Tony Marolda and Keith Cheveralls ponder town growth. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Anthony Marolda possesses the habits of mind that may be common to accomplished, successful people. He is well-informed, tenacious, and opinionated. And in his opinion, Harvard is under siege, some of its well-intentioned officials fiddling while the town burns. The Harvard Slow Growth Initiative, which the 35-year resident recently founded with like-minded citizens, seeks to dampen the flames and set a new course. The threat, the group says, boils down to the state’s affordable housing law, Chapter 40B of Mass. General Law. The law is flawed, they contend, because it adds three market-rate homes for every affordable unit built. Complying with the law to bring Harvard’s current rate of 2.8 percent affordable to the 10 percent mandate will imperil Harvard’s character and finances, they argue. The group wants to repeal the law and promote other methods for producing affordable housing.

Harvard Initiative founders include Marolda, Keith Cheveralls, Wade Holtzman, Ron Ricci, and Peter Warren. Planning Board member Joe Sudol and new selectman Leo Blair are among their supporters.

Wade Holtzman (left) and Leo Blair. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

The Harvard Initiative describes itself as a grassroots movement affiliated with the Coalition to Repeal 40B, which paid for the Initiative’s new website, www.HarvardSlowGrowthInitiative.com. Last year, Initiative members helped the Coalition collect signatures for a repeal campaign. More than 70,000 signatures were collected state-wide, enough to get a referendum question on the state ballot. The secretary of state’s office, however, disqualified many of the signatures. The Coalition will try for the 2010 ballot, this time paying professionals to manage the petitions.

The Harvard Initiative, though, will keep its grassroots identity. It does not intend to incorporate itself, says Marolda, and does not currently collect dues or solicit contributions, though Marolda does not rule out the latter. Its action plan to foster diverse and affordable housing in Harvard—beyond the drive to repeal 40B—is evolving. Marolda says the group also intends to explore the effects of Devens disposition on Harvard’s future.

Initiative Members Speak Out

Mobilizing opposition to the law might be easier than creating new, viable strategies, conceded Holtzman, who, like other members of the Initiative, professes “wholehearted support” for affordable, diverse housing. Still, he said, understanding the problem is the first step.

“What I took away, standing in the rain at the transfer station with the petition, collecting signatures, is that people didn’t know what 40Bs were. They thanked us for explaining it [to them],” he said

When asked whether he would be willing to raise his hand at a town meeting in support of funding for locally-conceived affordable housing, Holtzman was quick to answer, “Two hands!”

“I won’t criticize and then fail to come forward,” he said, noting that both he and Cheveralls had volunteered to fill a School Committee vacancy after having supported a censure motion against the committee at last fall’s Special Town Meeting. (The selectmen passed on appointing either Holtzman or Cheveralls to the open position.)

As Holtzman sees it, town leaders must tap the community’s deep talent pool if they hope to solve the affordability crisis on Harvard’s terms. He suggests creating a working group modeled on the Library Building Committee. That group, he said, delivered on the town’s dream of a new library by building consensus, raising funds, and hiring suitable builders and other professionals.

“We got a $10.5 million library for about $2.5 million,” he said, resting his case. Holtzman says he wants to be part of a similar group, but is looking for leadership.

Holtzman said he had not spoken with the Harvard Housing Partnership, a subcommittee of the Board of Selectmen that creates Harvard’s affordable housing plan.

“The HHP is very open to the town initiating projects if there is a way of fulfilling them, [through for example] fundraising, grants, rental projects, etc,” wrote HHP and Planning Board member Barbara Brady in an e-mail. She said that she would like the town to “get ahead of the curve” so they could say “no” to developments that were “unacceptable” to the town. Brady is the architect of last year’s home rule petition to allow accessory apartments to count toward Harvard’s stock of affordable units. As of last week, the petition was still waiting to be passed by the legislature.

Another early believer in the Initiative, Ron Ricci, cites the pond committee and its battle against invasive weeds as a prime example of the solve-it-yourself spirit that he favors, where many great minds of Harvard came together to solve a complex problem. He probably would not, he said, support a municipal bond to finance locally grown affordable housing, preferring private, creative efforts.

“We cannot price the older folks out of town,” he explained.

