The Devens Reuse Plan defined sustainability at Devens as "development which achieves a balance of economic, social and environmental needs, while maintaining and enhancing
the natural resource base" (Vanasse Brustlin 1994). The result of this early planning was a vision for what sustainability means to Devens, its residents, users and the involved public
bodies: "the thoughtful and careful redevelopment of the base for the purpose of promoting economic development, social welfare, environmental protection, and natural resources."
The DEC has since incorporated a number of strategies to achieve a more sustainable approach to redevelopment of Devens.
Public office hours are generally 8:30AM–4:30PM, Monday-Friday.
- Devens Eco-Efficiency Center 2023 Annual Report
- Grand Opening of the Nashua River Trail
- Devens Adopts Embodied Carbon Reduction Guidelines
- Devens Joins the EPA Smartway Program
To help meet the sustainability goals of Devens redevelopment and our Climate Action Plan, the DEC has joined the Federal environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay program. Read the press release here.
- Green and Complete Streets in Devens:
The DEC recently partnered with Tufts University, the Grant Road Developer, and Nitsch Engineering on a project highlighting the importance of green and complete streets in combating climate change, improving public health and safety, saving money, and creating more socially engaging spaces. The team created green and complete design options for Goddard Street and a number of resources:
– Full report: A Road to a Greener Devens: Implementing Green and Complete Streets Policy on Goddard Street
– Green and Complete Streets Guidebook for the General Public
– Green and Complete Streets Guidebook for Developers and Planners
– Green and Complete Streets Guidebook for Public Works
– Three Principles of Green and Complete Streets
– Green and Complete Streets Infographic
- Apple Country Natural Climate Solutions Project
Bolton, Devens and Harvard are collaborating with Nature to deliver climate solutions that will increase the resiliency of our communities and ecosystems. Nature-based solutions are cost-effective solutions providing multiple co-benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved air and water quality, reduced flooding, biodiversity, recreation, as well as improved physical and mental health. Learn more at: https://climateresilient.wixsite.com/applecountry - Devens Releases Its Climate Action and Resilience Plan!
In collaboration with our consultant Kim Lundgren Associates, the DEC officially released the new "Devens Forward" Climate Action and Resilience Plan. Devens Forward serves as a roadmap to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and prepare Devens for the impacts of climate change. The plan includes more than 70 actions as well as a Climate Action Toolkit for Businesses to assist them in reducing their own emissions as well. Explore the plan, check out our short video and more:
– Video
– Press Release
– Devens Forward Climate Action and Resilience Plan
– Climate Action Toolkit for Businesses - Devens 20/20: Advancing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals:
- Devens Community and Municipal GHG Inventory
- DEC Renewable Energy Facility (REF) Reduced Permit Fee Schedule:
- Devens Biometric/Eye Tracking Phase 2 Study Report Released — August 2019
- REBA Presentation on Devens Sustainable Development
- Devens Becomes a LEED Certified Community by USGBC
- Devens Achieves 4–STAR Sustainability Rating
- Devens Green Infrastructure Guidelines
In Devens, where and how you build is just as important as what you build. This document provides applicants with an overview of what Green Infrastructure is, the local incentives and guidance on how to strategically locate and incorporate Green Infrastructure into projects to meet multiple regulatory requirements within the DEC Rules and Regulations. Download your free copy here. - Devens Net-Zero and E+ Housing
- Devens Sustainable Housing Video — 10–27–21
Devens sustainable housing projects were recently featured in a video by Stow TV, in partnership with the Sustainable Stow Committee in Stow, MA. Learn about how Devens approach to Net Zero Energy and Energy Positive residential development is helping Devens meet it's sustainable redevelopment goals and serving as a model for other communities. - Devens Complete Streets Policy and Prioritization Plan
- Nashua River Wild and Scenic River Study – 11 communities vote "YES"!
- Devens Municipal Vulnerablity Preparedness Plan
- DEC Releases Pilot Study by Tufts University on Biometric Tools for Planning
- Take a Sustainability Tour of Devens
See some examples of the social, economic and environmental aspects that make Devens and the businesses and organizations here more sustainable. - Devens Eco Efficiency Center
The Devens Eco-Efficiency Center provides education, technical assistance, networking forums, and partnership opportunities that help local establishments make better use of resources and achieve triple bottom line – economic, environmental and social – benefits. Learn about the non-profit's programs and services that promote sustainable business practices and how your facility can benefit from them.
