Council Delays Kendall Square Building

The City Council last night passed a temporary zoning change for the Kendall Square area, blocking until April 1 a developer's plans to raise a 16-story office building.

The measure, which the council passed last week in a slightly different form, came up again this week when Councillor Walter J. Sullivan moved to reopen the discussion. Although the measure's sponsor, Councillor Alice K. Wolf said it was not specifically directed at a particular project, but the zoning change would have halted the new building at the Athenaeum Group's One Kendall Square project.

David Clem, the former city councillor who heads Athenaeum, argued that the move shows bad faith on the part of the city, adding that plans for the project are already underway.

While discussing the plans for the site--which currently include a 16-story office building--Clem said that his group had applied to the Zoning Board of Appeals for permission to build a hotel. Several councillors said it was the first time they heard of the proposal.

"I do not believe we have spoken to anyone on the City Council," said Clem. "We have spoken to the city manager and the Community Development department and the people in the neighborhood."

But the mere mention of the hotel was enough to get community activist Debra McManus, who said she was watching the meeting at home on television, to drop her dinner and head down to City Hall, towing along her two children.

"The first I heard of this hotel was 15 minutes ago, and I live half a block away [from the site]," said McManus, who leads a community fight against the Binney St. parking garage, another part of Clem's project. "That's how well they're dealing with the community."

While Clem said his group has not yet completed an application to the zoning board, the developer is already seeking a permit for the office project. But he said that the group's attempts to consult the community in the past had not been successful.

"We haven't been very good in our public relations--I'd be the first to admit to that," Clem said.

Councillor David E. Sullivan told the council that it must act on the measure immediately because the development would be exempt from the temporary zoning once building permits are approved.

"What we're talking about here is whether were going to act before it's too late or after it's too late," said David Sullivan.

On a suggestion from Sullivan, Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci changed the expiration date of Wolf's original zoning proposal from July 1 to April 1. The amended measure passed 5-3, with Councillors Thomas W. Danehy, William H. Walsh and Sheila T. Russell opposing it.

Six votes are needed to approve zoning changes, seven if 20 percent of the property owners file an objection. Vellucci said he therefore doubted that the hotel proposal would pass the council.

"They're going to need seven votes in another two months," Vellucci told reporters. "So we're going through this charade for nothing. You haven't got seven votes in here."