Plans for the large-scale development known as the Massachusetts Avenue Research Campus, also called 1414 Mass. Ave., have run into several snags. Lincoln Property Company’s proposal for three buildings totaling 577,525 square feet, just outside Harvard’s border on Route 111 in Boxborough, faces objections at both the local and state level.
Lincoln Property originally submitted plans for the Mass. Ave. property last fall, just before a November election in which Boxborough voters made changes to their zoning laws. Those changes cut in half the allowable floor area for shipping or manufacturing use, well below the size specified in the developer’s plan. But, because the project was first proposed before the change, it is still being judged by the earlier standards. And if the project is approved, state law allows the developer to modify it further, still under the old rules, for eight years. So what the development would ultimately look like and how it could be used are unclear.
At the local level, Boxborough’s Town Meeting earlier this month passed a new tree protection bylaw. Because it is a general bylaw, not a zoning measure, this bylaw applies to everyone, including the proposed development. It requires anyone who disturbs more than 3 acres of forested land to notify abutters, document mature trees that are cut, and follow a strict replanting plan. In support of the bylaw, the Boxborough Sustainability Committee emphasized the importance of forested land for sequestering carbon, protecting clean water resources, and providing wildlife habitat.
Also at the local level, the Boxborough Board of Health voted May 17 to disapprove the development. The Board of Health sent a written report to the Select Board recommending against the project because wells on the site plan do not comply with regulations. According to the report, the wells are too close to two hazardous waste spill sites, and one well is too close to wetlands. The report also pointed out that a proposed roadway on the property is within Zone 1 of a public water supply well.
And finally, at the state level, the secretary of energy and environmental affairs found that Lincoln Property Company’s draft environmental impact report does not comply with state regulations. The secretary’s May 17 letter cited “significant concerns related to traffic, water supply, wastewater disposal, and rare species.” The rare species in question is the Blanding’s turtle.
Lincoln Property is required to file a supplemental report in response to those concerns, which were detailed in the rest of the state’s 25-page letter. Following the letter were another 175 pages of comments on the project from nearly 100 individuals, boards, commissions, and departments. Among them were the Harvard Conservation Commission and many Harvard residents.
After citing concerns about the project’s environmental impacts, the Harvard Conservation Commission’s letter concluded, “With our concern as an abutting town … the Commission requests that all aspects of this project be carefully reviewed as the ramifications are huge with wide-ranging impact, and many issues do not appear to have been fully addressed by the most recent presentation by Lincoln Property.”
