The state reported six new COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending April 23, five fewer cases than the previous week, bringing the town’s cumulative number of state-reported cases since the pandemic began to 605.

The Harvard committee studying options for the future governance of Devens proposed this week that the town resume jurisdiction of the 2,664 acres of Devens land that lie within Harvard’s historical boundaries, but that some boundaries be changed so the entire residential community there would be part of the town of Harvard

In strongly worded, back-to-back letters, members of the commission that permits and regulates development at Devens and the committee that’s creating a process for determining its future both appealed to MassDevelopment’s leaders this week to reconsider the agency’s abrupt withdrawal from that discussion. 

At its April 26 meeting, the Select Board voted unanimously to approve a five-year lease of the old library to Harvard’s community arts and culture center, known as Fivesparks.

For the Afghan families who came to Harvard last December, their stay at Friendly Crossways was supposed to be a brief one, until a longer-term home could be located.

At its April 25 meeting, the School Committee held its legally required public hearing on the school budget for fiscal 2023. After rising very little over the past two years, the schools’ budget request for next year shows a 4.41% increase.

The Open Space Committee was created in 2020 as a two-year, ad hoc committee to help the town “develop a stronger open space and recreation management program.”

The state reported 11 new COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending April 16, the same number of cases as the previous week. The town’s cumulative number of state-reported cases since the pandemic began is now 599.

When four of the stakeholder groups considering the future of Devens met last Thursday to discuss the sudden departure of MassDevelopment from their committee, there were two questions on everyone’s mind: Why had the agency decided to leave? And who was behind it?

Anyone who was hoping to see a hotly contested campaign for Select Board this spring will be disappointed. 

The town will once again look to a MassWorks grant to fix one of its roads that is in need of repair—Stow Road. The heavily traveled 3-mile route from Mass. Ave. to the town line would be milled, leveled, shaped, and paved.

The state reported 11 new COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending April 9, seven more cases than the previous week. The town’s cumulative number of state-reported cases since the pandemic began is now 588.

The Harvard Cultural Council has announced its fiscal 2022 grant awards.

MassDevelopment, the agency responsible for the commercial and residential redevelopment of Devens, has announced, unexpectedly, that it will no longer participate in discussions related to the permanent governance of the former U.S. Army base.

Here’s a brief history of key milestones in the development of Devens and more recent efforts by Harvard to begin planning its future disposition.

Whether changes in the plan to reconstruct a 1.7-mile stretch of Ayer Road would cause Harvard to lose its place in the funding line was the $10 million question at this week’s Select Board meeting.

In a unanimous vote Monday, the School Committee turned over control of Bromfield House to the Select Board. And a day later, the Select Board gave overall approval to a lease that will allow Afghan refugees to use the house for about a year.

The project to replace the slate roof of the old library building at 7 Fairbank Street was scheduled to begin Thursday, April 14. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro told the Permanent Building Committee at that the project is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The state reported four new COVID-19 cases in Harvard for the week ending April 2, five fewer cases than the previous week. The town’s cumulative number of confirmed cases is now 577.