1950
Route 2 expands to Harvard, with the interchange built at Ayer Road, instead of near town center as originally planned by the state; the Harvard Lanes bowling alley is also built, not far from the Route 2 ramps. Today, the bowling alley is vacant and for sale after the death of its owner last June.
1952–1967
According to assessor records, at least seven buildings that still exist in today’s commercial zone were built during this time, starting with Stone’s dairy bar (now an office) in 1952. Others include the recently refurbished athletic development business (The Barn), Three Seasons Landscape, and 10-Plus Painting. Also still standing are Harvard Power (then selling/installing glass) and the former Harvard Machine and Tool building, later occupied by Hatch-Jennings and now vacant. Also vacant is the circa 1967 Gokey and Quinn bus depot. The two former farmhouses at the Route 2 interchange existed in 1940 or before; one is for sale, the other for lease.
1954
Appleworks, next to what is now Doe Orchards, is built as a warehouse and packing/distribution hub for apple growers in the region; three additions are built before its life as an apple warehouse ends in 1973. At least five variances and a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals are needed to repurpose it for offices and retail in 1984, and only after a trucking business is ejected. Today, the building lists 19 tenants on its front-door directory.
1965
Interstate 495 construction reaches the area, with interchanges in Bolton and Boxborough. Replacing a single-zone bylaw of 1951, townwide zoning is enacted, including an industrial zone that includes almost 100 acres on Old Mill, Depot, Blanchard, and Lancaster County roads.
1969
The town’s first “Comprehensive General Development Plan” is completed by noted landscape architect and Harvard professor Charles Eliot II. It notes “substantial commercial development” on Ayer Road, but with some agricultural and open land remaining. It recommends downsizing the commercial district and creating a nonprofit development corporation to avoid urban sprawl and strip malls.
1970
The state’s comprehensive permit law is enacted. Known as 40B, the nickname it gets from the MGL chapter number, the law lets developers override most zoning requirements in the interest of producing affordable homes in towns where less than 10% of the housing is affordable. To date, two 40B projects have been built on Ayer Road: Foxglove Apartments in 1992 (not visible from the road) and Harvard Green in 1998. Another project, near the corner of South Shaker and Ayer roads, was approved in 2007 but never built. Today, outside of 40B provisions, homes cannot be built in the commercial zone except on lots that existed as of 1972.
1974
Ayer Road’s only shopping plaza is built. Today it is almost fully occupied with Rollstone Bank, Sorrento’s Pizzeria, The Grape Vine beer and wine store, Seeds of Faith church, Team Realty, and Koko FitClub. One vacancy exists, with plans underway, according to the plaza’s owner, to fill it with a billiards hall.
1987
As recommended in 1969, Town Meeting scales back development potential. Eliminated is the 100-acre industrial zone, accessed through neighborhoods along Depot Road to the south and Old Mill and Blanchard Roads to the north. Buildable square footage is more than halved by shrinking the floor-to-area ratio from 25% to 10%, and the open space requirement per lot increases to 50%, where it stands today. An article enacting a 15-month building moratorium is withdrawn.
1988
Perhaps reacting to recent proposals, including several for 100-plus-unit apartment houses on Ayer Road and an 80- to 100,000-square-foot shopping mall on a former goat farm just off Ayer Road on Lancaster Country Road, the second Master Plan recommends further scaling back the commercial district by reducing potential construction from the 1.3 million figure enacted in 1987 to 300,000 square feet. The plan also recommends encouraging municipal and “alternative” uses; simplifying the bylaw; targeting a local instead of regional market; and connecting abutting commercial lots with “unpaved walkways” to “reduce interlot automobile travel” on Ayer Road. None of the recommendations is adopted in the ensuing years by town officials, though volunteers built “Millie’s Path,” leading from Foxglove Apartments through conservation land to what was Carlson’s farm stand and is now the post office.
1994
Legislation, including the Devens Reuse Plan, establishes legal parameters for the operation of Devens’ post-military operation. The year 2033 is established as the deadline for towns to decide whether to reestablish their historical boundaries within Devens.
1998
Harvard Green, a “friendly 40B” built with cooperation from the town, is built across the street from what is now the Dunkin’ complex. The homes are visible from Ayer Road, but they back up to a vacant, 11-acre commercial lot that is currently for sale.
