The responsibility for maintaining the character of Harvard’s town center rests with a menagerie of town boards and committees, including the elected Board of Selectmen and the Parks and Recreation Commission, which struggle over the question of who should be in charge, often to the confusion of citizens and civic groups who want to make use of its land and buildings. How should they be managed in the future?
That was among the six questions (see list below) posed by the Charter Commission at a public forum Thursday evening Nov. 17, in Town Hall. The commissioners had planned to split the audience into six groups, one to consider each question. But with only 20 attendees, mostly current and former town officials and volunteers, the panel decided to put all six to the entire group.
Charter Commission member Charles Redinger addresses the group’s findings at a public forum Nov. 21 in Town Hall. From left: Stephanie Opalka, Redinger, George McKenna, and Paul Cohen. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Participants at the two-hour meeting touched on three of the commissioners’ queries: the preparation of annual budgets, the maintenance of town buildings, and care of the town center. But it was the last of these, and specifically the Common, to which they and the commissioners devoted most of the evening.
Bob O’Shea raises a question about land ownership at the Charter Commission public forum Nov. 21.
Town Harbormaster Bob O’Shea of Old Littleton Road opened by saying that he didn’t understand the claims of land ownership asserted by various boards. Parks and Rec claims “ownership” of the Common, he said, but the selectmen claim ownership of the town beach. When the Lions Club wants to hold an event on the Common, he observed, it goes to Parks and Rec for permission but turns to the selectmen for an entertainment license.
Those two boards aren’t the only authorities responsible for the Common, noted charter commissioner Ron Ostberg. “The model is not who owns it, but who owns what layer,” he said. The Historical Commission is responsible for preserving the character of the Town Center Historic District, while the Elm Commission and tree warden are responsible for trees. The Department of Public Works is responsible for mowing, seeding, and other maintenance, he said, but is there anyone “actively managing” the process of coordinating them? “I think, by and large, the answer is always no; there’s no management going on,” said Ostberg.
Who is responsible?
So, asked Cohen, who should be responsible for safeguarding the Common as a whole, the selectmen or Parks and Rec? There was no immediate answer from attendees, though Mark Mikitarian, a member of the Old Library Accessibility Subcommittee, wondered what role the Master Plan plays in determining its care. State law makes it clear that the Planning Board is responsible for preparing a town Master Plan, said Cohen, but “I don’t think we want the Planning Board governing the operations and use of the properties in the center of the community.” The only way to enforce the recommendations of a master plan is by an act of Town Meeting, he added, through a change to a zoning bylaw. But if someone wants to use some land on the Common, “Who is the ultimate jurisdiction?” he asked again.
Tim Clark of Bolton Road, a former member of the Town Center Planning Committee, said there isn’t necessarily a “who.” Clark continued, “There’s a fabric that establishes what the character of the town is. Parks and Rec has custodial responsibility for the land. One of the challenges we face is that we have a volunteer government. Many of us are newbies when we start.” Very few committees have mandatory training, he added. “They may not understand what their responsibilities are or what their limitations might be. Do we have a map, or a chart or table? Many towns have very clear matrices. By default, we all end up in the building inspector’s office,” where the town’s bylaws are enforced.
“What if we were to decide that Parks and Rec is responsible for the town Common, but the town Common will be maintained by the DPW?” asked Cohen.
Checks and balances
That would be fine “as long as you’re clear as to what their purviews are, and you publish what that might be,” said Clark. “I don’t have a preference because I think the current arrangement provides checks and balances.”
Laura Andrews of Scott Road, however, thought the Common should fall under the Board of Selectmen, “because they have the overview of the whole town and are familiar with the Master Plan.” Selectmen Chairman Ken Swanton said that the current arrangement, in which DPW maintains the Common, works well: “It’s well maintained. The guys cut the grass well.”
And so it went for the rest of the evening, as a range of deficiencies was identified and solutions proposed, including proposals for a Parks and Rec director, a facilities manager, an ombudsman to sort out disputes, and a land swap that would give selectmen ownership of the Common and Parks and Rec ownership of the beach.
As 9 p.m. approached, Ron Hettick of Littleton County Road said that both the problems and the solutions discussed struck him as “very status quo.” He asked whether the commission had considered “a radically” different structure. “Within the fabric [of town government],” he said, “we have conflicting goals and conflicting people responsible for the same set of things. It screams out to me that things should be reorganized so there are clean and responsible sets of responsibilities.”
A mandate
But Elaine Lazarus, who is director of land use and town operations for Hopkinton, thought there was another way. A charter can’t resolve everything, she said, but she would like it “to create a structure” where town officials can get together to resolve these issues. “Give the town administrator the mandate to bring people together,” she said.
The commission will not meet again until December, at which time it will review the comments heard at the forum and discuss next steps. Fourteen months remain until the commission is required to hold a second mandatory public hearing, but, said Cohen, more forums will follow. A video of the entire Nov. 17 forum is available at the Harvard Cable TV website.
