|
Weld’s team didn’t fight the locals on housing because their first
priority was spurring commercial development and replacing jobs lost
to the base closure. A master development plan that Harvard, Ayer,
Shirley, and the Land Bank agreed to back in 1994 envisioned Devens
as being dominated by manufacturing, office, and research space.
Zoning arising from the 1994 master plan was written into Devens’s
governing legislation. It capped housing at 282 units. The number
was somewhat arbitrary: Planners counted the homes they wanted to
maintain for historical preservation reasons, and drew the line at
that number.
|
|
