At next week’s Town Meeting, residents will decide whether to fund a $300,000 study that could lead to a sweeping update to the commercial zoning bylaw, a recommendation made in Harvard’s first comprehensive plan in 1969, and echoed in the 1988, 2002, and 2012/2016 comprehensive plans. As summed up in the 2016 plan, zoning that had worked well for “retaining rural character” in the agricultural-residential district, when applied to the commercial zone, had the “unintended effect of promoting strip commercial development.”
The proposed study—to be done by a professional planning firm—would start with a market assessment (with charrettes for public input and an accounting of vacancy rates, which aren’t currently known) and a fiscal analysis to evaluate tax revenue. If town officials were satisfied with the results, consultants would rewrite the current bylaw to mirror the desired outcome. (See below for details of the proposal.)
Located next to Rollstone Bank, the shopping plaza at 285 Ayer Road, built in 1974, displays an outdated sign. Koko FitClub is a current tenant, not Primerica, and The Study is no longer at this address; its space will be filled with a billiards hall. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The overhaul asks not just for money, but for faith in form-based codes, the method by which the bylaw is likely to be updated. It prioritizes “physical form, rather than a separation of uses” to convey what can be built, according to the Form-Based Codes Institute, a nonprofit professional organization that promotes planning principles such as walkable, compact neighborhoods with ample green space, a mix of uses, and an emphasis on traffic safety. Allowed and prohibited uses would still be spelled out, according to Harvard’s director of community and economic development, Chris Ryan, but additional diagrams, ratios, and definitions would play a larger role in conveying the bylaw.
Both Ayer and Littleton have enacted form-based codes for limited zones, but have yet to build anything to the code.
According to Littleton’s town planner, Maren Toohill, form-based codes were enacted last year for the area around Littleton Common to allow a more attractive redevelopment of a former florist shop. A bank is now looking at the site, she said. The Point, a shopping center recently built near the Interstate 495 interchange and the kind of large-scale development most residents say they don’t want, was built under Littleton’s standard zoning, and is served by its own water treatment plant.
Even if zoning is revamped, the gating factor of water and sewer remains, but Ryan says utilities are part of the plan. “My strong recommendation is for the zoning to be in place first, with a water and sewer solution implemented shortly thereafter,” he said.
The staff of the Harvard Press has prepared a package of materials for this issue that provides details and context for the May 15 Town Meeting vote on Article 8.7, which requests money for the project. The package includes a timeline, interviews with stakeholders, and details of the request for a three-phase marketing study of the district. You’ll also find data on tax revenues generated by Ayer Road properties, the types of businesses established there, and the history of its buildout.
Harvard Lanes at 204 Ayer Road was built in 1950 and offered candlepin bowling until 2020, when longtime owner/proprietor Tony Graceffa died. The building is for sale. (Courtesy photo).
