Devens Enterprise Commission
| | 2003 ANNUAL REPORT Devens Enterprise Commission |
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The Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC) is a regulatory and permit-granting authority for the Devens Development Project. It is empowered to act as a local planning board, conservation commission, board of health, zoning board of appeals, historic district commission and, in certain instances, as a board of selectmen. It carries out these duties in the context of a unique and innovative one-stop or unified permitting system, which greatly streamlines the local regulatory process. The DEC consists of 12 gubernatorial appointees, six (6) of whom are nominated by the host communities of Ayer, Harvard and Shirley. Each host community also nominates an alternate member. The Commission began operating on June 22, 1995. DEC Commission members currently include: Murray Clark, Jim DeZutter, Stephen L. Gervais, Richard Leonhardt, William Marshall (Chairman), David McKeehan, Charles McKinney, Lisa McLaughlin, John Rounds, Phillip Sidney, Paul Routhier, Paul Von Loesecke (Vice-Chairman), Ed Hamilton (alternate), William Castro (alternate) and Paul V. Johnson (alternate). During 2003 Mr. Clark resigned his position on the DEC and Mr. Hamilton was recommended by the Town of Ayer to serve out his term.
DEC staff includes Director/Land Use Administrator Peter C. Lowitt, Staff Planner Sharon Wason and Administrative Assistant Mary Quinn plus a number of consultants. These include the provision of inspectional services that are conducted by Gabe Vallente, Wellman Parker and Bob Freidrichs. Because of the limited amount of development activity occurring during this year the staff planner position was changed to that of a consultant as of July 1, 2003. Our legal and engineering assistance are covered by contractual relationships with consultants as well. Both the Development Review and Inspectional Services contracts went through the Request for Proposals/Request for Qualifications process this year. Mr. Vallente's team was rehired for Inspectional Services and the firm of Vollmer Associates was hired in November to replace Judith Nitsch Inc. and associates in providing Development Review Services for the DEC. Mr. Lowitt was elected president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association in August. He continues to serve on the boards of the Divisions Council of the American Planning Association, the Eco Industrial Development Council and the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Industry Association.
HIGHLIGHTS 2003 Projects: 2003 was the slowest year on record for development activity at Devens. Only six (6) Level II permits were issued in 2003. These included the Waste Water Treatment Facility amendment to grant a rear setback waiver; a variance for lot size for the Verizon building (P-2), Jackson Road and Barnum Road wetland permits to allow construction of detention facilities as part of road construction and drainage improvements, two garage permits to located garages in locations other than approved in the garage master plan, and Devens Common, which granted site plan approval to seven buildings: a 20,400 sq.ft. office building, a 65,000 sq.ft. hotel, a 14,000 sq.ft. conference center, a gasoline service station with 4,000 sq.ft. convenience store, a 1,600 sq.ft. car wash, a 5000 sq.ft. restaurant, and 20,000 sq.ft. of retail space. 2003 Permits
Level 2 Permits 6 Devens Common raised a number of issues regarding the 1993 Reuse Plan and its implementation. The phrase in the Reuse plan "retail in the zone is intended not to compete with retail in downtown Ayer and therefore will be business oriented and small scale", became an issue the DEC needed to come to grips with as part of this Level 2 Unified Permit. The Reuse Plan and Devens By-Laws authorize over 300,000 sf of retail uses within the Business Service Center zoning district in which this proposal was located. The By-Laws specifically allowed the various retail uses proposed and thus the DEC found itself in the difficult position of weighing the evidence presented by the various interest groups involved in the hearing. After three nights of public hearings, the DEC voted to approve the Devens Common project with various conditions. This decision was the subject of a request for reconsideration, which was denied by the Commission after a careful analysis of the objections raised by the applicant. These hearings made for a busy spring. Regulations: Over the winter the DEC finalized its regulatory revisions, taking advantage of the slow economic times to prepare for the new housing in line for the Grant Road area and cleaning up our Rules and Regulations to address existing deficiencies and to implement lessons learned since our last revisions in 1999. Our new Rules and Regulations were added to our web site, www.devensec.com and remain searchable, as was the 1999 version.
