by John Osborn
Harvard voters at Monday night’s Super Town Meeting, approved three of the four articles in the meeting warrant, but rejected a fourth, one that would have created a commercial parcel that MassDevelopment said it needed to attract a major bio-pharmaceutical firm to Devens. Voters in Shirley and Ayer passed all four articles.
There was standing room only as more than 200 Harvard and Devens residents filled every seat in the Hildreth Elementary School cafetorium to hear arguments for and against each of the articles and cast their votes.
Articles 1 and 2 passed by sizeable majorities. Their passage will allow the construction of senior residential housing and medical offices in the Shirley Village growth area. Voters seemed swayed by arguments that supporting Shirley’s desire for such development in its own commercial district was “the neighborly thing” to do.
Article 3, which places 33 acres of land under a conservation restriction in exchange for 10 acres of land for residential development at Adams Circle passed more narrowly, by a vote of 101-80, forcing the only hand count of the evening.
Not so for Article 4, which failed by a clear majority, in spite of an effort by former Devens Focus Group member (and co-owner of this paper) Worth Robbins to make passage of the article contingent on altering the permit for Grant Road housing to guarantee that 25% of the units met the states definition of affordability, as MassDevelopment agreed to do for senior housing in Shirley. Moderator Eubank, however, said he had been advised that because the Devens Enterprise Commission had already granted a permit to the developers of Grant Road, Town Meeting had no power to amend it.
Because a majority vote of the town meetings of Ayer, Shirley and Harvard is required for any change to Devens bylaws, Harvard’s rejection of Article 4 kills it. Articles 1, 2 and 3 are now approved and can be entered into the books once the votes have been approved by the Attorney General. When that happens, they will be the first zoning changes approved by the towns since passage of the original Devens Reuse Plan in 1994.
MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones made note of that achievement in an email statement to the press. “Ayer, Harvard and Shirley made history tonight by voting in support of three of the four proposed zoning changes in Devens,” she said “We are thrilled to move forward with senior housing and health care in the Shirley Village Growth District, along with preserving open space in Devens. Unfortunately, the failure of Article 4 is an enormous missed opportunity for the Commonwealth and the Nashoba Valley given the paucity of parcels primed for major economic development.”
Thatcher Kezer, Senior VP for Devens said after the meeting that he had been impressed by the civility of the debate. But as for what comes next, he said it was clear that MassDevelopment needed to meet with town officials and come back with a proposal that was “cleaner, more straightforward” for the towns to consider.
The meeting was called to order by Moderator Bob Eubank shortly after 7 p.m. ; it was over in less than two hours.