Part 1: Why we need to update the 1994 reuse plan and zoning bylaws
MassDevelopment Chief Executive Officer Marty Jones (Courtesy photo)
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a two-part interview with MassDevelopment CEO Marty Jones and members of her Devens team. The interview took place May 29 in the offices of MassDevelopment at Devens. Also present were Thatcher Kezer, Devens senior vice president; Ed Starzec, Devens land entitlement director; and Mark Sternman, MassDevelopment vice president of communications.
The interview covered a range of topics, from the agency’s push to create a “sustainable” economic engine in central Massachusetts to the four zoning changes MassDevelopment has proposed for Devens, which will be decided next week by the Town Meetings of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley.
In this week’s installment, Jones and her team discuss the rationale behind the four requested changes to Devens zoning. (For a synopsis of each article, see “The warrant in plain English: Harvard Press guide to the June 8, 2015, Super Town Meeting of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley.”) The transcript has been edited for coherence and conciseness.
Press: Why are the four zoning changes you’ve proposed necessary?
Jones: Well, for us [i.e., MassDevelopment] the goal … is to develop Devens and build it out as an economic engine for the region. Obviously [that’s achieved through] a combination of land sales and making sure our operations are as efficiently run as possible.
[We’re] working hard to [make] land available for development. These zoning changes are a piece of that, because we’ve been constrained by the way the world looked back in 1993 when [the Devens reuse plan and bylaws] were put together. The world and the market are a bit different. These zoning changes will allow us to make better use of the land and be able to continue the development. We think there’s demand for some things that aren’t currently permitted under our zoning. That’s why we want to make these changes.
Articles 1 and 2
Jones: [The two Super Town Meeting articles that apply to the Shirley Village Growth District]are in fact doing that, looking at a demand for some senior housing. Developers have expressed interest, and the community has expressed interest in building more out in that area. (For more on how Shirley views the articles, see “Super Town Meeting vote would ad to senior houseing in region,” page 3).
Ed Starzec: We’ve seen through surveys in the region that all facilities are full or have wait lists. There’s a real documented need.
Press: You’ve said that to the extent the law permits, you will give preference to Harvard and Ayer seniors, as well as Shirley seniors, who might want to move to the new housing. How will you do that?
Starzec: Because we’ve left so much flexibility in the zoning change for what type of senior housing could go there—it could be anything from age-restricted to rental with no services to condominium ownership—it’s very hard to understand how fair housing laws can apply to that without knowing more about the project. So we commit to do as much as we can … it will depend on the details of the project.
Press: What about Article 2, which would allow medical offices in the Shirley Village Growth District? What’s your vision for how that might play out?
Starzec: We’ve always had the notion that a doctor’s office or a dentist’s office would be a compatible use, a complementary use, with a senior residential facility. Health-care uses are part of a typical downtown street mix. For whatever reason, they were excluded from the reuse plan for Shirley Village Growth. So we’re just trying to add that in. We have 35 acres there. We’re not looking to build 30 acres of medical offices.
Jones: And they’re small-scale, too. The size is limited.
Starzec: It’s not hospitals.
Kezer: The baby boomers of 1946 are turning 70 this year [and there’s a “bubble” coming behind them]. There are a lot of seniors who are still living in the big family homes … and they need options to be able to downsize. So this development is going to create those options … But they also want those medical services. As they age, their medical needs will increase.
[Medical offices] will provide that “wrap-around”—readily available services for those as their medical needs increase. I think that will complement—not compete—with the hospitals and such. Your specialists are all going to be where they are now, but these will be the type of medical services that cater to that population.
Press: It’s clear how these changes help Shirley and the other towns, but how do Articles 1 and 2 help Devens?
Jones: Any development that comes in is going to pay taxes—as [MassDevelopment] does collect real estate taxes here—and our mission is to build [the area] out. And there will be jobs … the number depending on whether it’s condominiums or assisted-living. Doctors’ offices would create jobs. [There would] also be a land sale, price depending on the type of project.
Article 3
Press: What’s the rationale behind Article 3, the one that proposes a land swap of conservation land for residential space?
Jones: This [article rationalizes] something that none of us around the table here [were part of] when the [reuse] plan was put together. We can’t quite understand why they zoned the Willow Brook land, which you can’t build on for housing [because it’s a wetland], and didn’t preserve Rogers Field.
Kezer: The existing old neighborhood is zoned open space and the big open field [Rogers Field] is zoned for development.
Press: Why is it being done as a swap?
Jones: We thought it was important for people to understand that we were not diminishing the amount of open space. This was not the idea. It was to put the open space requirements where it made sense—for Rogers Field, along the brook and places that really made sense from an open-space perspective.
Kezer: It’s a net gain for open space.
Starzec: The first thought you have when you drive around Adams Circle about the homes is, “Why do they stop here?” Thirty-three and a half acres of open space would be created in exchange for 10 acres of residential.
Kezer: A net gain of 23 acres of open space if my math is right.
Starzec: We tried to make it a really compelling offer.
Article 4
Press: You’ve said the intent of Article 4 is to assemble a larger tract of land that would be attractive to a major bio-pharmaceutical or similar firm. Why the Grant Road area?
Jones: When we put Grant Road out for [residential] development, the proposal that came back was for a great community design that was more compact than stringing out large lots along the road. So there’s extra land available that is restricted in terms of its use. And we in the Commonwealth over the past number of years have seen more and more demand for some large users. And there are very few sites available [in Massachusetts] that are zoned with utilities that can accommodate those large users.
Press: Do you have someone in mind?
Jones: In the past two months there were two very large bio-pharmaceutical manufacturers looking for sites. We didn’t get one of them. [The second hasn’t made a decision.] When we looked at the sites that the state [not just Devens] could offer, there were only a handful … So having a site that could accommodate those kinds of uses seems important both for Devens and for Massachusetts to be able to attract these companies.
Starzec: And talk about a shot in the arm for Devens sustainability—it would be another large user.
Press: Similar in size to Bristol-Myers Squibb?
Jones: We can only respond to the market. I would love that. I would love to clone BMS. [Article 4 would give us] a site that could accommodate something in that range.
Press: So your preference would be for a campus rather than offices at that site?
Starzec: We have other sites that can accommodate small research offices. It’s when you get that assembled site—that’s the rarity. We still have land [for offices] on Jackson Road.
Jones: A little more on that theme. BMS has been incredibly successful. That’s demonstrated by their building the next phase. As much as we do a lot of marketing of Devens, inside that bio-pharmaceutical community, they know what all their competitors are doing, and if they see that this is working well for somebody [they pay attention]. And the Mount Wachusett [Community College] training program that has been there [at Devens] has been fantastic to help make sure the educated workforce is here. So there are a lot of reasons that site there could be attractive.
To be continued.
Next week: MassDevelopment’s vision for the future of Devens.
