Riverside Activists Pull for Zoning Plan

Aided by fiery language, stickers emblazoned “Save our Neighborhoods” and even accordion music, residents of Cambridge’s Riverside neighborhood urged local politicians Wednesday night to support a new zoning plan that would drastically restrict Harvard’s ability to build in the area.

Fifty residents spent nearly three hours testifying before the public hearing of the City Council’s Ordinance Committee, which has been considering two re-zoning plans for the neighborhood: the so-called “Carlson petition,” developed by neighborhood activists in the Riverside Study Committee, and an alternate proposal submitted by the city’s Planning Board.

After the hearing, the Ordinance Committee voted to send both petitions to the council without making a recommendation on either one.

The council must vote on the zoning petitions within 90 days, giving it an expiration date of October 28—a deadline less than a week before city council elections.

Several residents said that the council members’ votes on zoning would crucially impact the candidates’ viability on the ballot.

The Riverside area—home to some of Harvard’s largest and most hated buildings—has a history of opposing Harvard expansion. In 1970, a group of Riverside activists took over Commencement to protest the construction of Peabody Terrace and Mather House.

Several residents emphasized to the city council members that they haven’t forgotten these past disputes.

“The past can’t be undone, but if you let it continue and you let Harvard do to the last piece of the riverfront what they’ve done to the rest of it, there really is no excuse,” said Jessie Wenning.

“You are elected to represent me and I want you to do it,” Wenning added, eliciting loud applause from the assembled residents.

“We have a broad base of community membership,” Lawrence Adkins, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, said after the hearing. “I’m sure they’ll be severely disappointed in this city council if they don’t pass the Carlson petition.”

“There are some key city councillors who very much want to get some support out of that neighborhood,” commented Cambridge political pundit Robert Winters. “It’s specially designed to come right up before the election.”

At the meeting, one resident mentioned a rumor circulating through the neighborhood that Harvard would sue the city if the ultimate zoning regulations were too stringent.

A Massachusetts law known as the Dover amendment stipulates that local zoning codes cannot preclude non-profit educational or religious organizations from building to fulfill their institutional purposes, although it does allow for “reasonable regulation” of institutional building.

Winters described the Dover amendment as one of the cards that Harvard holds in the zoning battle.

While the re-zoning would affect development in several parts of the neighborhood, the biggest point of contention has been the parcel of Harvard-owned land on Memorial Drive currently occupied by Mahoney’s Garden Center.

The University dropped plans to build a modern art museum there last summer after an outcry from the neighborhood and is now proposing to build graduate student housing on the site.

Existing zoning regulations allow for building heights of up to 120 feet. The Carlson petition would cap heights at 24 feet, with the possibility of allowing special permits for taller buildings. The proposal from the Planning Board sets a limit of 45 feet.

According to Power, the University opposes both of the proposed re-zoning plans.

The reductions in building height under the Carlson and Planning Board petitions are “so severe that they make development infeasible,” Power said.

She added that Harvard’s plan for graduate student housing would benefit the community because it would relieve pressure in the crowded real estate market and include some affordable housing units for city residents.

But at the public hearing, residents made it clear that they do not want to see large-scale University development on the site.

“It’s just logically inconsistent to put the tallest buildings in the neighborhood along the river, the neighborhood’s most precious resource,” said Phyllis Baumann.

One resident took out an accordion and protested University development in song—a takeoff on “Fair Harvard”—while another resident said the song “Fight Fiercely, Harvard” should be changed to “Fight Harvard Fiercely.”

Cob Carlson, the first signer of the petition that is now named for him, said the plan had the support of “over 95 percent of the neighborhood.”

“It’s time for Harvard to compromise and stop their predatory ways and arrogant manipulation of city officials,” he said.

State Representative Alice K. Wolf, D-Cambridge, told the Ordinance Committee she hoped they would support the Carlson petition and limit development in the neighborhood in a way they had not done in the past.

“You are being given something we are not often given, and that is a second chance,” Wolf said.

She added that she was “disappointed that Harvard didn’t make a symbolic gesture” such as donating the land to the public.

While University officials did not make a presentation at the meeting, Power said during the public comment period that Harvard has “continued interest in reaching a mutually agreeable resolution.”

City councillors David P. Maher and Brian Murphy, co-chairs of the Ordinance Committee, have been meeting with Harvard officials, city councillors and neighborhood residents to discuss possible compromises.

According to Murphy, items on the table include building height, use and density as well as affordable housing.

City Councillor Henrietta Davis, a member of the Ordinance Committee, said she would like to see at least part of the Mahoney’s site used for open space.

“It’s pretty clear to me that’s going to have to be part of a successful agreement,” she said after the hearing.

Carlson said he would support several alternatives, including keeping Mahoney’s on the site, using the land for a neighborhood park, or building a one or two story housing development.

He added that if Harvard showed a willingness to compromise, it would go a long way towards creating good will in the neighborhood.

“It could really do wonders for town-gown relations,” he said.

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