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MassDevelopment In The News
How to Build a Strong Economic Future and Support Local Towns
April 1, 2006: Lowell Sun, Editorial by Robert L. Culver
In less than 10 years, Devens has grown from a desolate, contaminated wasteland into an award-winning showcase for the redevelopment of closed military bases. MassDevelopment has accomplished this near miracle by working cooperatively with the surrounding towns, the U.S. Army and an alphabet soup of state and federal agencies.
While not created solely to redevelop Devens (MassDevelopment came into being in 1998, when the state Legislature merged the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Government Land Bank), the agency devotes nearly 50 percent of its annual operating budget and 53 percent of its staff to the 4,400-acre site.
Devens' operating expenses last fiscal year totaled $13.8 million with revenues of $9.3 million leaving a $4.5 million deficit. Since MassDevelopment took title to the land from the Army in 1996, the Commonwealth has contributed $143.8 million in state funds to the project. In addition, it has plowed $13 million into upgrading and expanding Devens' wastewater treatment plant and another $11 million into its electric utility system. Federal dollars spent on cleanup and remediation are at $140 million and counting.
Today, more than 80 businesses are located in Devens. Those companies employ more than 4,000 people who live in Ayer, Harvard, Shirley and other towns throughout the region. By 2004, their combined annuals payrolls exceeded $130 million and have since grown as new companies join the roster. These companies have also invested more than $430 million in private funds to make Devens what it is today.
Devens residents have also contributed to the growing community, investing $28 million to purchase their homes. And that doesn't count the real-estate taxes they pay to MassDevelopment to support Devens' bottom line or the multiplier effect of their spending at area stores, restaurants and service providers.
Devens' athletic fields, walking trails, Mirror Lake and recreational programs drew more than 200,000 people of all ages to the area last year, a number that increases annually. The annual Independence Day celebration is one of the largest in the state. These visitors bring their wallets with them.
Meanwhile, to keep all this going MassDevelopment operates a fully staffed fire department and dispatch service, and contracts with the State Police for law-enforcement services. All participate in mutual aid agreements with area towns.
Devens' public works staff maintains 53 miles of roadway, 330 acres of improved grounds and recreation facilities, and 15 buildings with close to 400,000 square feet of space. The department has reached out to the towns of Ayer, Groton, Harvard, Lancaster and Shirley and developed cooperative agreements for mutual aid, purchasing and training. By helping each other handle emergencies, the need for expensive short-term contracts is reduced and municipalities save on expenses.
And Devens' utilities department operates three electrical substations, approximately 75 miles of power lines, four groundwater wells and pumping stations, 50 miles of water lines and two one-million gallon storage tanks, 30 miles of natural gas pipeline, a state-of-the art wastewater treatment facility, four sewer lift stations and 50 miles of sewer lines. In addition to its Devens' business and residential customers, the department provides sewer services for MCI-Shirley and parts of Shirley and Ayer, as well as back-up water for MCI-Shirley.
MassDevelopment works beyond the borders of Devens to bring jobs and economic development to towns throughout north central Massachusetts. For example, the agency has provided more than $16 million in financing for businesses in Ayer over the past decade. Those businesses include Volunteers of America Ayer at nearly $8 million, which created 28 jobs, and Advanced Vacuum Systems, Inc. at $2.22 million, which created 35 jobs.
Since 2003, MassDevelopment has worked in partnership with the towns of Ayer, Harvard and Shirley, the Devens Enterprise Commission, and the residents and businesses of Devens to determine how Devens should be governed in the future. With the formation of a 16-member Devens Disposition Executive Board, MassDevelopment became one of six stakeholders engaged in a complex process that requires the agreement of five participating groups to recommend a course of action.
Dozens of local residents have volunteered thousands of hours to study topics ranging from future education needs to zoning changes required to permit the building of sufficient housing to support business expansion in the region. Their work has resulted in a proposal to recommend that Devens become a town with certain parcels returning to the jurisdiction of Ayer, Harvard and Shirley. MassDevelopment would stay involved as owner and developer of the land and as a resource for local businesses.
Robert L. Culver is president/CEO of MassDevelopment.
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