I thought it might be worth seeing if a Facebook Group for Harvard Economic Development could have some legs. I'll be posting upcoming projects and events and also share some best practices or projects elsewhere. Hope you drop by for a visit.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
New Economic Development Facebook Group
An Update on Current Projects
Introduction
I want to continue providing the occasional piece that gives some greater depth to some of the projects that my office is working on. I also thought it might be a good idea to begin with just a brief summary of most of the current projects that the Planning Board is working on to ensure clarity and to distinguish between several projects that have similar names and areas of focus. I’ll conclude with a listing of future topics that are a good lead up to Town Meeting in May.
Current Projects
The most confusing pair of projects currently underway are the Ayer Road TIP project and the Ayer Road Corridor Vision Plan project. While these projects are distinguished in detail in the Blog (April 13, 2021), the cliff notes version is as follows. The Ayer Road Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project is the federally funded reconstruction of Ayer Road from the Ayer Town line south to the Bowers Brook development. It will slightly increase the width of pavement, narrow the travel lanes, add a multi-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists, and reconfigure several unsafe intersections and stretches of road. The project is currently at the 25% design stage and a MassDOT public hearing on the project is anticipated on March 30, 2022.
The Ayer Road Corridor Vision Plan, also the subject of a three-part series in the Blog (starting on March 29, 2021), is the initiative to create a citizen-driven vision for the Ayer Road Corridor and the development of better zoning tools to bring the vision to a reality (and conversely this program is intended to prevent future degradation of the corridor as is currently occurring). A future column will dive deeper into the current status of the project, its history, and why it remains the lynchpin of local economic development efforts.
Other projects that are separate but have some connection to these two Ayer Road projects include an update to the Transportation Chapter of the 2016 Master Plan and the Climate Action Plan. Through a grant program called District Local Technical Assistance, the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission is currently working with Harvard’s Transportation Advisory Committee and other committees and boards to update the Circulation & Traffic chapter in the 2016 Master Plan. This effort will be evaluating the transportation projects and goals listed in the 2016 Plan chapter for current relevance and also add a climate action lens. This latter emphasis is important because of the parallel work by the Community Resilience Working Group on a Climate Action Plan for Harvard. Since transportation is one of the two primary sources of greenhouse gas emanating from Harvard, it made sense to tie these two planning projects together for economies of scale and the avoidance of redundancy.
Senior housing has been an emphasis of the Planning Board for the last two town meetings and the current focus is on revising the existing Open Space Residential Development bylaw (referred to as Open Space Conservation-Planned Residential Development or OSC-PRD) to make it more viable, to set aside more high value open space, and result in higher quality developments. The Board continues to review early drafts and make revisions based on feedback from members and other interested parties. The expectation is to bring it to Town Meeting in 2022 but the Board encourages the public to check out the project web page and attend meetings to give your input. A future column will go into greater depth on this topic as well.
Other ongoing or future Planning Board and economic development projects include an update to the Hazard Mitigation Plan, developing a specialized zoning for Harvard Center (recommended in several master plans), revising the Protective Bylaw (2016 Master Plan), an economic development survey and plan, and a range of other action items in the Master Plan. Each project will have a web page dedicated to providing public information and key plans and documents. As a future column will elaborate on, the Planning Board seeks meaningful citizen participation on all of these projects and hopes for greater attendance at regular Planning Board meetings as well as special meetings on specific topics. It isn’t enough just to hear about and evaluate the Board’s work at Town Meeting.
Future Pieces
As noted above, a series of future pieces on various aspects of planning in Harvard will follow in the coming weeks and months. The next piece will focus on the value of town planning and how master plans are the guiding tool. I will shine some light on why master plans are so important. The next piece will focus on some of the challenges that Harvard faces now and will in the near future. This is important to give some context to the planning initiatives currently underway or planned for the near future. Following that, I will begin a series of pieces on those initiatives including Open Space Residential Development, the Ayer Road Vision Plan, Protective Bylaw reform, and a zoning district for Harvard Center.
After this series, the hope is that Harvard citizens will have a greater understanding and appreciation of the local planning process and the citizens who volunteer their time to work to make Harvard the best community it can be.
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