The selectmen last week confirmed plans to convene two town meetings on the evening of Oct. 24—a “super” and a “special”—adding to an already busy fall election calendar. The so-called Super Town Meeting is required to consider a revised MassDevelopment proposal to rezone a residential parcel at Devens for business. The Special Town Meeting would allow the selectmen and other boards to seek approval for expenditures and zoning and other bylaw changes needed before next spring’s Annual Town Meeting.
So far, representatives of two town boards have said they expect to submit articles for the Special Town Meeting. At last week’s selectmen’s meeting, Brian Smith and Chris Roy of the town’s Energy Advisory Committee said they would request new bylaw language that would let them explore whether the bulk purchase of electric power on behalf of the town would reduce rates for residents and businesses. Such a program is known as “community choice aggregation” (CCA).
The proposed article would allow the committee to hire an energy broker to develop a CCA plan for review by the selectmen, who would approve or reject it. With an approved plan in hand, the broker would solicit bids from power supply companies to provide the town with electricity at a fixed rate for six months to two years. Residents could opt out, and solarized properties would continue to receive credits. Smith and Roy said the CCA option would give their committee a useful tool. At last week’s meeting, the selectmen voted unanimously to add the requested article to the Special Town Meeting warrant.
Meanwhile, Planning Board Chairwoman Kara Minar told the selectmen last week that her board hopes to have two articles ready for the Special Town Meeting. The first would rezone land adjacent to Hildreth House to allow construction of senior housing, while a second would add new requirements for businesses that locate in the commercial district on Ayer Road. Both articles are still in development and will be taken up at future Planning Board meetings.
Devens redux
The MassDevelopment proposal seeks permission to rezone 28 acres of residential land near Grant Road for what the agency terms “innovation and technology business” (ITB). The additional acreage would create a 60-acre ITB tract that would be attractive to a biopharmaceutical company. State law requires that any change to Devens zoning be approved by the town meetings of Harvard, Shirley, and Ayer. The three towns must meet at the same date and time, hence the name “Super Town Meeting.”
Last June a similar article was approved by Shirley and Ayer but defeated by Harvard. Harvard residents who spoke against it objected to what they viewed as its lack of clarity in specifying how the land would be zoned, with language that allowed for an undesirable mix of residential and business uses. The revised article makes clear that the rezoned land will be used only for ITB development.
However, at last year’s Super Town Meeting, a number of Harvard opponents also urged defeat of the original article as a way to express the town’s displeasure at the way MassDevelopment had ignored Harvard’s need for state-defined affordable housing at Grant Road. At the time, a Press editorial cautioned that unless MassDevelopment modified the zoning of its remaining residential properties to contribute to Harvard’s goals, future plans would remain at risk. The revised article makes no mention of that issue.
If the two town meetings are to be held on Oct. 24, the selectmen must approve both warrants no later than Oct. 4.
