Last week’s meeting of the Devens Committee was packed, with nearly two dozen residents, a majority from the Emerson Green neighborhood, who had come to engage with Robert Easton and Dan Gainsboro of Emerson Village Green LLC, the collaborative hired by MassDevelopment to design and build the community’s 126 units.
For months, residents have complained that the Emerson Green developer and homeowner’s association have failed to respond to a litany of issues ranging from the alleged inconsistent collection of homeowner association fees to lack of accountability for how the fees are spent. Residents have also complained that the developer has failed to complete “punch lists” of improperly installed or unfinished items in homes that were purchased months or years ago. And finally, residents say that questions concerning lack of progress on a 46-unit multifamily complex of rental units have gone unanswered. Work was to have begun two years ago, but a fenced-in hole in the center of the village is the only evidence of an intent to complete the project.
Emerson Green LLC’s Easton fielded most of last Wednesday’s questions. “There’s no argument,” he said, that the developer and homeowner’s association needed to do a better job responding to the concerns of the residents. He promised to demonstrate progress in 30 days on homeowner’s association issues, but dealing with homeowner punch lists would take longer, he said.
Regarding the multifamily complex, however, Easton would say only that the project had encountered unforeseen difficulties and that the company hoped to resume work this spring. Pressed to provide additional details, Easton was unwilling to say anything more. “We talk to MassDevelopment every week. We talk to our contractors every week. In this forum, that’s all I feel comfortable sharing,” he said. Meg Delorier, MassDevelopment’s interim executive vice president for Devens, had no comment, nor did Robert Jenkins, MassDevelopment’s senior vice president for real estate development. Both were present for the discussion.
The Q&A with Easton lasted nearly an hour, but some in the audience questioned whether the Devens Committee was the appropriate forum. “I don’t think it’s appropriate that we air dirty laundry in front of the Harvard Press,” said Regina Todd, an Emerson Green resident, referring to a Press reporter present at the meeting. “I think this discussion is restricted to Emerson Green and I think that we need to do this offline as a homeowners association.”
But other residents disagreed. “I think the reason this is getting so much attention now is that the press is here,” said one Emerson Green resident. “I know some people consider this dirty laundry, but it’s reality,” she said. Residents had been polite, friendly, and professional in their dealings with the association and Emerson Village Green LLC for months, she said. “If there [had been] some responsiveness, we would not be here. But thank goodness for the press to be here to have accountability.”
As the discussion turned to next steps, newly-elected Chair Laura Scott proposed that a meeting of Emerson Green residents and the homeowners association be convened to deal with issues specific to the HOA—its fees, the services for which it is responsible, and its alleged lack of transparency. “I think [Emerson Village Green LLC] has had a good earful of the frustration and level of concern that’s out there, and I think it makes a lot of sense to move this next discussion to a more regional forum, which would pertain more specifically to the homeowners involved, and not to the wider neighborhood.”
“Quite candidly,” added Emerson Green LLC’s Gainsboro, “we don’t need this forum to do that. The point is, you’ve articulated a number of concerns. I believe we’ve heard them and now it’s incumbent upon us to address them.” If residents remained dissatisfied with their response, he and Easton would be willing to return and update the Devens Committee on their progress.
This week, MassDevelopment confirmed in its newsletter that the Emerson Green Homeowners Association Trust will meet Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bob Eisengrein Community Center, 100 Sherman Avenue in Devens. According to one resident, the meeting will be the HOA’s first in four years.
