Fernald's future in the balance

As the mayor convenes a panel to devise a reuse plan for the Fernald site - its next meeting is Tuesday - various groups are lobbying for open space, affordable housing, a cemetery, even a museum that documents its history as the nation's first public institution for the developmentally disabled.

But the state may have other ideas. While Waltham controls the zoning, the Commonwealth owns the property.

"The state basically would like to do whatever they want with the property, sell it off, bring in as much money as they like, regardless of what people in the community think," said state Representative Thomas Stanley, a Waltham Democrat and city councilor who has long fought the facility's closing.

Governor Deval Patrick last year reaffirmed his predecessor's plan to close Fernald and relocate its remaining 152 residents by June 2010. And last month, the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to keep the facility open.

Now, the governor's standoff against the patients' guardians, who want the residents to remain in their familiar surroundings at Fernald, is being upstaged by the administration's conflict with legislators and city officials, who want more control over Fernald's redevelopment.

The state's House of Representatives recently passed a budget amendment, with Stanley's support, that would keep Fernald open while a study is done on the cost and quality of the care it provides to its residents. But the governor is expected to veto it, and the conventional wisdom, as Stanley puts it, is that the closing "seems inevitable based on the court decisions and so forth."

With Fernald on track to close, local leaders are looking more closely at what's next for its approximately 200 acres, a rare opportunity for a densely developed city.

"We don't really have a choice about whether or not it's going to be developed, but we do want to have some impact on how it will be developed," said Marie Daly, a member of the Fernald Reuse Committee, who lives near the property. "We have an opportunity here to develop something good, a livable community that's planned properly."

The Fernald property is attractive to developers because of its sheer size and because of its location inside Route 128, according to Bill McLaughlin, senior vice president of development for AvalonBay Communities Inc., which built 387 rental units on the former Metropolitan State Hospital property in Waltham.

"Waltham has become one of the premier office markets," he said. "Two hundred acres has, at some level, endless possibilities."

But the smart way to build would be to concentrate the development on 30 to 50 acres, he said, and leave the rest open space, which would bring down costs compared with a sprawling development.

Whatever is built, it will likely be a 10- to 15- year process, predicted McLaughlin, whose company also developed the former Danvers State Hospital property.

"They are enormously complex, multiparty situations," said McLaughlin. "It is not for the faint of heart."

Among the complications is Fernald's institutional legacy, with all 70 of its buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Daly, who is also a board member of the Waltham Land Trust and the Waltham Historical Society, said she would like to see as many buildings as possible preserved and reused.

Reusing buildings also would help maintain the landscape, which was carefully planned by the original architect to maximize the natural features, she said.

Other suggestions include affordable housing, some possibly set aside for senior citizens; a cemetery; and small service businesses, such as a coffee shop or medical offices.

The Fernald Working Group, which is made up of members of community organizations, including the League of Women Voters, put together a draft "community vision" that suggests mixed-income housing, a biofuel refinery, bike paths, and the restoration of some wetlands.

Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, who recently reestablished the reuse committee, said some of the ideas she likes include community farming and a museum dedicated to Fernald, which opened in 1890.

But the planning process is just as much about what residents don't want, which can be summed up in one word: traffic, whether generated by a giant office park or too much housing.

"Trapelo Road is a very small, narrow, heavily traveled, dense area," said McCarthy, referring to the street that runs past the main entrance. "We can't really accommodate a lot more overdevelopment."

As it stands, the reuse committee would come up with a plan to submit to the Legislature and the governor. If approved, the plan's language would make its way into the request for proposals that would go out to developers. Traditionally, municipalities use the process to limit the number of housing units, for example, or preserve open space.

The state owns the property, but the city has some leverage because it is zoned as conservation and recreation land, which allows for uses such as farms, public outdoor recreation facilities, and some educational purposes. If the state wants to maximize profit by selling it a developer, the city has to authorize the site's rezoning.

Stanley sponsored legislation in 2003 that established the reuse committee as a way to let Waltham residents and officials have a say in what happens to the property. But he fears that a bill filed by Patrick in January, and now in hearings, could dilute his legislative influence on Waltham's behalf.

A summary of the bill says the governor's aim is to expedite the process of selling state land that is no longer needed for government use. And Patrick specifically states that he wants to give municipalities the opportunity "to provide input on potential reuses."

But Stanley said he is concerned that the language in the governor's bill would remove the Legislature from the process, which he believes would translate into little local participation.

"At the end of the day if you remove legislative approval, then you remove local protection, and I'm totally against it," he said. "I don't want the state to just walk in and do what they want with the land."

The state agencies involved in the disposition are "committed to working with the local legislative delegation and the community on the reuse of the Fernald property," said Kevin Flanigan, spokesman for the Division of Capital Asset Management, which oversees such transactions, in an e-mailed response to Stanley's comment.

Even as the property's redevelopment is debated, guardians of the remaining residents say they're undeterred by the Supreme Court's refusal to hear their appeal, and are preparing further legal action to keep Fernald's patients where they are.

Beryl W. Cohen, a lawyer who has represented the Fernald League, a group set up by the guardians, for 35 years, said the closure won't happen. By law the guardians have multiple options for appealing transfers, he said.

The administration is offering patients community-based residential settings or the option of moving to another facility, said Jennifer Kritz, spokeswoman for the state's Department of Mental Retardation. The idea is that patients should have choices and should be part of the community if possible, she said.

Cohen said a viable compromise would be to consolidate the patients on a small portion of the site and develop the rest, but Kritz insists the state will be closing the property.

While Waltham and state officials debate what's next for the property, Cohen said, the fight to keep the patients at Fernald will continue.

"The governor would have to mobilize the National Guard to take people out of Fernald if they do not choose to go," Cohen said. "The people there now are not going to voluntarily leave."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or lkocian@ globe.com.