Meditech stalled in Freetown

When Medical Information Technology Inc. last fall announced plans to build a 120,000-square-foot office building in Freetown’s Riverfront Business Park, the software maker was hailed by politicians in Boston and on the chronically underemployed South Coast as a godsend.
Homegrown and in the high-tech sector political and business leaders across the country are clamoring for, the project appeared a certainty when it was whisked through an expedited state environmental-permitting process by Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s administration in August.
But more than a year after being proposed, the project, planned on what may be the site of an ancient Native American burial ground, is in jeopardy because of a dispute between the company, known as Meditech, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
And supporters of the project say there’s more at stake than the 800 new high-paying jobs the project would produce or the estimated $35 million in new disposable income expected to be injected into the region. If Meditech does go elsewhere, critics of the Historical Commission say the departure could chill new development projects throughout Massachusetts out of concern that searching for tribal or Colonial artifacts or remains could become a costly new part of building.
Robert Mellion, CEO of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce, said if the Meditech project, which involved no public money or incentives, ultimately does fall through, it will turn off the biotech companies the area is desperately trying to attract.
“The broader perspective is we are trying to diversify and the loss of Meditech would be a major blow to us in marketing our region as a major life-sciences super-cluster,” Mellion said. “We have chronic 10 percent unemployment because we were old-style manufacturing. We feel these are the jobs of tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, other areas in the region hungry for new construction and high-paying technology jobs wait in the wings to lure Meditech if its differences with the Historical Commission cannot be overcome.
New Bedford has offered to host a new Meditech office if the Freetown option falls through and Rhode Island’s aggressive attempts to reel in technology companies from across the border, especially to Providence’s evolving Knowledge District, continue.
Asked if they were actively pursuing Meditech, R.I. Economic Development Corporation spokeswoman Melissa Chambers said the agency could not comment on specific businesses, but offered a statement extolling the state’s virtues to companies that fit Meditech’s description. “Further developing business hubs around Rhode Island and fostering the growth of biotech, digital media and information technology-based companies is a priority and focus area for the EDC,” the statement said.
Founded by a former computer scientist and Massachusetts General Hospital employee in Cambridge, Mass., in 1969, Meditech is now based in Westwood, Mass. and employs 3,500 people at seven locations, including 500 at a facility in Fall River. The company makes medical-record software systems. The proposed Freetown project would employ another 800 workers.
At the center of the conflict in Freetown are questions about the Historical Commission’s authority over building sites suspected of containing valuable archeological finds, but not listed in the historic register.
Historical Commission approval is one of the permitting requirements for projects like the Meditech building, but the company balked this summer at demands it said the commission made to excavate the 21-acre construction site and have the topsoil screened and examined by archeologists.
At the start of September, Meditech announced that it was abandoning the project in Freetown and would look for an alternative site because the Historical Commission would not back off its demands.
Horrified by the prospect of losing such an attractive company, officials in the area argued that the Historical Commission had overstepped its authority and looked to the state Legislature for relief.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport, filed a bill that would specify in state law that the Historical Commission only has authority over properties listed in the Massachusetts Historic Register.
The bill, which has been endorsed by Patrick, is expected to receive a hearing this month and supporters hope could be voted on early in January.
On the other side of the issue, Mass. Secretary of State William Galvin, who oversees the Historical Commission, rejects the position that the commission does not have legal authority over sites like the Meditech property and describes the bill as an attempt to placate one business by crippling the commission’s ability to preserve new archeological sites, which are rarely on historic registers. “It would have a significant impact not just there, but on sites across Massachusetts and the ability to protect sites such as public parks and other sensitive areas,” Galvin said.
Galvin said the Historical Commission’s requests of Meditech have been persistently mischaracterized and are actually much more modest than they’ve been described.
In the last meeting between the two sides in November, Galvin said the commission requested less than five acres of soil be machine screened and less than 1 acre be subject to hand screening. In addition, he said the commission was open to scheduling the digging in a way that would minimize construction delays.
The final estimate of the cost of the archeological work quoted at the meeting was around $97,000, Galvin said.
During that last meeting, Galvin said Meditech had appeared receptive to the arrangements and asked consultant Public Archeology Laboratory of Pawtucket to develop a work plan. The commission never received the work plan or any additional message from Meditech, Galvin said.
Through spokesman Paul Berthiaume, Meditech declined to comment on the future of its Freetown project or negotiations with the Historical Commission.
Kenneth Fiola Jr., executive vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, which has been working on behalf of Meditech, did not immediately return several calls for comment.
Despite its disagreement with the commission and statements about looking elsewhere, Meditech has not officially closed the door on building in Freetown.
On Oct. 24, well after the company said it was seeking an alternative location, Meditech applied for a three-month extension of its application for site-plan review with the Freetown Planning Board, said Laurie Muncy, Freetown planning administrator.
Still, even if Meditech returns to Freetown, Vigeant, the UMass associate chancellor, said the controversy with the Historical Commission has already had a negative impact on the state business climate and what has been a model corporate citizen.
“Until this, they have been 100 percent committed to creating jobs here and have asked for zero in incentives and tax breaks,” Vigeant said. “Those guys are the kind of company you want to keep in Massachusetts.” &#8226

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