Seeking To Build, HLS Woos Neighbors

Harvard Law School (HLS) officials wooed neighborhood support for plans to expand their campus last night, even as they await a University decision on a possible move to Allston.

Emphasizing their goal of involving the community early in the process, planners presented an update on their progress to the more than 60 area residents who gathered in Pound Hall.

The presentation was a follow-up to a more sparsely attended meeting with residents in March.

The Law School is depending on community support to be able to meet its short-term space needs—and establishing smooth relations with neighbors would also bolster the case for the school to remain on its current site.

Moving HLS to Allston is one of two options University officials are considering as they sketch out plans for a major new campus on Harvard’s recently-acquired land across the river. The second scenario involves moving some science facilities of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

A smattering of residents and city politicians have recently said they would prefer to keep the law school in their backyard—and to have new science labs built elsewhere.

Both HLS and FAS have been strengthening their footholds in Cambridge in recent months, as they each have continued to formulate separate North Yard building plans.

The Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing board, approved a massive new science building last month. But HLS planning is at an earlier stage, as a consultant continues to study the feasibility of various development possibilities.

The driving force behind HLS’ plans is the need for more space, particularly for facilities to improve student life.

Ed Tsoi of Tsoi, Kobus and Associates, the local real estate consulting firm leading the feasibility study, said last night that its goal is to evaluate the school’s needs, solicit feedback from community residents and gain support from the city of Cambridge—all before any construction projects begin.

“It’s really upside down from the way you’d normally interact with Harvard,” Tsoi said.

He said it is typical for the public to find out about construction plans only when the University seeks a building permit from the city.

“The problem with that process is that you find out too late,” he said.

“Multi-Dimensional Chess Game”

HLS Dean of Administration Julie Englund said the expansion was necessary to improve student life.

She credited Story Professor of Law Daniel J. Meltzer’s work on a strategic planning effort that identified HLS space needs, including meeting areas for students, rooms that allow for smaller classes and more student housing.

“Our dorms are really quite substandard these days,” she said.

She said that incoming HLS Dean Elena Kagan would use the results of the feasibility study to make final decisions about development.

Possible sites for expansion include the corner of Mass. Ave. and Everett Street. The parking garage on the site may be moved underground to make way for new construction.

Other sites mentioned include the corner across from the garage, the current home of retail shops, and the building at 23 Everett Street that houses the Program on the Legal Profession and the Human Resource Services.

Tsoi said they will also look at North Hall, farther down Mass. Ave. in the former Holiday Inn building. The site is now used for student dormitories, and Tsoi said it may be possible to add retail space on the ground floor.

And Englund emphasized that if HLS moves to Allston it won’t happen in the short term, Englund said.

“You can’t deprive 10, 15, 20 years of students of facilities here on the campus,” she told the residents.

City Councillor Brian Murphy said after the meeting that even 20 years is a short time for an institution that has existed for centuries.

Any new buildings will have to be designed for multiple uses in case HLS leaves.

“It’s a multi-dimensional chess game,” Murphy said.

He said Cambridge residents “don’t want to just be an afterthought” as the University negotiates with Boston city officials.

At a recent City Council meeting, the councillors discussed HLS expansion and voiced a desire to be a part of the process.

“The general tone was that there’s a desire to keep Harvard Law School in Cambridge,” Murphy said after the council meeting.

Space Crunch

The HLS Study began three months ago and is expected to last seven to eight months altogether, Tsoi said.

By the end of the summer, he said he hopes to present Harvard with a set of guidelines for developers to use when they plan specific construction projects.

Key issues include creating openings to the campus along Mass. Ave., establishing a “front door” for HLS and providing new connections between the 19 separate buildings.

A representative of the Agassiz Committee on the Impacts of Development (ACID), a neighborhood activist group, praised Harvard’s recent efforts to involve the community and encouraged residents to approach the discussions with HLS with an open mind.

ACID is currently engaged in a “tough but productive series of conversations with Harvard,” member William Bloomstein said.

In recent months, neighbors have tried to improve the historically difficult relations between the University and local residents and have agreed to negotiate with Harvard on a “wish list” of concessions they hope to receive in exchange for support of development projects.

“So far I think the signs are positive and I would like to impart that spirit tonight,” he said.

But some residents and local politicians questioned the timing of the HLS plans since University officials have said a decision on Allston is just months away.

State Representative Alice K. Wolf, D-Cambridge, said she wanted to see HLS conduct a study of the current use of its buildings before it decided to proceed with expansion.

“We still would like to hear, from the community’s point of view, whether development is really needed,” she said after last night’s meeting.

ACID members, too, said they wanted input on development projects.

They identified key issues including traffic, parking, pedestrian safety, as well as keeping a mix of residential, business, and institutional use in the area.

Residents also mentioned the need to look at the height and density of buildings and to preserve open space.

“Agassiz has the least amount of open space of any neighborhood within the city,” said Carol Weinhaus, a member of ACID who has been involved in discussions with HLS.

Weinhaus, along with fellow ACID member Adriane Bishko, said they have spent nine months studying the Mass. Ave. area, and presented a “walk-through” at the meeting using a series of photographs taken by Weinhaus.

Weinhaus and Bishko are conducting a survey of Agassiz neighbors, asking them to prioritize the list of concerns developed by ACID.

Gordon Moore of Neighborhood 9—the area on the other side of Mass. Ave. up to Garden St.—said that residents there had not been involved in discussions about HLS expansion until a few weeks ago.

“We do want to go forward together and I applaud what’s been done so far,” he said, but he added that the ACID survey did not represent the opinions of Neighborhood 9 residents.

He said after the meeting that their concerns were “not dissimilar” to the ACID list, but they wanted to add the need for preserving the historic character of the neighborhood.

He said he hopes to organize a meeting of Neighborhood 9 residents in two to three weeks to have more formal discussion.

Another general meeting about the feasibility study will be held sometime next month, Power said.

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