The Great Exchange program has had another banner year helping Devens achieve its eco-industrial development goals through waste diversions and repurposing. Take a look at their latest ANNUAL REPORT.
The official opening of the Nashua River Trail and the Pollinator Meadow on MacPherson Road within the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge occurred on Wednesday, November 1st. See the photos of the celebration here. Click here for more information on the trail and the meadow.
Devens recently adopted a set of tools and guidance to assist applicants with reducing the carbon footprint of their development projects in Devens. Read the Press Release. These guidelines will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector and help Massachusetts meet its decarbonization targets. Check them out here.
Want to learn more about the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) and how Devens redevelopment is contributing to their advancement? This report takes a closer look at each of the 17 SDG's in relation to the sustainable redevelopment efforts in Devens over the past 20 years and looks at how Devens is contributing to these global goals. The report also identifies where we might be able to improve our efforts to foster even more sustainable development.
Devens recently completed a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory for community-wide and local government GHG emissions in Devens for the baseline year of 2015. This inventory will form the basis for the Devens Climate Action Plan. that is currently being developed to meet the goals of the Global Warming Solutions Act by comprehensively addressing climate change on a local and regional level.
To promote and incentivize clean energy projects and further support greenhouse gas reduction, improved air quality and the sustainable redevelopment goals of the Devens Reuse Plan, Bylaws and Rules and Regulations, the DEC has adopted a reduced permitting fee structure for REF projects.
Using biometric tools to help understand our unconscious response to the built environment has been the focus of this cutting edge planning research collaborative between Tufts University and the DEC. The second phase evaluates conventional suburban development patterns with new-urbanist developments to help us understand how to better design spaces and places for people, rather than cars. View the report here.
Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts (REBA) recently uploaded a video presentation on the sustainable redevelopment of Devens.
In 2018, the US Green Building Council (USGBC), a third-party internationally recognized sustainability rating system, certified Devens as a LEED for Cities and
Communities Certified community.
At the end of 2017, Devens was awarded a 4–Star sustainability rating from the STAR Community Rating System — the national leading framework and certification program for evaluating local sustainability. Read the press release here. Learn more about how Devens achieved this milestone and became recognized for national excellence in sustainability by checking out our Certification Summary.
In addition to being an eco-industrial park, Devens is home to a number of existing and new Net Zero energy (NZEB) and E+ homes.
Eight single family homes and twelve multi-family units were constructed as part of a pilot project in 2011 to demonstrate how energy and water
efficient homes could be built at no extra cost than traditional homes. This pilot project integrated cluster subdivision and low-impact development
techniques to become even more sustainable. The results of this pilot led to a series of regulation amendments that have fostered the development of an
additional 124 units of highly energy efficient homes in an innovative New Urbanist neighborhood designed for people first, not just cars. This development,
currently under construction, contains a mix of single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, quads, and 2x20 unit apartments and includes 25% affordable housing
for low income as well as moderate/workforce housing.
– Key features of NZEB in Devens
– Single Family Net Zero and E+ Homes Pilot
– Multi-Family Net Zero Energy Homes Pilot
– Technical details of NZEB in Devens
– Emerson Green 124 unit innovative residential development
– Devens Innovative Residential Development Regulations
In 2017 the DEC adopted a Complete Streets Policy to help ensure our streets are connected, accessible and safe for all users. The Policy includes a list of core commitments that the DEC and MassDevelopment have developed to further improve multi-modal accessibility for all Devens streets for all users. In 2018, the DEC undertook a public education and outreach process and completed a Complete Streets Prioritization Plan. This process highlighted gaps in the sidewalk network within Devens, gaps in bike infrastructure, the need for transit shelters, and the need to implement traffic calming measures in some areas to improve safety and reduce conflicts between residential and business uses. The Prioritization Plan then identified, detailed, and ranked specific projects that would address these needs. These projects will be undertaken as funding becomes available.
