The Harvard-Devens Jurisdiction Committee (HDJC) has begun coordinating with representatives of MassDevelopment, Devens, Ayer, and Shirley to hire an expert consultant and develop a plan for the future of Devens.
The HDJC was created by the Select Board to implement a 2017 ballot question that instructed the board to analyze the costs and benefits of resuming jurisdiction over Devens land within Harvard’s historical boundaries. Chapter 498, the state legislation that outlines the current and future organization of Devens, gives the towns involved until 2033 to produce a plan for Devens’ future.
In its Jan. 8 communiqué to Lauren Liss, president and CEO of MassDevelopment, the HDJC laid out its mandate and proposed a structure for the planning process. The HDJC recommended that each town develop an individual list of opportunities and challenges associated with resuming jurisdiction over its historical territory. After completing their individual documents, the towns could compare their objectives and work out a mutually satisfactory plan. The HDJC requested that MassDevelopment assist with the several hundred thousand dollars in estimated costs for this endeavor, which would include the hiring of an expert consultant.
In her Feb. 1 response, Liss countered with a proposal of her own. She stated that the planning process should include all five affected parties (MassDevelopment, Devens, and the three towns) from the start, arguing that “unless a common framework is established at the beginning for what it is that needs to be done and what questions need to be answered during the planning process, focusing only on the interests of the individual parties may hinder, rather than inform, the development of a joint plan.” She suggested that the five parties agree to meet in a series of charrettes, or facilitated meetings, where they would agree to a joint planning process and document it in a memorandum of agreement (MOA). After the parties agree to this process, MassDevelopment would fund the hiring of an expert consultant.
Need for town control
At its Feb. 7 meeting, the HDJC discussed how to move forward with MassDevelopment’s plan. Members were adamant that the new people introduced in the process should be responsible to all five parties, rather than just MassDevelopment: the facilitator of the charrettes should be a neutral third party, and the eventual consultant should report to the towns in addition to MassDevelopment. HDJC member Paul Green noted that the objective of the charrettes and the eventual MOA would be to develop a process for how to plan, rather than including any discussion of specific outcomes.
HDJC Chair Victor Normand has met multiple times with the Ayer town planner and the select boards of both Ayer and Shirley, keeping them up to date. According to him, both other towns support the process and are forming their own parallels to the HDJC. Normand hopes that, within the next month, the five parties will be able to agree on a future date for their first joint meeting. The HDJC will continue discussion at its next meeting on March 7.
Devens is a 6.8-square-mile area of land that was taken from the surrounding towns (Harvard, Ayer, Shirley, and Lancaster) in 1917 to form an army base. In 1996, the military returned most of Devens to the state, keeping the Lancaster portion for training. Since then, the state, through its MassDevelopment finance and development agency, has been working to restore the area’s economic well-being, while providing government services to residents and businesses. According to MassDevelopment, Devens is currently home to more than 400 residents, and its businesses employ more than 5,000 people.
