Members of Harvard’s affordable housing trust and the developers of the Devens Grant Road housing project agreed to a plan this week that will add 40 apartments to the town’s affordable housing inventory.
Under terms spelled out in a letter of agreement signed by the Harvard Municipal Affordable Housing Trust and Devens Village Green LLC on Tuesday, June 16, DVG will restrict 10 of its planned 40 apartments to families earning 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. Because those 10 units will constitute 25 percent of the DVG apartments, state regulations allow Harvard to count all 40 units as part of its affordable housing inventory.
Proposed Devens Village Green housing project on Grant Road
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The planned Grant Road development comprises 124 single- and multifamily homes and apartments, as shown in this preliminary schematic. The 10 affordable apartments agreed to this week by Devens Village Green and the Harvard Municipal Affordable Housing Trust will be located in one of the two 20-unit multifamily buildings planned for the intersection of Grant Road and “Road C.” The developer plans to begin work on infrastructure for the new housing in July. The 10 affordable apartments will be built next year during Phase 2 of the project, when the first of the two multifamily buildings is scheduled to be built.(Drawing from Devens Village Green, LLC)
In return, the Harvard MAHT will contribute $140,000 to the project to defray some of the $300,000 to $350,000 DVG says it will lose because of the lower rents it will receive on the 10 affordable units.
In a separate memorandum addressed “To whom it may concern,” the Devens Enterprise Commission, which functions as the Devens planning board among other duties, acknowledged the arrangement, saying the number of affordable units at Grant Road will meet its own requirement that 22 percent of the apartments and homes can be rented or purchased by families with incomes equal to or less than 100 percent of the area’s median income. In discussions with MAHT and DVG, DEC officials have said they support the agreement and plan to add an administrator to their staff to manage affordable units throughout the Devens community.
A three-way disagreement
The agreement between DVG and MAHT ends a complex three-month argument among representatives of the town, MassDevelopment, and the DEC over a lack of state-defined affordable units in plans for new housing at Grant Road. The issue gained public attention when MAHT member David Hopper realized in March that of the 124 units planned for the new development, none would be affordable to families with incomes below 80 percent of the area median income and therefore none would count toward Harvard’s subsidized housing inventory (SHI). In appearances at DEC hearings, Hopper protested the harm being done to Harvard’s affordable housing plans and suggested a range of solutions, many of which made their way into the final agreement. The perceived unwillingness of the DEC—and by association, MassDevelopment—to make the inclusion of affordable housing part of the permit it granted DVG last month may have contributed to the defeat of Article 4 at Harvard’s June 8 Super Town Meeting (see story). The developer, however, made its desire to find a solution known to MAHT in late April.
State regulations (Chapter 40B) recommend that 10 percent of a town’s apartments and homes be deed-restricted to be affordable to families earning 80 percent of the area median income or less. Harvard’s current proportion is 5.5 percent; had the 124 homes and apartments on Grant Road been built as planned, Harvard’s percentage would have dropped to 5.2, requiring an additional 12 to 13 state-defined affordable apartments or homes to be built in Harvard to make up the deficit.
Construction a year away
Under the terms of the just-signed agreement, Harvard will instead gain 40 units and, in the absence of other development, its percentage of affordable units will rise to 7.1.
The 10 affordable apartments will be located in one of the two 20-unit multifamily buildings to be built at the intersection of Grant Road and “Road C” in DVG’s plan (see the diagram above). The first of these apartment buildings, however, won’t be constructed until Phase 2 of the project, expected to begin next summer. At that time, DVG will need to return to the DEC for a second permit.
Meantime, the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which determines whether housing can be considered affordable or not, has confirmed that if the agreement is implemented as written, the 40 apartments in the two buildings should all qualify. However, the paperwork needed to make that happen can’t be filed until the Phase 2 construction begins next year. That’s also when Harvard would transfer its promised $140,000 to the developer.
At the Monday night MAHT meeting at which wording of the agreement with DVG was hammered out, Hopper praised DVG for “reaching out” and working with the town to find a solution. Dan Gainsborough of DVG, who was also present, praised Hopper for his persistence, his moderation in presenting his views, and his ability to stay focused on finding a solution that worked for everyone.
