Council Puts Off Vote On Riverside Plan

A contentious battle between Harvard and Cambridge residents that has dragged on for more than three years may come to an end this week, as city councillors make a final push towards a compromise over the University’s development of the Riverside neighborhood.

Councillors and Harvard representatives have agreed “conceptually” on a rezoning plan for the area, according to Councillor David P. Maher, and the City Council will hold a special meeting on Friday to discuss the new plan.

The proposal will affect Harvard’s ability to develop its property along the Charles River, including a site on Memorial Drive that is currently home to Mahoney’s Garden Center and two sites near Mather House.

Last night’s city council meeting came and went without a vote on the plan, but several city residents went to the council’s public comment period to voice their tentative support for the compromise.

Alec Wysoker ’84 said he was waiting to hear the details of the agreement, but said he thought it was a workable deal.

“We’re holding our breath and hoping that we’ll be happy with what we see,” Wysoker said.

The council has until next Tuesday to vote on the two rezoning plans on the table—the neighborhood-developed Carlson petition, which would significantly cut the allowed heights on Harvard’s property, and a more moderate proposal submitted by the city’s Planning Board.

Harvard has formally opposed both plans, saying it could not carry out its plans to build graduate student and faculty housing under the proposed height restrictions.

This fall, councillors have been meeting with University officials to try to strike a last-minute deal in which Harvard could build taller buildings than the Carlson petition allows, in exchange for concessions such as providing public open space and affordable housing units for city residents.

Such a compromise would involve broader issues than just zoning and would likely include a written contract between Harvard and the city detailing the specific community benefits that the University would provide.

Maher and Councillors Marjorie C. Decker, Anthony D. Galluccio, and Brian P. Murphy ’86-87 met with a group of neighborhood activists before yesterday’s council meeting to provide an update on the progress of the talks.

Resident Phyllis Baumann said the neighborhood residents did not see a specific plan, but one option she said is on the table would include several 35-foot buildings on the Mahoney’s plot and a public park on the area of the site nearest to the Charles River.

“I’m very positive about it,” she said of the prospective agreement. “I hope they’re able to pull it off.”

She said the neighborhood has indicated they would be willing to allow 35-foot buildings, even though the Carlson petition caps heights at 24 feet.

Councillors declined to discuss the details of the plan. They said they were still working on hammering out the specific agreement and drafting the legal language for the zoning petition.

Maher said he expects a completed version of the plan to be available to the public on Thursday. He said he thought the council would be ready to vote at Friday’s meeting, after hearing public comment from residents.

“If we’re able to deliver on the concepts that we’ve been working on, I think the council will see the mutual benefit and will pass the petition,” Maher said.

If the council needs more time to debate the zoning plan, the vote could be postponed until next Monday’s regular meeting.

Harvard officials were not present for the meeting between councillors and Riverside residents yesterday, but Thomas J. Lucey, Harvard’s director of community relations for Cambridge, said the University was “working very hard with the appropriate people in the city.”

With elections coming up on Nov. 4, residents have emphasized in recent weeks that their votes will go to the councillors who fight for the interests of the neighborhood.

“Exercise due diligence and vigilance as you craft this negotiation,” Cob Carlson, the first signer of the petition that now bears his name, told the councillors last night.

Decker, who has been one of the council’s most vocal advocates of the Carlson petition, said she hoped an agreement could be reached that offered benefits to the community.

“I’m feeling cautiously optimistic that the neighborhood will prevail,” she said.

—Staff writer Jessica R. Rubin-Wills can be reached at rubinwil@fas.harvard.edu.