2002
The town’s third Master Plan calls for a simplified zoning code; an overlay district for Ayer Road’s commercial zone to create village-like (clustered, internal walkways, open space) development; and a study of Ayer Road traffic. Like the 1969 plan, this one says Harvard should create a nonprofit development corporation to “plan, finance, and carry out desired development and redevelopment on North Ayer Road.”
2004 Based on a 2002 Master Plan recommendation, Town Meeting approves village-style zoning (ARV-SP) for any parcel with at least 300 feet of frontage on Ayer Road to “present viable alternatives to conventional commercial sprawl-type development.” It allows increased density and merging of lots (instead of subdividing), clustering, and state-regulated but privately managed sewage systems (prohibited in the district for two or more main buildings in ’88). This zoning was used once to build the Dunkin’ complex, which also includes two office buildings and a 42-unit apartment house for lower income older people.
2007
The Ayer Road Functional Design report (by an independent engineering firm) addresses traffic speed, volume, and dangerous intersections on Ayer Road. It advises creating a new shared entry and exit point to Dunkin’ and the abutting building and allowing right turns only in and out; altering access to the post office and realigning intersections at Ayer Road and Gebo Lane, South Shaker, and Poor Farm roads; and considering a roundabout to slow traffic. The intersection with the highest accident rate in town is found at Poor Farm and Ayer roads; traffic there meets one threshold for installation of a traffic light. The second highest accident rate is found at Ayer Road’s intersection with Lancaster County Road.
2007
The Zoning Board of Appeals grants a comprehensive permit—under provisions of 40B—for 32 condominiums at 262-264 Ayer Road, across from Old Mill Road. The project is never built, the permit expires, and the buildings that existed there since the 1950s are refurbished as business establishments (see 1952-1967, above).
2009
A report by the volunteer Fiscal Impact Analysis Team concludes that Harvard’s persistent structural budget deficit is caused by overreliance on state aid and the residential property tax and could be alleviated by commercial development.
2010
A report by the volunteer Economic Development Analysis Team evaluates costs and benefits of commercial development and presents a strategy based on residents’ preferences, development and revenue potential, and infrastructure needs, concluding that nonretail commercial uses yield higher tax revenue. The team investigates connecting Devens sewer or water to all or part of the district and mentions restricting access to targeted establishments, but does not explain how such limits could be imposed, given state laws favoring abutters’ rights to public water and sewer systems.
2012 and 2016
The town’s fourth Master Plan is released, with the final version delayed by conflict between the Master Plan Committee and the consultant. Harvard is urged to modify its “piecemeal” commercial zoning, which the plans say encourages sprawl. As in the 1969, 1988, and 2002 master plans, “preserving the town’s rural character” is cited as a top goal by a majority of residents, though the 1969 plan termed Harvard “rurban,” or transitioning from rural to suburban.
2013
A five-page report from the volunteer Economic Development Committee, “Grocery Store White Paper,” says a market, to be viable, must be built near other shops and be at least 40,000 to 50,000 square feet in size. Today, 30,000 square feet remains the maximum size, allowable only in the Ayer Road village zone by special permit. Elsewhere in the district the limit remains 8,000 square feet, depending on the use.
2014
A developer asks about building a 24-hour convenience store and gas station across the street from Dunkin’ at about the same time the town’s Economic Development Committee is investigating a bylaw change for a grocery store to be allowed in the same location. Though the bylaw forbids a gas station, attention garnered by the proposal sparks backlash to the EDC’s suggestion to expand floor size for retail use, and the committee drops efforts to propose a bylaw at Town Meeting.
2016
With the help of Bill Scanlan, town planner at the time, the Planning Board creates commercial design guidelines with photos showing the kind of development the town prefers, but they are not necessarily tied to any specific zoning regulation or incentive. Or, as Planning Board Chair Justin Brown characterized the guidelines in a recent webinar: “A step in the right direction, but they lack teeth.”
2019
A proposed change to the ARV-SP bylaw to make it less restrictive is voted down by Special Town Meeting. Rejected were proposals to increase the floor-to-area ratio in the village zone from 10% to 20% by special permit, and up to 30 or 40% if the project included low-income housing. Only one special permit under this zoning has ever been issued, for the Dunkin’ complex. The 2016 Master Plan had called the village zone “under-utilized” and recommended adjusting its “restrictive parameters.”
