City Councilor Calls for Meeting to Discuss Harvard Construction in Cambridge

Cambridge City Councilor Craig A. Kelley is calling for a meeting between Harvard, city bureaucrats, and a group of disgruntled Cantabrigians who are upset about damage to their homes caused by University construction near Dunster and Mather Houses.

At this Monday’s City Council meeting, Kelley said that residents living in the Cowperthwaite St. area—where Harvard put up graduate student housing last year—have voiced discontent with the compensation that the University has offered them in return for damage to their homes incurred during construction.

“There are people who feel very strongly that Harvard’s mitigation promises were not followed,” Kelley said yesterday.

Kelley said he hoped that a meeting between the interested parties would take place in the next few weeks. But first the council will need to appoint a committee to deal with housing issues, he added.

Thomas J. Lucey, Harvard’s director of community relations for Cambridge, did not comment specifically on the issue of compensation for the homeowners, but he said that the University carefully documents the state of the neighborhood before and after construction in order to evaluate any damage that may occur.

Meetings between Harvard and members of the community have been taking place regularly, said Lucey, who emphasized that the lines of communication remain open.

“We’re always talking to the City Council on a wide range of matters that are of mutual interest,” he said.

Kelley, an environmental consultant from North Cambridge, added that the issue of construction projects interfering with residential life is a broader one that city leaders must address.

“How can the city make sure that large scale developments can go on without hurting nearby neighbors?” Kelley said.

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.