by Bill Ashe
The Ashe family was a house divided on the Vicksburg Square zoning article at the Special Town Meeting on June 8. I voted yes, my wife voted no. Our son voted yes, another son no. The reason behind my vote was a strong urge to protect Devens’ most precious historic relic. And there may be a subconscious primordial factor: while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division in the mid-1940s, I bunked for a time at a similar building complex at Fort Benning, Ga. The reason for my wife’s negative vote was similar to that expressed by Holly Rothkopf at the Special Town Meeting—a lack of detail on the proposal and the developer.
MassDevelopment and the Devens Enterprise Commission are asking the three towns to buy a “pig in a poke.” Trust us, they say. In return for that trust, they say, the three towns will get a development that will be sound, will preserve Vicksburg Square’s historic character, and will provide for the Devens Reuse Plan’s directive to develop a “visionary planning effort grounded in environmental, social, and economic reality …”
Unfortunately, this is not how MassDevelopment and DEC work. What we residents have observed is closed, back-room planning, favored and controlled developers, and the manipulation of local groups and political leaders. These are the tools and ways of powerful bureaucratic organizations in Massachusetts. It gets things done at times, but often it comes at a cost—in time, money, and that very valuable commodity, public trust. MassDevelopment and DEC, by virtue of past actions, now suffer from a lack of trust that manifests itself in the votes at the past two “super town meetings.”
I would like to offer what I think is a more positive and acceptable procedure to redevelop and preserve Vicksburg Square. In the original Devens planning in the early 1990s we had the expertise and help of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA). The BSA did yeoman’s work in the early Devens planning. I would suggest the towns urge them to assist in today’s planning of Vicksburg Square—to consider the options and develop a plan that preserves the area, is a benefit to Devens and the towns, and is consistent with national historic preservation requirements.
Also, it would be a good move to enlist the help of the Freedom’s Way Heritage Association (FWHA) and the Massachusets Historical Commission (MHC) in this work. FWHA is a Congressionally authorized organization dedicated to the preservation of nationally important historic, cultural, and natural resources in a 42-town region of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. MHC, by agreement with the U.S. Army, has an obligation to preserve Vicksburg Square.
The BSA, FWHA, and MHC would come to the Vicksburg Square planning effort with “clean hands,” with no political ties to various parties and no questionable connection to developers. They could contribute new expertise, a recognized competence, and a needed openness and aura of integrity to the process. Also, they could enhance funding and certainly strengthen the political base in a positive way.
To use a trite phrase that I dislike very much, let’s think outside the box—at least the MassDevelopment/DEC box. More appropriately, do as the town of Ayer and my wife did: Look at whatever plan is proposed, think it through, and come to a decision. Some call this a common-sense process—no box needed.
Bill Ashe is a resident of Myrick Lane.