Consider This: The Ayer Road Vision for the Future project can yield a mixed-use district that is walkable, attractive, and fiscally responsible

As the community and economic development director for the town, I was hired to pursue economic development opportunities for the community and to work in a planning role. One of the key reasons for creating such a position was to try to find opportunities to address the town’s structural budget deficit. Other reasons are clearly spelled out in a range of policy documents (see box below).

Developing the commercial district in village-like clusters with New England character has been recommended by most of these documents, and even recent survey results from the senior housing research of 2020 showed strong support for this type of development in the commercial district. This is precisely what the Planning Board is trying to do as it pursues a three-phase program to create the best possible plan for Harvard’s future.

Phase 1, underway now, will collect data to identify the district’s market potential, and it will determine how much revenue potential this development could provide. Phase 2 would then turn it over to citizens to determine what they want to do; this is when the vision for Ayer Road will be created. Phase 3 would codify this vision–using modern form-based zoning bylaws—to allow it to happen. Each phase is a necessary precursor to the next, providing needed information to carry a whole, coordinated plan forward.

It is evident that there is still a strong desire to see this come to fruition, given the expressed support of the Planning Board, Select Board, Finance Committee, Capital Planning and Investment Committee, and a range of citizens who have worked with us on this effort. People mention Town Meeting votes rejecting the funding requests through CPIC as an indication that the town has spoken and that this project is not wanted. One could have a range of interpretations of these votes. The 2019 vote elicited feedback that citizens wanted to see the whole package before funding anything. Thus in 2020 the Planning Board sponsored an article that did just that—it requested CPIC funding for all three phases. In rejecting the 2020 request, some Town Meeting commentary asserted that we already had enough data from a previous Montachusett Regional Planning Commission study. Others were emphatic that we had already studied this to death, had developed plan after plan, and didn’t need another plan. Some still liked the idea of phase 3, the form-based zoning code, but didn’t want the other two phases.

Whether phases 2 and 3 go forward depends on fiscal analysis of market study

What may not have been understood in 2020 is that if the market data collected in phase 1 indicates a minimal or negative fiscal impact from potential development, then that’s it. This project ends and we look for other opportunities for economic development and increasing local revenue. If we find evidence that the fiscal impact could be substantial, then we hope to proceed to phase 2, the vision plan, and give residents an opportunity to work closely with a highly skilled consulting team and help us develop a desirable vision for this critical area. If you participate in this, you would have an impact on what is created. This is not just the same old type of plan that will sit on a shelf and be a waste of taxpayer money. It will be a citizen-driven process that intends to build as close to a consensus as we can on what the future of the commercial corridor should be. It will address what it will look like, how it functions, what impact it will have, what scale it is at, how long it will take, and how we can bring it to fruition.

Embedded in this process is the idea of neotraditional town planning, a time-tested model of town design that is walkable, engaging, fiscally responsible, and generates local pride. Alternatively, if we do nothing, we can imagine that many less than desirable land uses and buildings will continue to be established in the corridor—which is what our current zoning will indeed result in. We will also continue to experience economic leakage, where nearly 95% of local dollars are spent elsewhere, filling surrounding town coffers. We will also not capture external dollars, which if we establish just the right mix, we can begin to draw on and become more fiscally healthy.

We have seen criticism of the market survey that our consultant has developed. However, they will also interview local and regional stakeholders and professionals who can inform market potential. Once this is all pulled together and market potential is estimated in several scenarios, the fiscal impact analysis step will determine what the market possibilities could mean for Harvard.

The Planning Board, and others in town, care very much about the future of Harvard, its character, how it functions, and what will or will not work in this area. But for this to result in sensitive, properly scaled, and attractive development as we have proposed, we need your participation. You have a chance to shape and inform what will happen here. If this doesn’t work, or even if it does, we still need other ideas about economic development in Harvard. So we welcome those ideas as well so we can thrive, jettison the structural deficit, and make Harvard’s future flourish long after we’re gone.

The Planning Board always welcomes citizen participation so it can engage in a constructive dialogue about the future of Harvard as well as the many small topics and issues that arise. The age of virtual meetings has made it even easier for citizens to pop into a meeting of the Planning Board or some other board or committee. Yet that doesn’t happen very often and most of the dialogue in town occurs on other platforms, far from the venues where the opportunity to constructively provide opinions and thoughts is available. By attending our meetings, one can contribute to the marketplace of ideas and have an impact well before the floor of Town Meeting. This is the best way to learn about our initiatives and the most effective way to influence policy.

  
Chris Ryan is Harvard’s Director of Community and Economic Development.