Harvard-Allston Task Force Requests Deadline Extension

The Harvard-Allston Task Force requested an extension to submit comments on Harvard’s Institutional Master Plan for development in Allston at a packed HATF meeting Monday night.

The formal deadline for comments on the IMP that the University filed with the city of Boston in July is Tuesday, Sept. 24. The task force agreed to submit a finalized report of IMP comments and a prioritized list of community benefits to the Boston Redevelopment Authority by Oct. 2.

Task force member Tim McHale sent out a 30-page report over an Allston-Brighton email list Monday morning, laying out the task force’s comments on the IMP as well as a proposal of a community benefits package focusing on housing, education, employment, and open space. As the meeting began, some task force members expressed excitement about the possibility of submitting the recommendations. However, as the night progressed, an increasing number of task force and community members began advocating for an extension.

Some members of the task force said they believed the language in the report needed to be clarified before submission.

"It’s very hard to tell what we support and don’t support and what we want the BRA to do," task force member Harry E. Mattison said.

Task force member Brent C. Whelan ’73 said that the report’s vague language pertaining to future negotiations between the University and the community "makes the document effectively useless."

Not all task force members were so critical of the report.

"To have put this [document] together…in just 60 days is a phenomenal task," said task force member Bruce E. Houghton, though he acknowledged that the report would benefit from more time.

The task force members agreed that a clearer internal consensus among themselves would help them clarify the language of their recommendations. Proposals to be finalized include the mitigation of increased traffic, opposition to particular building plans, and the promise of a community voice in Harvard’s future developments.

Associate Vice President for Harvard Public Affairs and Communications Kevin Casey emphasized the need to keep the comment process on schedule, noting that the IMP finalizes only the zoning plans for Harvard’s development proposals, but leaves room for future discussions of specifics.

"We feel this discussion would not benefit from three or four weeks of delay," Casey said. "The zoning aspects are in place."

Ray V. Mellone, chairman of the task force, said that he was opposed to requesting an extension to the comment period, saying that it would appear to the community and the city as if the task force were "foot-dragging."

Despite Mellone’s objection, Gerald Autler, a senior project manager at the BRA, granted a nine-day extension.

—Staff writer Marco J. Barber Grossi can be reached at mbarbergrossi@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @marco_jbg.