Bill to increase Devens housing heads to Senate; Sena adds request for new police drone

Governor Maura Healey’s massive economic development bond bill, which finally cleared the Massachusetts House of Representatives last week, includes measures that could lead to a dramatic increase in housing at Devens and provide money for small capital expenditures in Harvard, Ayer, and Boxborough.

The bill, also known as the Mass. Leads bill, was filed as an emergency measure with much fanfare by Healey in October 2023. The bill allows the governor to borrow money to strengthen the state’s leadership in life sciences and boost the climate technology and applied artificial intelligence sectors. But it also authorizes spending to support small businesses, rural communities, workforce development, and arts and culture.

The House approved its final version (H4804) by a near unanimous 155-2 vote last Thursday, June 27, and it is now headed to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for consideration. The House and Senate have until July 31 to agree on its final language—the day the 193rd session of the Legislature is scheduled to end.

Support for housing at Devens

Two provisions in the 227-page bill could have a long-term impact on Devens and the towns of Shirley, Harvard, and Ayer, within whose historical boundaries Devens is located. The first, Section 146, proposes to eliminate the caps on housing and commercial development at Devens. (See text below.) The current cap limits residential units in the former U.S. Army base to 282 units while commercial development is limited to 20.5 million square feet after being increased from 8.5 million square feet in 2022.

But commercial development must not exceed a dozen environmental metrics, from water use to paving for parking, set by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in 2008 and managed by the Devens Enterprise Commission. Bylaws that regulate the development of housing in Devens or require permits by the Devens Enterprise Commission would remain in effect.

The second provision, Section 148, calls on the secretary of economic development and the secretary of housing and livable communities to convene, within 30 days of the bill’s passage, a working group comprising representatives from the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency [MassDevelopment], and the Devens Committee. The group’s assignment would be to determine the feasibility of building “not more than” 400 multifamily residential units in the 90-acre Devens Innovation and Technology Center zoning district, where the historic Vicksburg Square barracks and several other abandoned buildings are located. The group would also explore other locations within the 80 acres already zoned for housing beyond Vicksburg Square.

Although it’s not mentioned in the bill, the working group will need to provide for educating the children of families who move to Devens. Harvard is currently under contract to MassDevelopment to provide K-12 learning to every school-age Devens child. The Harvard Select Board and others have also urged that the bill be amended to require that the future governance of Devens be decided before any new residents move there.

The bill gives the secretaries 180 days to submit a strategy and plan to the clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate and to the joint committee on economic development and emerging technologies.

Among those voting for the bill last Thursday was 37th Middlesex state Rep. Dan Sena, who represents Devens, and the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley.

Regarding the Devens portions of the bill, Sena said in a statement to the Press that he hoped the working group would take public comment “incredibly seriously” in making its recommendations. “While I do wish there was more public input [on] the matter of the Devens housing cap, I do think it is important to note that lifting the cap doesn’t mean that anything will be immediate. This policy does not guarantee development, it simply opens the door for future housing opportunities.”

Working group ‘unnecessary’

State Sen. John Cronin, who represents Shirley and the part of Devens within Shirley’s historical boundaries and who is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, told the Press in a brief interview that he was encouraged the House had passed language to raise the housing cap. He said he hoped the Senate would do the same but preferred a more direct approach.

A working group is “unnecessary,” he said. He would prefer that the bill simply rezone the Innovation and Technology Center district for multifamily housing. A working group would likely come up with the same recommendation, he said. “I think there’s broad consensus that Vicksburg Square can be and needs to be put to productive use … I don’t believe we need a working group to kick the can down the road for two more years to accomplish that.” He added that he would not support any recommendation that didn’t include the rezoning of Vicksburg Square for housing “under any circumstances.”

“When are we going to stop talking like we’re in a housing crisis, and when are we going to start acting like we’re in a housing crisis?” Cronin said Monday. “This is a problem that threatens our economy, it threatens our region, and it threatens our commonwealth. A statute that arbitrarily caps the production of housing is not something that any of us can defend.”

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, who represents Harvard, Ayer, and the parts of Devens within their boundaries, was not immediately available for comment. He has, however, consistently supported calls for more housing at Devens, while opposing the use of legislation to change zoning without the approval of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley voters. Chapter 498 and the Devens Reuse Plan passed by the Legislature in 1993 requires that any changes to zoning be approved by a majority vote of the town meetings of the three towns, convened simultaneously in a so-called Super Town Meeting. Cronin’s proposed change would bypass that requirement.

Drones for Harvard?

Among the 647 amendments added to the Mass. Leads bill by the Ways and Means Committee last week are three spending authorizations requested by Sena on behalf of Harvard, Ayer, and Boxborough. To become law they must survive scrutiny in the Senate as well as negotiations between the two chambers.

One of Sena’s three requests authorizes $35,000 to be spent on drones by Harvard’s police and fire departments. In a phone interview, Police Chief James Babu said the department’s three-year-old drone is already outdated. “We haven’t really been using ours, because it’s just kind of useless.” Instead, the department frequently uses a more advanced model owned by Robert Curran, a member of Harvard’s Fire Department. New professional-grade drones cost approximately $13,000 apiece, can stay in the air longer, can fly in rain and snow, and are equipped with thermal cameras of dramatically higher resolution, “almost as good as those deployed on state police helicopters,” Babu said.

Sena’s additional requests are for $30,000 to construct perimeter fencing at Depot Square Park adjacent to the Ayer commuter rail station and $45,000 to reconstruct a storm water culvert in Boxborough.

”While more work still needs to be done before these towns receive this money, the inclusion of these amendments gets the ball rolling on three projects in our own community,” Sena wrote in a statement to the Press.

A bond bill authorizes the governor to borrow and pay for any of the projects it specifies. But the governor is free to pick and choose among them and is ultimately constrained by a borrowing cap set by the state each fiscal year. Authorization for items listed in a bond bill typically expire after five years.