In a clean sweep, eleven riverfront communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire all voted "yes" at their Annual Town Meetings to accept the "Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers Stewardship
Plan" locally-developed by the Nashua River Wild and Scenic River Study Committee, together with its recommendation to seek Wild and Scenic River designation from Congress.
Learn more at https://www.wildandscenicnashuarivers.org/.
Through a Grant from the State Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, Devens has completed a comprehensive Climate Change and Natural Hazard Vulnerability Assessment, Preparedness, and Action Plan. This plan will help Devens become even more resilient and adapt to changing climate conditions. View the full report .
The DEC recently partnered with Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning on an innovative research project: "Seeing the 'Unseen' in Devens: A Biometric Pilot-Study to Better Understand the 'Unconscious' Human Experience at Devens, Massachusetts". The study looks at how people unconsciously respond to different elements of the built environment, using one of the newest residential developments in Devens as a case study. Read the full report here.
- Eco-Industrial Development (EID) in Devens
Devens is a former Army base being redeveloped as an eco-industrial park and a model of sustainable development by the MassDevelopment Finance Agency (MDFA) and the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC). Learn more about what eco-industrial development is and how it is helping meet the sustainable redevelopment goals of the Devens Reuse Plan. - Brownfield Redevelopment and Devens Environmental Clean-Up
Want to keep up to date on the environmental remediation efforts in Devens? This
website has up to date information on the clean-up efforts that are part of the Base Realignment and Closure Environmental Restoration Program under CERCLA
(Superfund). You can also learn more
about how the remediation and redevelopment of Devens is contributing to the sustainable redevelopment goals of the Devens Reuse Plan.
- Planning and Public Health in Devens
What we build is important, but how and where we build is equally important and can directly influence our public health. Recognizing this, in 2013 the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC) passed "Planning for a Healthier Future Through the Built Environment and Community Design" resolution. As a follow-up, in 2014, the DEC conducted a Health Impact Assessment to evaluate how newly adopted regulations could influence public health. - EDA Triple Bottom Line Devens Case Study
The US Economic Development Administration (EDA), in conjunction with Portland State University, the University of Arizona, and The Reinvestment Fund, created The Triple Bottom Line Tool to help optimize investments for economic, environmental, and social impact – what's referred to as the triple bottom line or TBL. Throughout 2012-2014, investors, economic development professionals, and decision-makers were able to use the TBL Tool to evaluate social, economic and environmental investment considerations. Devens, as an Eco-Industrial Park redevelopment project, was featured as a case study as part of this tool because of its triple bottom-line approach to sustainable development. Devens is the only case study that spans all six of the economic development types listed in the TBL case studies. Click here to view the Devens case study. Funding for the TBL Tool (http://www.tbltool.org/) expired in Late 2014 so the tool is currently not active but the Devens case study is still a great example of the triple-bottom-line successes of the redevelopment of Devens to date. For more information on Devens redevelopment, contact peterlowitt@devensec.com. - Devens Goes from Khaki to Green: Public/Private Partnership Benefits Former Army Base
- Devens Sustainable Indicators Reports
– 2012
– 2000
- “Living Green:” Resources for Devens Residents and Businesses
– Light and Noise Pollution
– Nonpoint Source Pollution & What You Can Do to Prevent It
– Invasive plants in Devens: Autumn Olive and Bittersweet in Devens.
– Learn more about invasive plants and management.
– Native plant species for biodiversity in Devens.
– SAVE WATER! Residential & Commercial Water Use.
– Devens Regional Household Hazardous Products Collection Center
– Recycling Guidance for Devens Businesses and Residents
– Composting in your Backyard
– The Benefits of Street Trees
– Tips for Greening Your Historic Home
– Devens Low-Impact Development Case Study 2010
– Resources on Food Safety and How to Eat Healthy. - Devens Sustainable Housing Video — 10-27-21
Devens sustainable housing projects were recently featured in a video by Stow TV, in partnership with the Sustainable Stow Committee in Stow, MA. Learn about how Devens approach to Net Zero Energy and Energy Positive residential development is helping Devens meet it's sustainable redevelopment goals and serving as a model for other communities. - Devens featured in latest edition of Business In Focus Magazine
Read about how Devens is meeting its sustainable redevelopment goals in this feature article
published in June 2019.