The Joint Boards of Selectmen (JBOS) decided at its May 13 meeting to make an appeal to Governor Deval Patrick’s office on the latest topic of concern related to Devens disposition. At issue is MassDevelopment’s consideration of two proposals for housing developments in the Vicksburg Square area of the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone (DREZ).
Following the June 2009 defeat of its proposal to redevelop the historic Vicksburg Square buildings at Devens, MassDevelopment (MassDev) continued efforts to market those buildings and in September 2009 issued a “Request for expressions of interest (RFI)” in redeveloping Vicksburg Square. Two proposals were received by MassDev in November—one from College Street Management (CSM), the other from Trinity Financial.
Both developers propose mixed-income residential units, and both proposals would require zoning changes and redefinition of the Ayer and Harvard town lines, which currently cut through Vicksburg Square’s Revere Hall. (Vicksburg Square is currently zoned by Chapter 498 as an “incubator and technology center.”)
With existing zoning as a barrier to their projects, both developers say that, if selected, they would conduct community outreach projects that would promote consensus among the voters of Harvard, Shirley, and Ayer, who would have to agree to DREZ zoning changes by way of so-called super town meetings.
In February, MassDev made the proposals public on its website (www.MassDevelopment.com) and on the Devens community website (www.devenscommunity.com). On April 23 MassDev sent a press release to some local newspapers (not including the Harvard Press), requesting input from the public and the Joint Boards of Selectmen, and allowing one week for comments. A source at MassDev who asked not to be identified told the Press that MassDev had received no responses from the public. Calls made by the Press to MassDevelopment Chief of Staff Meg Delorier between May 11 and May 18 to find out the number of responses received were not returned.
Concerned that the public had not had adequate opportunity to review and comment on the proposals, the Harvard Board of Selectmen authorized Selectman Ron Ricci at its April 27 meeting to send a letter to MassDevelopment CEO Robert Culver, requesting that public hearings be held in Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley before any decisions were made on the two proposals.
With no response forthcoming from Culver as of the May 13 JBOS meeting, the JBOS voted to forward a copy of Ricci’s letter, along with an endorsement letter from the JBOS, drafted by Ayer Selectman Frank Maxant, to Governor Deval Patrick. The board plans to review and approve the draft at its May 27 meeting.