A regional planning agency will provide about $35,000 worth of services to study Harvard’s town center, at no cost to the town.
The Montachusett Regional Planning Council, which offers professional planning advice to 22 communities, will conduct two studies. One will look at car, pedestrian, bike, and parking patterns, especially around Town Hall, Hildreth House, and the fire station. The other will analyze the current layout of the town center in an effort to determine what makes it unique and how to preserve that look in the event of new development. The ultimate goal of that study, according to town planner Bill Scanlan, is to create design guidelines for the heart of the town.
The question to be answered, Scanlan said, is: “How would we allow [a wanted use] without destroying the area?” Scanlan said he expects both studies to build on the 2005 Town Center Action Plan and on the work currently being done for the Master Plan. Scanlan, who works for the Planning Board under a yearly contract to the town, said the studies will begin this summer or fall and must be completed by year’s end. An ad hoc committee of Harvard board members and town officials will be created to help the planning council.
The vote two weeks ago by the selectmen to accept the grant was split 3-2, with selectmen Ron Ricci and Leo Blair opposed on the grounds that the result would be a plan the town could not afford.