Transportation:
The Fitchburg Line Reverse Commute working group, chaired by DEC Director Peter Lowitt, continued its work to connect Route 2 and Fitchburg Line Commuter Rail issues through regular meetings of community representatives to discuss transportation issues. These meetings resulted in a study funded by the MBTA to analyze the potential for reverse commuting and improvements to the line. A summary of preliminary findings of existing conditions from report is worth sharing:
Interesting information which sets the stage for improvements to the regions' commuter rail service. In other transportation related areas the DEC and Mass Development continue to support the Devens Transportation Management Initiative in efforts to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips, improve air quality and lessen congestion on surrounding roads. Devens firms and their employees can utilize these services free of charge for the near future, including the Guaranteed Ride Home program and a computerized ride matching service. Communication: Historic ovals (attachments to street signs to help bring to life the history behind the Street's names) have been purchased and will be installed this spring as part of the DEC's public education efforts. Devens has a lot to be proud about and to share with our surrounding communities and the Commonwealth. This effort is designed to help connect visitors and residents with the former post's history. After the Devens Common public hearings the DEC held a workshop with staff and counsel to evaluate its performance and to learn from the experience. The Commission decided to develop and communicate its hearing procedures to the public. A brochure will be available at all future public hearings, information on hearing procedures, public hearings, meetings and legal notice issues are all being posted on the DEC web site, www.devensec.com under frequently asked questions (FAQs), joining our existing information on historic district issues. The DEC, in support of the JBOS 's recommendations from the Five Year Review process, appointed Commissioners to serve on the JBOS working groups - open space and recreation (Commissioner Rounds), finance and development (Commissioner Von Loesecke), transportation (Commissioner Routhier), and housing (Commissioner Sidney). The DEC staff and commissioners continue to participate in these working groups to better understand and accommodate the needs of our residents and the host communities. To no one's surprise, a larger proportion of staff time was spent servicing our growing customer base of residents. Issues included noise complaints and various questions regarding historic districts and permitting. The DEC's main means of communicating with the public remains its web site, www.devensec.com, where its meeting and hearing dates are listed, as are the agendas and minutes from recent meetings. Records of Decisions from various Unified Permit applications are also listed to illustrate the permitting process through concrete examples. The Devens Common Unified Permit Record of Decision is currently listed on the site. The DEC was audited last year by the Department of Revenue and has worked expeditiously to address the minor audit findings listed in their report. These dealt mainly with cash management and the timing of our local audit. We are pleased to announce that our auditor will be issuing a finding that all of these matters have been addressed over the past year. Sustainability Efforts Devens work on Sustainable Development and the DEC's EcoStar program are receiving worldwide recognition. The DEC hosted international visitors from Thailand, Germany, the Philippines, Canada and France, all of who are interested in the Devens sustainability story. In early July Mr. Lowitt presented a workshop "Transforming Existing Industrial Parks" at the Ann Arbor, Michigan meeting of the International Society of Industrial Ecologists. In October he participated in a United Nations Development Program sponsored Eco Industrial Development workshop in the Philippines. In October Greenleaf Publishing published "Eco-industrial Strategies: Unleashing Synergy between Economic Development and the Environment" by Ed Cohen Rosenthal. Mr. Lowitt contributed a case study to this work. Locally this September Mr. Lowitt participated in the 4th Annual Sustainable New England Conference at MIT as well as conducting a session in Sturbridge with colleagues from the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, which is modeling its sustainability efforts and regulations on the DEC's recent work. The focus of the DEC's current sustainability efforts remains our EcoStar program, which we intend to launch in 2004.
Financial self-sufficiency: The Legislature instructed the DEC to become financially self sufficient and stopped funding the DEC in 2000. Since then the DEC has undertaken a number of studies to establish a program of taxation to offset the loss of state funding. A taxation plan was submitted to the Department of Revenue and Administration and Finance per Chapter 498 of the Acts of 1993. We continue to await feedback from these state agencies. The Commission believes that one set of tax bills from the two state agencies governing Devens, Mass Development and the DEC, is an appropriate approach, similar to the manner in which a municipality collects funds for a regional school department by assigning a line item on the tax bill. The DEC undertook efforts to cooperate with Mass Development around issue of raising taxes to help cover DEC's operating costs and to date no agreement has been reached. Events during the past year revolving around determining a long-term direction for the disposition of Devens have clouded attempts to undertake long term fiscal planning. Unfortunately, the DEC cannot afford to remain inactive as we have reduced our operating surplus from over $900,000 to $570,000 over the past two years. The DEC's main source of funding is the collection of permit fees, which reflect the level of development activity at Devens. The rational for building up a surplus has always been the cyclical nature of development activity. We have been in a trough the last two years and the first half of this fiscal year (FY 03-04) has seen no level II permit applications. The DEC has had to reduce staff in order to stem the hemorrhaging of funds. The Commission hopes to present a plan to go forward with a taxation program to the public shortly. Respectfully submitted, William Marshall, Chairman
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