As proponents of the 124-unit Grant Road housing project at Devens prepared for a third and possibly final hearing on Thursday, there was no word on whether Harvard, MassDevelopment, and Devens Village Green LLC, the developer, were any closer to an agreement on how to include low-cost housing units in the project.
Selectman Ron Ricci said in an email that he and Selectman Leo Blair had met last Wednesday, May 20, with Thatcher Kezer, MassDevelopment’s senior vice president at Devens. He said the purpose of the meeting had been to reiterate the support of the Harvard selectmen for a proposal by Harvard’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust to contribute $140,000 of its trust money toward the cost of adding 10 low-income and 18 moderate-income apartments to the mix of single and multifamily units proposed for Grant Road. He said his impression was that both DVG and MassDevelopment were “working diligently” to find a “favorable outcome.”
In an email Tuesday night, David Hopper of the trust said that DVG had reached out to him that afternoon to let him know that they were “working with MassDevelopment and the Devens Enterprise Commission staff to achieve the goals identified in the offer from the trust.”
“They indicated that this is very much a work in progress and that they are not sure if they will have everything in place by Thursday’s hearing, but wanted to at least communicate their intent,” wrote Hopper.
The hearing scheduled for Thursday, May 28, at Devens was to be a continuation of DVG’s application for an “innovative residential development” off Grant Road at the former Army base. DVG hopes to break ground this summer, but Harvard officials have objected that without the inclusion of low-income units, Harvard will find itself short an additional 12 or 13 units in its stock of affordable homes. That’s because the new homes will be built on land the state considers part of Harvard. As the number of homes increases in Harvard, whether constructed at Devens or Poor Farm, so does the number of affordable units needed to reach the 10 percent goal the state recommends.
