by Valerie Hurley ·
Friday, April 17, 2026
The Select Board is considering next steps as it evaluates two iterations of a water and sewer plan for the town’s multifamily district on Ayer Road. Portland, Maine-based engineering firm Woodard & Curran presented the town with two plans. The first is a $16 million system encompassing the multifamily district and the adjacent roads; it allows for future extension to Ayer Road. The other is a $9 million system that would cover less area and could not be extended to Ayer Road in the future.
DPW Director Eric Ryder appeared at the April 7 Select Board meeting to discuss the plans and asked members to provide guidance about which plan, if any, to pursue. The board did not reach a decision and will continue its discussion at a future meeting.
The town’s newly created multifamily zoning district was the impetus for the plans, which the town paid for with a $1.145 million state grant. Harvard created the 8-acre district in 2024, by a vote of Town Meeting. It sits on the northbound side of Ayer Road at numbers 185, 187, and part of 203. The other part of 203 Ayer Road is home to Boston Badminton.
Originally, town officials had asked the engineers to design a system that could be extended to Ayer Road’s commercial district in the future, enabling additional development there. Former town administrator Dan Nason asked for a second, less expansive design after the initial proposed system was estimated at a cost of $16,259,809.
The $16 million system would connect to existing water utilities at Devens. Pipes would run from Patton Road at Devens to the Harvard-Devens town boundary at Old Mill Road’s CSX railway crossing; along Old Mill Road to Blanchard Road; along Blanchard Road to Lancaster County Road; and on to Gebo Lane, where it would connect to the multifamily district. Homes along the way could connect to the system.
The pump station would be owned by the town and sit on town land. The pipes would terminate near the edge of Ayer Road but were designed to be extended along the commercial district. However, engineers did not include a commercial district plan for the town because the state grant was to support housing production, not commercial development.
Estimated at a cost of $9,079,495, this system would connect to existing water utilities at Devens, just as the $16 million system would. The pipes, however, would not run along Old Mill or Blanchard roads. Instead, from Devens the pipes would cross a right-of-way and go straight to Lancaster County Road. The system would end at the multifamily district, skipping Gebo Lane. The pump station would sit in the multifamily district and would be owned by whoever builds the multifamily housing. The system’s primary users would be the residents in the new multifamily homes. Some homes on Lancaster County Road could connect to the system, Ryder said. The system would not be extensible to Ayer Road.
Ryder told the Select Board the town could apply for a $5 million grant to defray the cost of either system, but it was unclear who would make up the shortfall. At Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, Chair Kara Minar explained that the developer interested in building apartments in the multifamily district, Minco Development, has been in informal talks with the town for the past two years. And last she knew, they were not able to contribute more than $2 million toward the system.
On Monday, Minco Development CEO Eric Loth did not address the money question, but said: “We hope to continue discussions with the town and likely with local and state officials to help bring sewer and clean water to the district.”