Developer Trinity Financial has stepped up its public relations push to promote its Vicksburg Square development proposal to local town meeting voters with a website and an offer to host site visits to its other developments.

Meanwhile, the Harvard Planning Board officially sent notice to the developer that it does not consider a Nov. 21 meeting in Volunteers Hall at the Harvard Public Library a "hearing" under the laws that established the Devens zone and requested that Trinity reschedule the hearing.

Trinity plans to turn the former military housing at Vicksburg Square in Devens into 246 rental apartments, 80 percent of which would be income-restricted affordable housing; But before the project can go forward, town meetings in Harvard, Shirley, and Ayer must approve changes to the Devens Reuse Plan and the Devens By-Laws, which govern zoning in Devens. While no Harvard board has yet released an official stance on the proposal, several local officials have been openly critical of it, and a report from the town's Devens Economic Analysis Team released in September suggested that selling market-rate condos at the site might be more beneficial than renting them.

In Ayer, the Finance Committee has officially come out against the project, claiming in a statement it would have a "detrimental impact" on the community.

On the other hand, in a public hearing in Devens on Dec. 12, the project met with no opposition. Marty Jones, the CEO of MassDevelopment, the quasi-state agency with authority over the Devens zone, supports the project, and announced in a memo released Dec. 19 that her agency will be holding a public meeting mid-January to answer questions about that project. Also in that memo, (available online at jbos.info), Jones responds to several questions raised by the Harvard Board of Selectmen and other local officials about the project.

Trinity's new website, vicksburgsquare.com, was announced in a press release Jan. 3. It includes an overview of the project with several pictures and renderings, a section of frequently asked questions, a history of Vicksburg Square, and a timeline of Trinity's outreach efforts. Visitors to the site may also sign up to help Trinity gain town meeting support, by voting or speaking at town meeting, hosting a house party, calling friends and neighbors, or writing a letter to the editor.

Also on the site is an offer of a planned visit to some of Trinity's other developments. The trip was scheduled for Thursday in Boston, after the Press went to print.

"These site tours and this website are additional tools for educating residents, and we believe they will help answer a number of questions we are hearing in the community," project manager Abby Goldenfarb said in the press release Tuesday.

The Harvard Planning Board's letter to Trinity was dated Dec. 20, but was not made available to the Press until Dec. 22, after the Press closed for the holidays. In that letter, Planning Board Chair Kara Minar wrote that, because the Planning Board was not able to muster a quorum for the Nov. 21 meeting, the meeting was not a public hearing.

"We have consulted with Harvard Town Counsel Mark Lanza and he has informed us that the relevant portions of Chapter 498 [the state law that established the Devens zone] state that the public hearing(s) preceding a substantial change to the Devens Bylaw and Reuse Plan must by held by the Town(s), which means under the auspices of a board of the Town(s)," Minar wrote. "A hearing or meeting held by the developer, in this case Trinity Financial, does not meet this requirement."

Minar asked Trinity to contact land use administrator Liz Allard if it would like to reschedule a public hearing "in order to fulfill the requirements under Chapter 498."

Trinity has yet to respond to the Planning Board letter, but company president James Keefe told the Press this week it will respond. Lee Smith, a lawyer for MassDevelopment, wrote in a letter to town administrators in November, "It is a public hearing convened under Chapter 498 and is not required to be a meeting of any local board. Chapter 498 does not call for any deliberation or votes by any local boards at these hearings."

According to Chapter 498, before a "Super Town Meeting" can be held to approve substantial changes to the reuse plan and bylaws, the three towns and MassDevelopment "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."