At Special Town Meeting, Monday, Feb. 13, in Cronin Auditorium at the Bromfield School, voters will be asked to approve four articles put forward by the Select Board and other town committees. The meeting is an extraordinary session whose agenda is devoted to a change to the town’s zoning bylaws and making three financial decisions that can’t wait until Spring Town Meeting.
Each warrant article is explained in everyday language, highlighting the amount of money involved, its source, who oversees its use, whether the article affects your taxes, and the consequences of voting yes or no.
You’ll find additional details in the official town warrant, which is not being mailed to households in town, but will instead be distributed to attendees when they register on Monday evening. The warrant is also available on the town website (www.harvard-ma.gov).
The official warrant contains the town counsel-approved wording of each article, its cost, and whether it’s recommended by the Finance Committee and Select Board. Readers should be aware, however, that the language of an article and sometimes its exact cost and source of funds can be altered when the motion for its adoption is read on the floor of Town Meeting. As long as they don’t expand the scope of an article, motions can also be amended, so you’ll need to pay attention.
For help with specialized terms such as “General Fund” or “levy,” see our “Glossary of Municipal Lingo” in this issue of the Press. Finally, for details on how to speak and legislate at Town Meeting, you might consult the handy guide “Town Meeting Conduct and Procedures” prepared by the League of Women Voters of Harvard. You can find it at the League’s website (lwvharvard.org.).
Article 1 – Pay bills of prior fiscal year
Vote required: Nine-tenths
Amount: $4,587
Money source: Stabilization Fund
Impact on local taxes: None
Accountable for implementation: Finance Department
Three bills were left unpaid at the end of fiscal 2022. Friot’s Water Treatment is owed $56 for a month of service at the Bromfield House; Work Care is owed $3,406 for the pre-employment physicals of newly hired police officers and DPW workers; and Sentinel Benefits is owed $1,125 for three bills, two of which date to fiscal 2000 and 2001. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarrro says the bills are for Sentinel’s work maintaining the town’s Section 125 plan documents—the IRS regulations that allow the town to deduct an employee’s share of health insurance, pre-tax, for the employee—and Harvard’s flexible spending employee plans. All three bills will be paid with money transferred from the Stabilization Fund.
State law requires a nine-tenths vote to approve unpaid bills when the vote is taken at a special town meeting.
Requested by the Select Board. Recommended by both the Finance Committee and Select Board.
Article 2 – Community Preservation Fund
Vote required: Majority, plus majority vote at the ballot box in May
Increase in taxes: $194.25 increase to average property tax bill
Money source: Property tax
Impact on local taxes: 1.9% increase, with exemptions
Accountable for implementation: Finance Department
Currently, residents pay a 1.1% surcharge on their property taxes to provide money for the Community Preservation Fund. Money from that fund goes toward historic preservation, affordable housing, and open space for conservation or recreation. This article proposes raising that surcharge to 3%, which would create a larger fund for those purposes and also make Harvard eligible for more state matching funds. Town Hall estimates that the increase, plus state matching funds, would give the Community Preservation Committee about $1 million per year to work with—sufficient to pay the yearly cost of a $5 million bond for a new athletic complex, while still supporting some other community projects.
Requested and recommended by the Select Board. The Finance Committee voted to make no recommendation. The Community Preservation Committee voted 5-2 not to recommend the article. The Open Space Committee and the Parks and Recreation Commission took no action.
Article 3 – Permanent water connection with Devens
Vote required: Two-thirds, plus majority vote at the ballot box in May
Amount: $4,850,000
Money source: Excluded debt (taxpayers)
Impact on local taxes: $150 per year for the average-valued single-family house ($675,529 in 2022)
Accountable for implementation: DPW, Water Commission
Article 3 asks voters to approve borrowing $4.85 million to install a connection to the Devens water system from Depot Road, making Devens the source of town water. The town water supply system serves about 100 clients in the town center, including the schools and other municipal buildings. The current source of the supply is two wells on Pond Road, which have problems.
