Developer trying to 'ram' project through, Planning Board chair says

Harvard's Planning Board is requesting that Selectmen solicit the opinion of town counsel to help determine if developer Trinity Financial's presentation last Monday at the Harvard Public Library qualified as an official public hearing. Planning Board Chair Kara Minar said she thinks it did not.

"Our understanding was this was not a hearing," Minar told the Press last Wednesday. "It was not scheduled to be a hearing."

Trinity president Jim Keefe said his company has complied with the regulations that govern the Devens zone.

The meeting was one of three Trinity has scheduled so far as it attempts to gain the support of town meetings in Harvard, Shirley, and Ayer to change the Devens bylaws and reuse plan to allow it to develop the former military housing at Vicksburg Square in Devens into 246 rental units, 80 percent of which will be income-restricted affordable housing.

According to Chapter 498, the state act that created the Devens Enterprise Commission in 1993, before a "Super Town Meeting" can be held to approve substantial changes to the reuse plan and bylaws, the three towns and MassDevelopment, the quasi-state agency that has authority over the former army base, "must hold two or more public hearings, as they determine appropriate, in the Devens Region to receive public comment on the proposed Reuse Plan and Bylaws."

Notice of a public hearing must appear in a newspaper of general circulation at least 14 days before the hearing date, Chapter 498 says.

Trinity advertised the Nov. 21 meeting once, in the Oct. 21 issue of the Harvard Hillside. Minar said the developer asked the Planning Board to schedule an "info session" for that date.

"They never requested it to be a hearing to the Planning Board," she said.

Because the Planning Board didn't have a quorum on Nov. 21, Minar said, the public hearing was not hosted by any Harvard governmental body.

"You can't have a hearing in a vacuum," she said.

Minar also cited Chapter 40A, Section 5 of Massachusetts General Law, which governs how a town or city can make changes to its zoning ordinances or bylaws. According to that law, a town or city must advertise a public hearing two weeks in a row before the hearing, which is held by the planning board. But Devens is not a town or city; it is a Regional Enterprise Zone that overlaps three towns.

"Is Mass. General Law trumped by Chapter 498?" Minar said. "I don't know."

Hence, her letter to Selectmen asking they consult with town counsel Mark Lanza on the matter. Selectmen next meet Dec. 6.

Trinity president Keefe told the Press Tuesday his company has followed the requirements of Chapter 498.

"It was a legal public hearing according to Chapter 498," Keefe said.

Chapter 40A of Massachusetts General Law does not apply, he said; his company must comply with the legislation used to create the Devens zone.

"Why would we not follow the procedure?" Keefe said. "What interest is it of ours? What possible motive could we have for not following the procedure?"

However, Keefe said, his company is prepared to follow any procedure the town asks it to.

"We will meet and have any public hearing that the town wants on any explicit terms that it requires," he said. "We believe we've met the provisions of [Chapter 498] but if the Selectmen of Harvard or other elected officials want a public hearing on different terms, we certainly would do that as well."

Selectmen Chair Marie Sobalvarro told the Press after the Nov. 21 meeting that the disagreement might have arisen because Trinity is used to working with city governments and is unfamiliar with town government.

"I'm not sure they are getting the correct information to guide them in the local planning process," Sobalvarro said. "…Towns are quirky."

Trinity has held two other public hearings so far, one in Ayer on Nov. 10 and one in Shirley on Nov. 29. It says it plans on another one in Devens, but hasn't scheduled it yet.

A 'hostile encounter'?

Minar claims that when she confronted Keefe before the meeting began last Monday, he reacted angrily and swore at her, accusing her of trying to derail the Vicksburg Square project.

"To have these kinds of hostile encounters with local officials, this is not serving their project well," Minar said. "[Keefe] should be aware of that. This is not serving them well."

Minar has been critical of the Vicksburg Square proposal.

"This project, with 80 percent affordable, is isolating and not creating a realistic scenario of people who would live there without public transportation," she told the Press. "It's sort of like dropping a city block in the middle of Devens."

Keefe and his company are taking a "by-any-means-necessary route" to get the project off the ground, Minar said.

"Essentially, I think it's a way to ram through a project where he can get the money and Harvard and the other towns will be left holding the bag," she said.

Asked about Minar's description of his interaction with her, Keefe told the Press, "I find that humorous, very funny."