It is no surprise, then, to find that he is united with all the Initiative members in support of a proposal for 96 mixed-income rental units, with some units reserved for Harvard citizens, at 361 Ayer Road. The project is the brainchild of Blair, formerly an associate member of the Planning Board, a newly elected selectman, and a developer of coastal Maine properties. At build-out, the project would bring Harvard into compliance, leaving it with the task of maintaining its affordable stocks.

Working within the system, but proactively, is the name of the game for now, Blair says, at least as long as 40B remains the law and Harvard falls short of the 10 percent quota. The need for apartments in Harvard is acute, he notes, especially for those on the younger and older ends of the spectrum. Apartments also have the advantage of attracting fewer large families, though he quickly notes that he has nothing against youngsters, and even has a few of his own. But the simple fact, he says, is that Harvard cannot afford to build a new school to accommodate a sudden, large influx of pupils.

“That’s the reality,” he says with characteristic frankness.

Currently, Blair is working with the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund to flesh out complex plans to build on, and manage, the property. Blair secured the purchase and sale agreement for the property and wants to sign it over to the trust fund, noting that he will not own or develop the dwellings.

Cheveralls was energized to speak out against the flaws of Ch. 40B after he began serving on an advisory board that was supposed to represent the best interests of the town in a proposal for 140 homes on the Shaker Hills golf course. The town’s leverage, he said, was minimal, leaving the community “powerless.” He added, “I realized then that 40B in and of itself is flawed, but does force you to think of alternatives.”

He believes that the School Committee will need to address the impact on the schools of 40B development, especially the effect of the Shaker Hills project. The issue needs to “be on the radar screen of parents with school-age children,” he said. The Initiative’s outreach campaign can engage people in thought, he believes.

Raising money for the right project, such as senior housing at the Hildreth House site, cannot be ruled out, Cheveralls noted.

In fact, all in the group want to consider the Hildreth property for affordable senior housing: it occupies town-owned land and could be renovated and expanded in keeping with the town’s character.

Another Initiative founder, Peter Warren, has some affordable housing credentials, according to those who know him. Before there was Ch. 40B, Warren offered low-cost rentals in a large white house that he owned on the Common, the Harvard Inn. In an interview with the Press last year, Larry Finnegan, founder and trustee of the Harvard Conservation Trust, explained how the Trust carried on the affordable tradition started by Warren.

“For years, Peter Warren had run the inn as a good place for seniors, so when he had to sell it, he first offered it to the selectmen. When they didn’t want to run the place, we said, ‘Why not?’”

Today, the Trust owns and operates a total of nine affordable units through a nonprofit limited liability corporation. Warren believes that such creative solutions are still possible. He said he wants to explore the idea of hiring a part-time grant writer for Harvard—an idea endorsed by the group as a whole.

Marolda, the driving force behind the Initiative, was spurred to Ch. 40B opposition by a 2006 proposal by the Harvard Housing Partnership to collaborate with a private developer to build a 25 percent affordable housing project at the Stow Road gravel pit. The partnership asked Town Meeting for $50,000 for site preparation. The article went down in flames after Marolda, with Mort Miller of Westcott Road, organized a campaign against the partnership’s plans to give the land to the 40B developer as an incentive to build affordable homes. Marolda has no regrets and says it was a bad deal for Harvard, and that the Initiative does add a constructive voice to the conversation.

Marolda advocates a four-point program to reset Harvard’s strategy. He notes that many details need sorting out, and hopes townspeople will get involved in that effort. First, Marolda wants to acquire as much conservation land as possible, using Community Preservation funds, to keep it out of development. Second, he advocates vigilant monitoring of 40B projects, or even resistance to them, until the third strategic goal, that of Ch. 40 B repeal, is achieved. Finally, Marolda wants more affordable projects like the Elms on Stow Road and the Harvard Inn, both existing buildings that were turned into apartments. Senior housing at Hildreth House fits into his preference for converting older structures into affordable homes, he said.

Marolda’s devotion to strategizing for the Initiative and monitoring local government is notable: Last year, a tip from him triggered the attorney general’s interest in a developer’s shaky nonprofit status. Nevertheless, he finds time to consult for a software firm that serves professional sports teams, including the Boston Red Sox. He sails near Cape Ann, recently earned his captain’s license from the Coast Guard, and paints coastal scenes and canine portraits, working in oils and pastels. Last year, he published a biography, The Inventor and His Son, and is now working on an historical novel. It remains to be seen whether he will help write the book on the future of Harvard.