Expansion Moratorium Extended

The Cambridge City Council last night voted to extend its moratorium on institutional expansion into residential neighborhoods through June 30.

The ban, which prohibits expansion of Harvard, MIT and any other institution into residential neighborhoods, was extended for the second time to allow the Cambridge Community Development Department (CDD) and the city council enough time to pass strict permanent regulations on institutional growth.

A rough draft of the ordinance to limit institutional expansion will be sent to the council sometime next month, David Vickery, director of the department, said last night.

The CDD has been working on the law for more than a year, ever since the state legislature first granted Cambridge the right to regulate institutional growth.

A draft circulating inside the department calls for an outright ban on many forms on institutional expansion and strict permit procedures for almost every type of growth.

Harvard officials were unavailable for comment. Eight councilors supported the extension, and the ninth, Walter Sullivan, voted present.