Word that construction of a long-awaited apartment building at Emerson Green in Devens could begin as soon as next month is good news for Harvard, Devens, and the region. (See story).
For Harvard, an increase in the number of rental apartments in the three-story apartment complex there would add to the town’s affordable housing inventory. A preexisting agreement between Harvard and NOW Communities, the developer, guarantees that 25% of those units will be low-income affordable. But because of a quirk in state law, all 46 units in the building will count towards Harvard’s inventory of affordable housing, which currently stands at 5.8%. NOW Communities says it will honor that agreement and has not asked Harvard to increase the $140,000 subsidy the town has promised to pay the developer once the apartments are completed.
For Devens, the additional units will help alleviate an increased demand for workforce housing at the former Army base. The state legislation that established the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone in 1993 made job creation the primary task of MassDevelopment, the land agency charged with restoring the jobs that were lost when the base closed. Its success has been notable.
A 2020 report by the UMass Donahue Institute found that Devens businesses, nonprofits, and governmental organizations now employ more than 6,000 workers and that their activities support employment of another 8,038 workers in the state. The same study found that Devens employees commuted from Leominster and Fitchburg, the neighboring towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, and from New Hampshire, their numbers clearly visible in the long lines of cars entering and exiting at rush hour. For those who wish to live closer to work, the additional apartments will provide an attractive option, especially given the availability of Harvard schools for the education of their children.
A growing resident population at Devens, however, is, in many respects, a disenfranchised population, living in a 21st-century company town. Property owners have no vote, no voice in creating an annual budget, no say in the municipal services that MassDevelopment provides, or the rate at which they are taxed.
By all accounts, residents are satisfied with the current arrangement. But as talk turns to the redevelopment of Vicksburg Square and a further expansion of the resident population, it would seem more urgent than ever to establish a framework for the future governance of Devens and to grant its residents their full rights as citizens of the state of Massachusetts.
