Local Residents Halt Building With City's Aid

On the eve of the Massachusetts Democratic primary, it was business as usual in the Cambridge City Council chambers as councilors listened to arguments over future commercial development in the city.

The council stalled one developer's plans to replace a gas station with a new office building on the corner of Mass Ave and Lee Street, between Central and Harvard Squares.

Local residents complained that such construction would disrupt their neighborhood with yet another imposing structure and questioned the developer's qualifications for federal financial assistance.

Under a program designed to revitalize downtrodden commercial zones, the developer has requested $3 million in tax-exempt Industrial Revenue Bonds.

The council passed a resolution asking the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Authority to delay a decision on the bond issue in order to allow time for negotiations between the city, community and the developer.

In other council business, Cambridge's Scientific Advisory Committee delivered its final report on the risks associated with the storage and testing of nerve gas at the Arthur D. Little Laboratory in North Cambridge. The committee concluded that the risks posed by experimentation with these toxic agents far outweighs the possible benefits.

Representatives from Arthur D. Little appeared before the Council last spring in an attempt to explain the company's safety precautions before mounting a court challenge to Cambridge's ban on nerve gas agents in the city.

The city council is not scheduled to take up the committee's findings until October 1.