by Valerie Hurley ·
Friday, June 5, 2026
The town will not apply for a grant to bring water and sewer to its multifamily district—at least not now. So said the Select Board, which on Tuesday voted to “take no action” on a request from developers to apply, on a June 3 deadline, for a state grant to bring water and sewer to the district.
Proponents of a 234-unit development, adjacent to Boston Badminton on Ayer Road, had asked the board two weeks ago to apply for $5 million toward a $9 million system to serve the rental units and several existing homes on Lancaster County Road.
One after another, Select Board members said they supported the proposed housing, but that applying for the grant too early in the process might be a strategic error and could also be financially risky.
“Do we need housing? Absolutely. Do we need this amount of rental units? I don’t know,” said member SusanMary Redinger. But in any case, she said, applying now was “a bit out of order.” The town administrator, she said, had advised the board that the state favored shovel-ready projects, yet developers have not submitted an application to the Planning Board. “I want to make sure we have every chance of success in getting these grants,” she said, adding, “I’d also like to understand better how we make water and sewer available for the Ayer Road District, not just for one development.”
Each of the five board members said the town could not afford to fill in the funding gap, which would amount to $4 million– and more if the state granted less than the requested $5 million. A representative for the developer, Minco Corporation, told the board last month it could pay $1.5 million toward the system. Eve Wittenberg’s statement at Tuesday’s meeting exemplified other members’ money worries at Tuesday’s meeting. “My concern is about the financial risks that the town would be assuming if these grant awards are not at the amount that would essentially make up the entire package.” She said town officials had warned that applying prematurely for a grant could lessen future chances of an award when the project was truly ready to go. “Though I don’t have hard evidence to support that,” she added.
Responding to board members’ comments that the board and the public lacked details about the project, Minco executive Eric Loth said it had been public knowledge for four years: “I don’t think that we need years more of debate. The zoning has been passed. This is just a question of whether the Select Board and the people will allow [the town] to ask for some state money. And if there’s a gap, either we’ll fill it or we’ll try to get money from other state pools of money, which we know are available.”
Before voting unanimously against applying for the grant, board Chair Kara Minar said the board would continue the conversation after “making sure that we have all of our ducks in a row and all of our financial commitments explained to the public.” The grant program, Community One Stop for Growth, accepts grant applications on a yearly basis.
The $9 million system was one of two systems designed by engineering firm Woodard & Curran and paid for with a $1.1 million Catalyst Fund grant, which the town became eligible for when it enacted the multifamily zoning required by the MBTA Communities Act of 2022. The other system, at $16 million, was—at the request of the town—designed to be extensible to the commercial district in the future and would also serve homes on Blanchard, Lancaster County, and Old Mill roads.