This coming Monday, June 8, the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley will each convene a Special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. to vote on four changes to the zoning at Devens that have been proposed by MassDevelopment, the agency responsible for commercial and residential development at the former Army base. Harvard’s meeting will be held in the Hildreth Elementary School Cafetorium.
A Super Town Meeting is required whenever MassDevelopment or any of the three towns wishes to make changes to the Devens Reuse Plan or bylaws. For a Super Town Meeting article to pass, a simple majority of the attendees at each meeting must approve it, giving each town veto power. Since the language of a Super Town Meeting article must be identical for all three towns, amendments are not allowed.
Here’s a synopsis of each article, in plain English. If you’re looking for the precise language of a given article, you’ll find it in the Special Town Meeting warrant posted at the Harvard town website. For additional details, maps, and answers to frequently asked questions, we recommend the MassDevelopment-sponsored website at http://courbanize.com/devens-zoning/. MassDevelopment has also prepared a “Voter Guide,” copies of which will be available at the Town Meeting registration table Monday night.
Article 1: Allow for senior residential uses
in the Shirley Village
Growth 1 District
This article would add senior residential use to the list of allowable uses for the remaining acreage owned by MassDevelopment in the Shirley Village Growth 1 Zoning District. The proposed senior housing would be restricted to age 62 and older, and would consist of up to 120 units of owned or rented housing. A portion of the units would be affordable to low-income households based on income limits set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Article 1’s definition of senior residential use does not rule out an assisted-living facility.
MassDevelopment would sell a portion of the land in this district to a developer, who would be monitored by the Devens Enterprise Commission to make sure that zoning restrictions and fair housing laws were being followed. The article also exempts these units from the 282-unit Devens housing cap specified in the Devens bylaws.
The proposed parcel of land to be used for this project lies behind the Ayer-Shirley Regional Middle School on Hospital Road, a few blocks east of Shirley village.
Article 2: Allow for small-scale
health-care uses
in
the Shirley Village Growth 1 District
This article adds health-care use to the list of allowable uses for the remaining acreage owned by MassDevelopment in the Shirley Village Growth 1 District. The use would be for medical offices adjacent to the senior housing proposed in Article 1. The article specifically disallows hospitals, immediate-care facilities, and clinics, and the zoning change is limited to only the Shirley Village Growth 1 District. The building would be governed by existing zoning laws, which restrict the floor area of a building to 25 percent of the area of the site and the height of a building to 45 feet.
Article 3: Rogers Field, Willow Brook Corridor,
and Adams Circle zoning swap
This article would make zoning changes to three areas in Devens. The first area is a 30-acre portion of Rogers Field, historically used as the Army parade grounds and currently used for soccer and lacrosse games. Rogers Field is currently zoned for development as part of the Innovation Technology Center Zoning District. The field lies primarily within the historic boundaries of Harvard, with a portion within the historic boundaries of Ayer. A vote for this article would change the zoning for this land to open space and permanently protect Rogers Field from development.
The second area is a 3.5-acre area of the Willow Brook Corridor, which is a stream corridor on the east side of Jackson Road. It is currently zoned for residential development, and the stream runs in a culvert. The area lies within the historic boundaries of Harvard. A vote for this article would change the zoning for this land to open space, and the streambed would be restored to its natural condition.
The third area is a 9.3-acre area in the southern portion of Adams Circle. This area was formerly used for Army housing and contains roads and utility infrastructure. It is currently zoned for open space, but it is adjacent to a neighborhood. The area lies within the historic boundaries of Harvard. Approval of this article would change the zoning to residential and would allow expansion of the existing neighborhood.
Article 4: Allow for office and research uses
on the southern portion
of Grant Road
This article would make zoning changes to about 26 acres at the southern end of the Grant Road district, in an area west of Spruce Street, to allow a number of commercial uses. That area’s current zoning is split, with about 23 acres zoned for residential development.
A 3-acre portion of the parcel is a trail easement and already zoned for office, light industrial, and research and development uses. Originally, a trail to connect homes on Walnut Street to the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge was planned in this area, but a portion of the area is considered an “impact area,” where shells from a firing range impacted the side of a hill. That portion is permanently fenced off and inaccessible, making a trail through this land unfeasible. The trail would be moved to an area along Hospital Road instead.
The parcel would be buffered from the Grant Road neighborhood by existing forested ridges, and traffic to this area would be routed through Spruce Street to avoid a negative impact on the Grant Road neighborhood. The entire area lies within the historic boundaries of Harvard. An affirmative vote for this article would change the zoning of the entire 26-acre parcel to add office, light industrial, research and development, academic/institutional/civic, and incubator-type uses to the existing zoning.
Sources: Harvard Special Town Meeting Warrant; Voter Guide to the June 8, 2015, Super Town Meeting Warrant Articles (MassDevelopment, May 26, 2015)
