by Matthew Cook
The Harvard Board of Selectmen Tuesday night voted 3-1 against supporting a Town Meeting warrant article for changes to the Devens Reuse Plan, zoning bylaws, and zoning map that would allow Boston's Trinity Financial to redevelop the former military housing at Vicksburg Square into affordable rental apartments.
Trinity's project would “not be sustainable,” said Selectmen Chair Marie Sobalvarro.
“It will cost approximately $338,000 to renovate a unit, which will bring in less than $1,000 annually in tax revenue,” Sobalvarro said.
Trinity plans to turn the four Vicksburg square buildings into 246 rental apartments, 80 percent of which would be income-restricted affordable housing, with preferences for seniors and military veterans. A fifth building, a former theater, would be made into the new location of the Fort Devens Museum.
Major changes to the Devens Reuse Plan and zoning laws require approval by the town meetings of Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley, the three towns whose historical boundaries include portions of the former military base. That “super town meeting” vote is scheduled for next Wednesday, March 28.
Selectman Tim Clark said before the Tuesday night vote his main concern with the suitability of the project had to do with access to transportation for the people who would live in Vicksburg Square.
“Looking at the [state Department of Housing and Community Development] requirements for the project to get its tax financing, I don't think that it meets all of them, in terms of the spirit of the law,” Clark said. “And also know that there are many other projects that I think are more deserving than this one, at the moment, that are in the pipeline. So I think it's going to be a couple years before they actually work their way up the list, unless the magic fairy dust comes out again.”
Clark said he does support housing for low- and moderate-income families in Harvard.
“If you look at things like the Harvard Inn and Great Elms...That's a 100 percent affordable project that struggles to develop capital resources to maintain itself,” he said. “I fear that that's going to be the same problem here.”
Selectman Ron Ricci said he had weighed the pros and cons of the proposal.
“Based upon what I know, what I believe, I do not feel that it's in the best interest of the town of Harvard as it is currently configured, and I do not support the proposal,” Ricci said. Ricci did not elaborate on his statement.
Selectmen Peter Warren, the lone supporter of the motion, urged his colleagues to think regionally.
“I think this will bring an economic boost to our area,” he said. “I don't think we should be thinking about Harvard. I think we should be thinking about the entire region, and I think these new residents of the town will be a boost to the area.”
Warren noted that Trinity's proposal is for about 100 fewer units than MassDevelopment—the quasi-state agency that manages the Devens zone—had proposed at a super town meeting vote in 2009. Harvard voted for that article, along with Shirley, while Ayer did not.
One of the differences this time around, Warren said, is developer Trinity. Warren praised Trinity and called out his fellow Selectmen for not taking the company up on an offer to tour its other affordable housing developments in Massachusetts.
“I think that this [disagreement over Vicksburg Square] is just another demonstration of our inability to get anything done on Devens and we should be positive in trying to make Devens move forward,” Warren said.
Trinity Financial president Jim Keefe had no comment for the Press after the vote Tuesday night. Selectman Bill Johnson was absent.
Governor's endorsement
In a speech Monday morning after touring Vicksburg Square, Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray endorsed the proposal on behalf of the Deval Patrick administration. Murray chairs the state's Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force, which advocates for the states military bases.
“The Patrick-Murray administration is behind this project,” he said. “We think it's a great opportunity on so many different levels: jobs, working and partnering with municipal officials. It's about housing. It's about veterans. We're just anxious to move this project forward and see the continued vision of progress at Devens. It is so important to the economy of central Massachusetts, but the commonwealth as well.”
State Senator Jamie Eldridge also spoke Monday morning in support of Vicksburg Square.
“Just imagining being able to live here, to enjoy all the services that are provided here at Devens...hopefully work just down the street, is really, really an exciting prospect,” Eldridge said.
Eldridge said he hopes super town meeting voters will think about the interests of the region and the state as well as their own communities.
“I think we know we need to think bigger and we need to think bolder and I think the Vicksburg project is part of that bigger bolder vision,” he said.
Tie vote
Monday night, the Devens Committee opened the ballots and announced the result of an informational vote intended to gauge the level of support in that community for the project. The non-binding vote was a request of the Harvard Board of Selectmen at a public hearing in February.
Selectmen, and some Harvard residents, had said it would be helpful to know before super town meeting what the people who live in Devens want.
The result was a tie, with 55 on each side, Devens Committee Chair Phil Crosby said Tuesday morning.
For more on the upcoming super town meeting vote on Vicksburg Square, with opinion on both sides of the issue, read this week's Harvard Press, on newsstands Friday.