There Goes the Neighborhood

After three years, lots of arguments and almost as many headaches, the old MBTA train yards adjoining the new Kennedy School of Government may finally get put to use.

In a controversial 3-2 vote, the Cambridge MBTA Yards Project Review Board last week recommended the Carpenter/Cambridge Associates plans for developing the $4.2 million parcel of land in southwest Harvard Square.

John Buckley, state Secretary of Administration and Finance, must still give his final approval to the plan before work continues, however. A public hearing scheduled for sometime in the next two weeks promises to be quite a battle.

Cambridge resident groups and many businessmen still favor the runner-up proposal of the Cambridge Carbarn Company, which includes only one-fifth the retail space the Carpenter plan envisions. Residents contacted last week said they fear that the Carpenter plan would generate a marked increase in traffic around the area.

The last time groups voiced this same fear, they were able to force the Kennedy Library Corporation to move the proposed John F. Kennedy Memorial Library to Columbia Point in Dorchester.

Harvard has remained neutral throughout the drawn-out debate. President Bok said last week he only hopes that whichever developer receives final approval will get to work right away.