by John Osborn ·
Thursday, July 25, 2024
In a July 19 letter to senate conferees, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge has asked that representatives of both the Devens Committee and the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC) be included in the working group tasked by Gov. Maura Healey’s economic development bill with planning for increased housing in Devens.
“The composition of the working group differs between the Senate and House versions of the bill,” Eldridge noted in his letter. Specifically, the Senate version lists the Devens Enterprise Commission as a member of the working group, but not the Devens Committee, while the House version lists the Devens Committee but not the DEC.
In his letter, Eldridge requested that both the Devens Committee and the DEC be included in the conference version of the bill. “I have heard from many constituents about this matter,” he said.
The discrepancy was first reported by the Press shortly after the Massachusetts Senate finished amending the House version of Healey’s “Mass Leads” bond bill and sent it back to the lower house on July 11. Eldridge told the Press he was unaware of the change when he voted for it. The Press has been unable to determine who changed the bill’s language, whether the change was deliberate or inadvertent—an accidental confusion, perhaps, of the many organizations and committees with a stake in the future of Devens.
The Devens Committee is elected by Devens residents to advise MassDevelopment, the state finance agency that oversees the redevelopment of the former U.S. Army base and provides municipal services to its business and residents. The DEC is the area’s permitting agency, which functions as planning board, zoning board of appeals, and licensing authority, and whose members are appointed by the governor.
Both versions of the bill list working group members as MassDevelopment, the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, and the executive offices of economic development and of housing and liveable communities.
The fate of the working group and its membership is now in the hands of the conference committee appointed by House and Senate leaders to resolve differences between two versions of a bill the size of a small phonebook. The committee’s six members are Sen. Barry Finegold, Sen. Michael Rodrigues, Sen. Peter Durant, Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, Rep. Jerald Parisella, and Rep. David Muradian.
The committee has only six days to produce a compromise bill before the current session of the Legislature ends on July 31.