In its letter to the town’s legislative delegation—as reported in our page 1 story—Harvard’s Select Board says bluntly that the governor’s proposal to bypass the 30-year-old super town meeting process for amending the Devens Reuse Plan or bylaws violates a 1993 promise to the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley.
Chapter 498, the state law governing redevelopment of the former Army base, was co-authored by MassDevelopment and the three towns after months of negotiation. It recognized the towns’ interest in what has become the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone, now a Central Massachusetts powerhouse contributing significantly to employment, the regional economy, and soon, housing.
There are no such signs of mutual respect in the latest back-and-forth between the agency and the three Select Boards.
Officials got their first word of the governor’s Mass Wins economic development bill in a hastily scheduled phone call with MassDevelopment president and CEO Navjeet Bal a day or two before March 16, when the bill was filed. Harvard’s state Sen. Jamie Eldridge and state Rep. Dan Sena also learned of the provision only at the last minute. Sen. John Cronin, who represents Shirley, has declined to comment.
More concerning is what happened next. The bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies on April 21, which held a hearing on May 19. Sen. Cronin is a committee member but was not present. At least three Devens residents, including Devens Committee Chair Laura Scott, knew of the hearing and submitted written testimony urging the change, arguing it would elevate Devens residents’ voices in future decision-making, a long-standing goal of that community.
Harvard’s legislators and local officials were out of the loop. They learned of the hearing only after the fact, too late to participate or submit testimony.
It’s disappointing that communication among Devens stakeholders has deteriorated this far, and that state and local officials were cut out by the Boston decision-makers who crafted the change. But the failure of our state reps and town officials to respond in a timely manner is equally disappointing, a breakdown in communication with Devens residents as well as MassDevelopment and the Legislature. Said Kara Minar at a recent Select Board meeting: “We’ve been steamrolled.”
So here we are. The joint committee will report its findings on or before July 18, and with an election on the horizon, the House and Senate will want to wrap up business before the end of the month.
Devens residents, who have no say in their governance, deserve a voice in matters affecting daily life in their community, and the Mass Wins provision accomplishes that. But it does so at the expense of the towns. Proposals for new housing at Devens require no zoning changes, and the expected request to rezone the area including Vicksburg Square appears months away and has support from all three towns. Why the rush to change the status quo?
What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate on all sides: Harvard officials who have lost touch with Devens residents, and a MassDevelopment and Healy administration that cut the towns out of a process that is, by law, theirs to share.