At a meeting of the Devens Educational Advisory Committee Tuesday night, Trinity Financial President Jim Keefe spoke about his company's proposal to repurpose the buildings at Vicksburg Square. A lively discussion ensued about the educational contract between MassDevelopment and Harvard's school department, the nature of the "affordable population," and the possibility that 66 percent of the housing at Devens might qualify as affordable housing after all of Devens is built out.

Keefe spoke for 45 minutes on various aspects of Trinity's proposal, frequently urging the audience to "come see our beautiful buildings," and referring to projects in Lowell, East Boston, and other locations, for which Keefe claimed great pride.

The audience included more than 40 Devens residents, in addition to members of the Devens Educational Advisory Committee, Devens Committee members, and representatives from the Harvard Schools. The Devens Educational Advisory Committee acts as an advisory committee to MassDevelopment on educational matters, including review of all contracts for educational services. The Devens Committee is also an advisory committee to MassDevelopment, the quasi-public agency that oversees most of the land on the former military base.

Keefe said the buildings in Vicksburg Square need to be developed soon to prevent further deterioration of the property.

"There are some here who say, 'We'll figure it out someday,' but water is now getting in the buildings and that can be devastating," he said. "There is nothing worse than vacant buildings."

Keefe also promised a high-quality development, saying, "We will turn those buildings into unequivocally handsome buildings."

Once Keefe finished his remarks, the floor opened for questions. Residents were concerned about, for the most part, the ratio of affordable housing at Devens once the project completes, property value going down because of proximity to the affordable housing, and schools and the continuity of the contract with the Harvard School system.

Harvard Schools contract

One of the major concerns of Devens residents was the contract between MassDevelopment and Harvard schools. Harvard schools currently educate approximately 65 Devens children, supported by MassDevelopment at $13,768 per child. Devens residents asked whether an additional 50 children from Vicksburg Square might be a deal breaker for MassDevelopment.

"Vicksburg Square doesn't jeopardize the schools contract," Keefe said. "Harvard is under capacity. Harvard needs Devens more than Devens needs Harvard."

He said further, "Communities are desperate for revenue and school systems will compete for the contracts."

One resident asked, "Where is MassDevelopment in this? What is their commitment?"

"MassDevelopment will have to speak to that," Keefe replied.

A built-in bias?

Jim Geller, Chairman of the Devens Committee, said he was concerned about some residents having a "built-in bias against people who earn less money." This led to comments from some residents who said they felt they were justified in asking questions about the incentives renters would have with respect to the maintenance level on their property.

One resident said that he was "irked at 'elitist attack comments.'"

"When we talk about 66 percent, we're not all elitist snobs, we're looking at the reality of the situation," the resident said.

The "kinds of people" who rent affordable housing are "your neighbors now," Keefe told the group. He said he believes that there is a misunderstanding about the nature of affordable housing, referring to it as "workforce housing."

"People's rents will be $500 to $1,200 a month," he said, "not too different from what the market rate is around here.

Keefe also pointed out that Trinity does credit checks, CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) checks, and ensures "that these people have the money to pay the rent."

Ratio concerns

Devens Economic Advisory Committee member Maureen Babcock said, "I've been paying attention; your projects are beautiful. I'm certain that buildings by Trinity would be gorgeous. I want to acknowledge all of this." But, Babcock said, she "keeps coming back to percentage of affordable: 66 percent."

Babcock said there is no other community that approaches 66 percent affordable "and you have to build 610 homes [at Devens] to get back to a normal rental-market rate balance."

Another resident said, "There are lots of homes for sale already here in Devens. If you can't fill houses we already have for sale, why do you want to build more?"

Keefe responded: "This is the worst downturn since the Great Depression; for-sale values are going down, but the rental market is still strong."