State Sen. Jamie Eldridge announced this week that he has asked the Legislature to include $400,000 in the Massachusetts fiscal 2023 budget for the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee to pay for a study of the future of Devens. The special request, a so-called bond earmark, authorizes an expenditure, but requires the approval of the governor before the money can be used. The money would be administered by the town of Ayer, which is already providing other forms of support to the committee. But the request “has a ways to go,” a knowledgeable official in Ayer Town Hall told the Press.
It’s been more than two months since MassDevelopment, the quasi-state agency overseeing the commercial and residential development of Devens, abruptly withdrew from the DJFC, whose mission is to study how the former Army base might be governed once MassDevelopment completes its work. The agency’s refusal to pay for consulting to thoroughly explore options for the permanent governance of Devens has been an obstacle to the committee’s work for months.
The jurisdiction committee and the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC), the regulatory authority at the former Army base, have both sent letters of protest to Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy, who chairs the MassDevelopment board of directors, urging him to intervene.
But as of Tuesday this week, Kennealy had not responded. And at the most recent meeting of the DJFC, Sen. Eldridge, who represents Devens and several surrounding communities, said it was his opinion that given the current leadership of MassDevelopment and board, he saw no chance the agency would rejoin the committee anytime within the next six months. Instead, he advised, the committee should continue “on its own,” pledging that he and state Rep. Dan Sena and other members of the delegation that represents Devens would “step up” to help.
Moving ahead without MassDevelopment
Meanwhile, the remaining members of that committee, fed up with MassDevelopment’s lack of response, appeared newly energized at their most recent meeting and ready to take matters into their own hands. The group is made up of representatives from the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, as well as the DEC and the Devens residential and business communities.
“It’s time we changed the dynamic,” Alan Manoian, Ayer’s director of community and economic development, told his colleagues at the committee’s June 8 meeting. The committee shouldn’t worry so much about unanswered letters and what MassDevelopment thinks of us, he said. “Let’s just get at it ourselves.”
Manoian has proposed the DJFC begin with what he called a “unity social” in Ayer Town Hall later this month where members can get to know each other in person, after months of Zoom meetings. Ayer would provide food and music from local sources and, weather permitting, a tent behind Ayer Town Hall under which the committee’s members could mingle, Manoian said.
Manoian proposed to follow this gathering with a series of Friday “visitation tours” through each of Devens’ several neighborhoods and town common, which Manoian said he would be willing to organize. The tours would begin in June and would continue through August.
In addition, Ayer Select Board member Jannice Livingston has proposed that the boards of Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard host a joint public meeting this fall—open to all area residents, with Eldridge and Sena in attendance—to lay out what’s at stake in deciding the future governance of Devens and to answer questions. “One of the problems is that a lot of people don’t even understand what this [permanent governance] conversation is about,” said Livingston. “It would be nice if all three towns were together in one meeting, no real decisions being made, except, you know, we agree to get along. But having a conversation and answering people’s questions, all at the same time.”
Why now?
The committee is also drafting a position paper entitled “Why Now” that sets forth arguments for starting now on a study of the options for the future governance of Devens. The document questions whether MassDevelopment is acting in the public interest by postponing discussion of how Devens will be governed after 2033, the year its responsibility for municipal governance is supposed to end.
In a draft provided to the Press, the paper asserts that Devens residents currently lack the right to choose their own leaders, a right guaranteed by the state constitution, and have no say in how their tax dollars are spent, listing some of the implications of that lack of oversight in the following paragraph:
“MassDevelopment’s operating and capital budgets for Devens are not subject to any public review process; it operates a full-
service utility system that is not regulated as a public utility or as a municipal utility; it has the authority to set local taxes and fees and commit a portion of them toward long-term debt that could become the obligation of some future permanent government; and it has developed personnel policies, adopted pay scales and entered into collective bargaining agreements that similarly could complicate future governance.”
Amending Chapter 498
Careful planning of all the factors involved in moving MassDevelopment’s oversight of the daily municipal operations of Devens to other local government entities, while assuring public participation, will take time if it is to be successful, the document continues. “Three years between initiating a study and submitting a study and recommendation may not be enough time.”
Some DJFC members are also concerned that the language of Chapter 498 is too vague. Chapter 498 is the 1994 legislation that created Devens and designated MassDevelopment as the area’s municipal authority. While the law says that the towns of Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard, the DEC and MassDevelopment must present a plan for the permanent governance of Devens by 2033, some members maintain there is nothing in the law that prevents MassDevelopment from continuing to govern Devens for the next 100 years.
To remedy what he characterized as a flaw in the legislation, Devens framework committee Chair Victor Normand proposed last week that Chapter 498 be amended to state clearly that MassDevelopment’s governance “shall” end in 2033, and that the agency be required to pay for the consulting services needed to devise a succession plan. Unlike changes to zoning at Devens, Chapter 498 can be amended by the Legislature, without a super town meeting of Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard; it has already been amended several times without public debate.
At recent meetings of the DJFC, the DEC’s three representatives have remained active participants and last week offered to host future meetings in its offices on Andrews Parkway. “Our doors are always open,” DEC environmental planner Neil Angus told the meeting. “We love showcasing Devens and we’re totally an open book; we want people to see and experience what’s happening here.” The two other representatives are long-time Chair Bill Marshall and Director Peter Lowitt.
The Press asked the offices of HED Secretary Kennealy as well as MassDevelopment President Dan Rivera for comment this week as it prepared this story for publication. Sources within HED told the Press that Kennealy was reviewing the letter sent by the Devens framework committee and intended to respond.
A source at MassDevelopment said the agency looked forward to continuing its work with the towns of Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard on the permanent governance of Devens at a time closer to the 2030 deadline established by the Legislature. For now, the source said, MassDevelopment was focused on being a good neighbor to Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard while fulfilling its mission that Devens remain a vibrant place to live, work, and play, repeating the rationale put forward by the agency in its April email to DJFC members when it withdrew.
If the DJFC can successfully engage the residents of Devens and the three towns, Manoian foresees a change in MassDevelopment’s attitude towards the committee. “You watch,” he said. “They will come running back to us saying, ‘How are you? How’s it going? What are you doing?’ And we will open our arms and embrace them. And we’ll say, ‘You have a lot of catching up to do.’ ”
