of place.” One big change, though, would be the removal of the large barn close to Stow Road, which has too many structural problems to make restoration feasible, he said.
HTNPP managed both Great Elms and the Harvard Inn as affordable housing for many years, but was unable to collect enough rental income to maintain the properties and pay the mortgage. The bank foreclosed in 2011, and the Inn was sold to a developer who turned it into condominiums. Since then, HTNPP has been seeking a buyer who would maintain Great Elms as affordable housing, and eventually contacted the CHA, which has the contacts and experience necessary to put the deal together. Hedison said the CHA would bring almost $3 million in support from the state, but would need a commitment of $75,000 to $150,000 from the Harvard Municipal Affordable Housing Trust. As planned, the development would not only ensure that Great Elms would remain affordable “in perpetuity,” Hedison said, but would replace the affordable units lost when the Harvard Inn was sold,
The selectmen will meet with the CHA again at the April 16th board meeting when they have had time to consider the requested deed restriction changes.
Cable MOU approved
The selectmen finally approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the Cable Committee’s occupancy of new headquarters at Bromfield, but not before renewed discussion of issues pertaining to the security and supervision of minors using the cable studio after school hours. One issue was the question of doing CORI checks on everyone working with minors in the studio, and specifically who would pay for the checks and keep the records. But the board was satisfied with School Committee member Keith Cheveralls’s assertion that the schools would assume responsibility for that.
