Costs of sewer and road improvements required for the development of the Ayer Road commercial district remained elusive at the April 13 Economic Development Analysis Team (EDAT) forum at Volunteers Hall, attended by 30 to 40 residents and guests. EDAT Chairman Bill Johnson stated at the outset of the meeting that “it’s the town’s decision to stop or continue” working on redevelopment issues. “It’s not worth spending the money and time if people are saying ‘we want to leave Ayer Road the way it is,’” he said. He emphasized that “voting for EDAT’s warrant article at Annual Town Meeting is not voting for a plan but voting for the formation of the [Economic Development] Committee and to pursue the status of an Economic Target Area.”
Forum attendees expressed concerns about the town’s ability to control development and its vulnerability to 40B development, which would yield more residential development and a higher service burden, for schools and safety, for example. Many who made comments or asked questions prefaced their remarks by thanking the committee for the time and extensive work done during their investigations.
One attendee commented that there seemed to be “lots of numbers about revenues [in the EDAT presentation], but not a lot of numbers on what expenses are going to be.” He added, “it’s hard to budget when you don’t know what you are going to spend.” Another attendee commented on the “misperception about the amount of revenue,” stating that what looks like a huge amount of money may actually turn out to be a very small amount of revenue. Johnson explained, “It’s not unreasonable to ask the developer to assume some or all of that cost of a traffic light or a roundabout.” He went on to say that the town can require that developers do the work on the property being developed, on pedestrian paths, bike paths, on redevelopment as well as on new development.
Many residents had questions and comments concerning the relationship of sewers to 40B residential development. “How are you going to ensure that once you get the sewer the properties remain commercial?” one attendee asked. Johnson agreed that there was risk and stated, “That is the most important question we addressed. We don’t want to create infrastructure that will not bring commercial development. If we can’t have an ironclad arrangement that ensures that any sewer capacity is allocated where and how we want it, we shouldn’t put a sewer in.”
One attendee asked whether there is “a vision of what the town will look like; will this be [like routes] 2A in Acton or 119 in Littleton? Is there a town that has done this well?”
Another attendee commented that “Acton is in very much the same straits we are, and Westford and Chelmsford are in the same place in funding their schools, despite their high level of commercial development.”
EDAT member Elaine Lazarus, a professional planner for the town of Hopkinton, assured the group that Harvard can control development with regulations and policies.
Marie Sobalvarro of St. John’s Lane asked, “What has impeded [the current] three or four owners from maximizing their development? They’ve been longtime owners; was it not having a development corporation or was it something related to septic capacity?” Johnson replied that it was a combination, saying that one owner had scaled down because of capacity, limiting the planned number of assisted living units, and that another planned lower-value business offices rather than medical offices, which would yield more revenue.
On the topic of the ability of the town to control the development process, one person remarked, “I see developers that have north Harvard property all sewn up within a community that doesn’t have much leverage.” He said he was unhappy with the recent liquor license hearings for property owned by Robert Hirsch in the commercial district. “It looked and smelled to me like chicanery,” he said, adding, “It got pushed through without considering any of the community’s objections.” He commented that, instead of having a new committee such as the one being proposed by EDAT, it would be better to have a regulatory body with an advocacy function, such as the Planning Board.
The EDAT’s final report will be posted to the town website some time during the week of April 26.