Activists Offer Other Designs for Gulf Site

In an effort to convince the University of the hazards of overdevelopment, a group of community activists last week presented Harvard with a series of "design concepts" for the former site of the Gulf Station across from the Harvard Union.

The set of three drawings, which were also presented to the City Council on Monday, include a comparison between a structure built to conform to the city's current zoning regulations and one built under the tightened zoning that some neighborhoods residents have proposed.

In addition, one drawing depicts how the site would look if Harvard transformed it into a 30,000-square-foot public park. Although University officials expressed skepticism when the notion of a park was proposed, Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association Chair John R. Pitkin said he considered his organization's proposal a viable option for the site.

"It's a really good design, much better than what I certainly looked for, just in terms of how it looks," said Pitkin. He added, "The park is a wish, but the other two have much more immediate impact in terms of what's going on before the City Council."

A proposal currently before the council, sponsored by East Harvard Square resident Terry Crystal, would severely restrict development rights on land in the vicinity of the station, cutting the maximum allowable floor area ratio (FAR) from 3.0 to 1.75, and imposing a 45-foot height limit on buildings covered by the petition. FAR is the ratio of the total floor area of a building to the area of the property on which it sits.

Crystal submitted her petition to the council after the University announced plans to build a five-story, "limited-service" hotel on the site. But the hotel project was sidetracked when members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences objected, saying the land should be used for a library or faculty office space.

The hotel project is on hold, but the University has filed an objection to the Crystal petition. Associate Direcate Director for Urban Planning Marilyn Lyng O'Connell said that despite a series of amendments weakening the petition, it would still impose sever limits on Harvard's development rights.

President Derek C. Bok told The Crimson two weeks ago that the zoning debate is now the primary barrier to the University's developing the site.

City Councillors Sheila T. Russell and William H. Walsh said yesterday that they met with Bok last month to discuss the Crystal petition. Russell said that she urged Bok to hold more open discussion with the city on its real estate ventures.

"We're being hit with so many zoning petitions, and we felt that if they would be a little more up-front, we could avoid that problem," Russell said.

Russell said she and Walsh came up with the idea of a meeting with Bok, but Walsh said Bok initiated the discussion. Bok was not available for comment yesterday.

The councillors both said they would probably vote for the petition in its amended form when it comes before the council again on June 5.

Although Harvard officials say they have no concrete plans for the site at the present time, O'Connell said yesterday that Harvard does not approve of the zoning changes proposed in Crystal's petition.

"That is not acceptable to us in our efforts to protect the development potential of the site," said O'Connell. "We didn't feel that we could agree to anything less than a 2.5 [FAR] especially considering that we don't have a specific project in mind."

Vehicular Entrance

Pitkin said that in addition to the three drawings, he sent Harvard a letter containing other reccomendations for the site. At a meeting last week, the Neighborhood Association suggested that any building on the lot be set back on Harvard St. and provide a vehicular entrance on Mass Ave.

In addition, he said that the association wanted any new development to include a significant amount of open space.

"There's a very strong feeling that the preservation of public space--and I emphasize the word 'public'--is important," said Pitkin.

O'Connell said the ideas were "very reasonable suggestions, which we could work to accomodate if we had a particular project in mind."

"We just can't do it in the abstract," she said.