In the years since Fort Devens was decommissioned, the town of Shirley has worked with MassDevelopment and the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission to develop a second town center, a mixed-use business and residential growth district, and energy production areas on its former lands in the Devens Enterprise Zone.

“We listened to MassDevelopment and partnered with them,” Enrico Cappucci, a member of Shirley’s Economic Development Committee, told attendees at Harvard League of Women Voters’ Jan. 16 panel discussion on Devens.

Cappucci and fellow committee member Jackie Esielionis described the Shirley development in Devens, where the town has built a town hall, an elementary school, and a library. Together with MassDevelopment and with help from the Montachusett Regional Planning Council, Shirley developed the Shirley Village Growth District and has a proposal for a second mixed-use district under way. Plans for a large-scale solar farm are also moving forward. All of the projects are on Devens.

Cappucci said that like many towns, Shirley’s revenue base wasn’t growing quickly enough to match its cost increases. He and Esielionis attributed the Economic Development Committee’s successes to having a prioritized plan, forming partnerships, and having the full support of Shirley’s three-member Board of Selectmen.

Unlike Harvard and Ayer, Shirley’s former lands in Devens are geographically delineated by the Nashua River, and were not central to the army base redevelopment.

The panel discussion was the second of three in the League’s newly initiated Elizabeth S. May Memorial Lecture Series. This year, the series will focus on issues relevant to Harvard’s current Master Plan update.