In its seventh year, Devens framework committee perseveres despite MassDevelopment snubs

For the third time in as many years, MassDevelopment, the state agency responsible for the commercial and residential development and municipal operations of Devens, has seemingly rejected a request that it rejoin the committee it helped create to explore options for future governance of the state-run Devens enterprise zone.

In a terse letter to Victor Normand, chair of the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee, MassDevelopment CEO Navjeet Bal repeated the position of her two predecessors that MassDevelopment will join the study of alternatives for permanent government at Devens, but not before July 1, 2030, the date state law says it must begin. Chapter 498, the law that sets forth that process, gives MassDevelopment, the select boards of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, and the Devens Enterprise Commission, the region’s regulatory agency, three years to prepare a report that recommends a permanent government structure for the ongoing operation and administration of Devens. The report is due to the state Legislature no later than July 1, 2033.

Bal’s message was a response to a June 6 letter from the framework committee that MassDevelopment reengage with the committee and send representatives to its monthly meetings. The letter also sought MassDevelopment’s support for a deep dive into Devens finances—revenues and expenses, assets and liabilities, and a 10-year forecast—that the three towns and other stakeholders will need to decide which forms of governance are in their best interests.

The scope of the financial analysis the committee seeks is specified in a five-page request for proposals hammered out by framework committee members. A copy was included with the letter Normand sent Bal. “MassDevelopment is a key data and information resource whose participation in the [framework committee] and with the [request for proposals] is needed,” Normand wrote in his letter to Bal.

Bal’s response, however, makes only passing reference to the RFP and makes no mention of the framework committee, its work, or a role for the committee in preparation of the 2033 report.

“We look forward to working with the group identified in the Devens legislation [the towns and the DEC] on these important questions as we get closer to the July 1, 2030 date,” Bal wrote. “In the meantime, we will not be able to commit MassDevelopment resources and personnel as you have indicated in the draft RFP.”

Bal’s letter arrived in July, during the framework committee’s summer break. Normand distributed the text to committee members, but read it aloud Sept. 10 at the committee’s first post-vacation meeting.

“The question becomes, what is the next step and what is the goal of the framework committee?” Ayer Town Administrator Robert Pontbriand asked. Otherwise the committee will be forever in a “perpetual hamster wheel” of trying to get MassDevelopment back to the table, and failing time after time. Over the past seven years, the committee has learned to work together, he said, but that collaboration “has not
been reciprocated” by MassDevelopment.

A record of collaboration

Normand, in an interview with the Press this week, said the committee can point to many collaborative achievements. He described the RFP as a “watershed” document, that specifies in detail what financial data—from MassDevelopment and other sources—will be required for future planning. Snubbed by MassDevelopment, the committee intends to form a subgroup to pursue grants. Some have proposed that each town appropriate a sum of money to hire a qualified firm to do the work.

A second achievement, Normand said, was the committee’s proposal for Vicksburg Square, which has the backing of the select boards of the three towns as well as the DEC and the Devens representatives. The proposal was ignored by MassDevelopment. The agency is expected to offer a proposal of its own, including a Super Town Meeting to open the Vicksburg Square district to residential development.

Finally, in two months the committee will reach another milestone, completing work on what it calls its “disposition framework matrix.” The matrix explores how 19 different issues—from administration and police to community identity and boundaries—would be handled under each of three different scenarios: (1) status quo, in which MassDevelopment and the DEC continue to manage Devens; (2) new town, in which Devens becomes the 352nd independent municipality in Massachusetts; and (3) historical land, in which land within their historical boundaries is returned to Ayer, Havard, and Shirley. Yet to be discussed are hybrid scenarios that combine elements of all three or offer regional solutions.

But perhaps the greatest accomplishment, outgoing DJFC Chair Normand told the Press in a Tuesday interview, is that the committee has held together despite MassDevelopment’s departure. “I think that was an accomplishment,” he said. “Holding it together is something noteworthy.” By a unanimous vote that came later in the meeting, the committee elected Ayer Select Board Chair Jannice Livingston to succeed Normand as chair for a term of office yet to be decided. (See story on page 40.)

John Katter, the Devens rep, said in a Tuesday morning interview that the committee had a continuing role to play. “I think it’s absolutely critical that the [Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee] meets and the towns and Devens residents and the businesses and the DEC continue the work of discussing what jurisdiction could look like—because no one else is.”