A major economic development bill filed by Gov. Maura Healey last week contains a provision that would significantly restructure the approval process for zoning changes at Devens and amendments to the Devens Reuse Plan.
According to the Harvard Press, it would replace the existing super town meeting route with a single regionwide vote conducted by MassDevelopment, the state’s quasi-public development finance agency and Devens’ overseer.
If passed by the Legislature and signed into law, the changes would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
Under current law, amendments to the Devens Reuse Plan and zoning bylaws must be approved by affirmative town meeting votes of all three communities party to the agreement — Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley — meeting on the same date and time. Devens spans parts of all three towns.
The town of Harvard’s weekly newspaper indicated that Healey’s bill would replace that procedure with a single town meeting convened by MassDevelopment at one location in or near Devens.
Any voter registered in the three towns, as well as Devens residents, would be eligible to vote at that meeting.
Since Devens isn’t an independent municipality, its residents register to vote in the town that their address historically encompasses.
The bill directs the clerks of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley to verify the registration status of all attendees, with MassDevelopment covering the costs of that work.
The legislation, which the Healey administration has named the “Mass. Wins Act,” gives MassDevelopment sole authority to propose changes to the Devens Reuse Plan and zoning at the former U.S. Army base.
MassDevelopment would draft the language of any changes and hold at least two public hearings to hear public comment.
MassDevelopment, rather than the towns, would convene the meeting and present its changes. A quorum of just 50 voters would be sufficient to conduct business.
A simple majority vote in favor of MassDevelopment proposals by those in attendance would be sufficient to pass them. Attendees would have no ability to make amendments from the floor — only an up-or-down vote would be permitted. Once passed, the changes would become effective immediately.
In a letter to legislators, the governor said her proposal would “reform the way zoning changes are made in Devens to ensure the community’s zoning bylaws can be amended in a timely way and enable the meaningful participation of Devens residents as well as surrounding municipalities.”
Though a trend toward legislative action that circumvents the super town meeting approval process has already begun, the bill Healey proposes would strictly limit the three communities’ input and control over zoning changes or any other alterations to the Devens status quo that MassDevelopment deems appropriate.
Chapter 498, the law that created the Devens Enterprise Zone, limited residential development to 282 housing units.
The financial burden of educating an influx of children that would accompany additional housing have long been an obstacle to further residential growth.
Removal of that resistance to residential expansion came through a significant policy change under the Mass Leads Act. Signed into law by Gov. Healey in November 2024, the legislation removed that long-standing 282-housing unit cap, clearing the way for larger-scale residential development.
The first substantial result of that legislation occurred a few days before Christmas of that year.
That’s when MassDevelopment issued Requests for Proposals from developers to build new housing on two residentially zoned parcels comprising 69.3 acres — about 6.6 acres at Adams Circle and approximately 62.7 acres along Grant Road, where development would expand one of the community’s largest residential neighborhoods.
The next likely site for more housing requires the clearing of a few procedural steps.
The Mass Leads Act also established a working group that in May of last year recommended housing also be allowed in the Innovation and Technology Center zoning district.
The ITC district includes a former bachelor officers quarters and the abandoned quadrangle of Army housing at Vicksburg Square, a boarded-up former barracks complex whose future use has vexed local officials for years.
While the bill required the working group to investigate the feasibility of building up to 400 multifamily residential units at Vicksburg Square, the area would need to be zoned residential before housing development could occur.
Chapter 498 requires that any zoning change must be approved unanimously by the town meetings of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, which have proven to be stumbling blocks previously.
In this case, that apparently is no longer the situation.
According to previous reporting, officials of the three towns have told the state they would support such a zoning change.
However, we’re not sure how they’d feel about a virtual elimination of their control over any other zoning changes or matters pertaining to Devens.
That working group recommended zoning changes be made either by super town meetings or a special act of the Legislature.
With this proposed legislation, it appears the governor wants to streamline all Devens zoning changes and other transactions with one regional town meeting vote orchestrated by MassDevelopment.
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