Yard-Law School Mall Nears Approval by City

The University yesterday won a significant victory for its plan to construct a pedestrian mall linking the Yard and the Law School.

One of the major objectives of the $2 3/4 million proposal, which calls for construction of an underpass in front of Memorial Hall and the closing off of part of Kirkland Street, is to allow Harvard more room for the projected Center for International Relations.

Early this summer, however, the Cambridge Planning Board objected to using any part of Kirkland Street for new construction. Without such freedom, the University said it would abandon the whole project.

But yesterday negotiations apparently had smoothed over the conflict as the Planning Board recommended that Harvard be allowed the flexibility it asked for. The Board told the City Council that the project "will be a significant contribution to the well-being of the City by easing the flow of traffic and eliminating numerous accident hazards."

Hearing Set

A formal vote of the City Council is now all that stands in the way of final approval of the proposal. The Council, which gave preliminary approval this summer, set a hearing on the matter for Nov. 15.

Under the Planning Board's recommendation, the University would have to discuss with the Board any plans for construction on the closed-off part of Kirkland Street. This too represented a retreat from an earlier demand that Harvard submit its design to an architectural review board, which would have the ultimate power of veto.

"The Board feels that the University offer to meet with the Planning Board means that a reasonable degree of protection to the larger interests of the City can be developed, with particular reference to open space, vistas, and pedestrian traffic," Dominic J. Percoco, chairman of the Planning Board, explained to the Council in a letter.

Percoco asked, however, that the University enter into discussion with the Board "in the very earliest stages" of planning for a new building.