A coliform contamination in 2021 closed one of the wells and forced the town to install a chlorination system. That system is complete, and the second well will soon be back online according to Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart. The wells have also been testing positive for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) since 2020, although at levels below the state’s current maximum contaminant level of 20 ppt (parts per trillion).
The positive aspects of connecting to Devens water include the size of its water system, which would provide increased fire protection for the town, and the fact that its water is already being treated for PFAS. Any future water treatments required by the state or federal government would be the responsibility of MassDevelopment to implement.
In addition, residents who live on Depot Road could connect to the water system, as could the DPW. There is also the added potential to expand the water system into the commercial district. The town’s two existing wells would be maintained as an emergency backup system, as long as their PFAS levels remained below state limits.
Cost and timing
One negative aspect is the cost. The town has already been approved for a $4.85 million loan at 2% interest to construct the water connection, which would run the length of Depot Road from near the Devens line to Ayer Road. Loan forgiveness for at least a portion of the amount is likely, according to Mary Danielson of Tighe and Bond, the engineering firm that will design the connection system, although the amount will not be known for some time. Design money would come from a grant from One Stop Growth and American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The other negative aspect is the timing of the vote. Projects of this magnitude are typically voted on at Annual Town Meeting. But Tighe and Bond Vice President Tom Mahanna said the deadline to submit a design for the project is Oct. 15, and waiting until Annual Town Meeting would make that date hard to meet. He said surveys need to begin soon, and negotiations have to be done with the railroad since the line will run under its tracks. Should this article pass, the town will need to contract with Tighe and Bond to begin that work before the required vote at the ballot box in May.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan has told the Finance Committee and the Capital Planning and Investment Committee that should this article fail, the town would have to build a $1.8 million PFAS treatment plant next to the town wells. However, Mahanna has repeatedly told the Water Commission that the town’s existing water system will meet DEP requirements when the chlorination project is complete because PFAS levels are below the state limits. Water commissioners and Select Board members are concerned, though, that stricter state and federal PFAS regulations are likely coming, which could require the town to build a treatment plant at some point. Bragan later told the Press, “While we are meeting DEP requirements, it is far from being what the [Select] Board required and will not meet the needs of the town going forward.”
Requested by the Select Board. Recommended by the Water Commission, Select Board, and the Capital Planning and Investment Committee. The Finance Committee did not have a quorum to vote on this article at its most recent meeting.
Article 4 – Amend bylaw to create entertainment overlay district in town center
Vote required: Two-thirds
Impact on local taxes: None
Accountable for implementation: Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals
This article proposes adding an amendment to the town’s zoning bylaw that would create an overlay district in the center of town to allow entertainment at businesses, municipal buildings, and other institutions such as churches and Fivesparks. The majority of town center is currently zoned for agricultural and residential use, and entertainment is not considered an allowed use of properties in this type of zoning. The Select Board had been granting annual entertainment licenses to Fivesparks and the General Store until officials realized that process did not comply with zoning bylaws. Entertainment in other town center buildings, such as the churches and schools, was also noncompliant.
The proposed district includes the schools, the library, the General Store, the old library (leased by Fivesparks), Town Hall, Hildreth House, fire station, and the three churches in the center of town. The Select Board would still need to grant, and set conditions for, annual entertainment licenses in the new overlay district.
If the article does not pass, all of the properties in the district, including the General Store, would be limited to 30 one-day entertainment licenses per year. In the case of the General Store, which currently has musical events once a week, the lack of an annual license would affect its bottom line. Fivesparks might also be affected by the 30-day limit.
Passing the article would allow entertainment events to be held as often as allowed by the Select Board when it sets conditions on each requestor’s license. The board could also add additional constraints to each license for concerns such as noise, lighting, and parking.
Requested by the Planning Board. Recommended by the Planning Board and the Select Board.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Town Administrator Tim Bragan on Warrant Article 3. Bragan's comment reached us after the print version of the paper had gone to press.
