Lesley Seeks Porter Square Rezoning
By Karen Klinger
Lesley University is waiting for the Cambridge City Council to act on a zoning amendment petition that if approved, could substantially alter the Porter Square streetscape in years to come.
The university wants to relocate the Art Institute of Boston, which it acquired in 1998, from its present location in Kenmore Square to a site adjacent to Lesley’s University Hall (the old Sears Roebuck building), but first it needs the city to approve a plan extending the existing business district to include the large lot where the North Prospect Church stands on Massachusetts Avenue.
Lesley bought the church with the idea of making it a part of the new AIB complex a block from the Porter Square “T” station, but the property currently is zoned only for residential development (the church has “grandfather” status). The university also is seeking to create a new overlay district consisting of all the property it owns in the square.
Unlike some other recent rezoning proposals in the city, including the controversial plan in East Cambridge involving Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Lesley’s petition has mostly been met with the cautious approval of nearby residents.
“Generally speaking, we’re in favor of this,” Porter Square Neighbors Association (PSNA) President John Howard recently told city council members. Howard said the arrival of AIB promised to enliven the Porter Square scene, with Lesley’s plan to build a glass-enclosed art gallery and library that look out onto Mass Ave., both open to the public, and to make classes, lectures and exhibits available to the community.
Howard commended Lesley for being a “good citizen” by holding community meetings during the past two years to discuss ideas for its Porter Square properties and by working with members of a city-appointed advisory group.
In addition to University Hall and the church site, the properties that comprise what Lesley calls its “Porter campus” include two parking lots directly across Mass Ave. and a building on Somerville Avenue housing administrative offices.
If the university succeeds in obtaining the flexibility that rezoning would provide, it plans to create a 100,000-square-foot AIB complex by moving the church to the southern portion of the site and attaching to it five- and three-story wings to form a U-shape, with an atrium housing the art gallery in the middle. About 40,000 square feet of the space would be built underground.
At recent meetings, Lesley spokesman Bill Doncaster told members of the PSNA and the Agassiz Neighborhood Council (ANC) that to achieve the size it wants for the AIB buildings, the school would limit what it could build on the parking lots across the street, essentially transferring allowed square footage from one site to the other.
Doncaster said the university might eventually replace the parking lots with low-rise office buildings, but not dormitories. The university currently is constructing two dormitories a few blocks away on Mass Ave. and Wendell Street that will house nearly 100 students and is in the process of buying seven buildings near Brattle Street from the Episcopal Divinity School that might also provide student housing.
If the city approves the overlay district, the new zoning would allow Lesley to build a more than 80,000-square-foot structure in the parking lot behind University Hall. The university’s website says that while currently there are no plans to do so, some neighborhood residents say they would like the school to use the lot to create more of a “campus feel” and to add green space.
The results of a survey conducted by the ANC found the top concerns about the development of Lesley’s Porter campus involve parking and traffic congestion, the need for a construction mitigation plan and the impact on open space.
Stephen Diamond, an ANC director, said recently at a city ordinance committee meeting that despite potential problems, most people seem to be looking forward to the AIB coming to Porter Square.
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What's with the idea of moving the church? It's beautiful and it's a landmark. It's also a piece of art / architecture. It should stay right where it is. I see it as I go down Arlington Street, and my neighbors do, too.
The church is an historic landmark and so it would not be significantly altered by this project. It's proposed location would still face Mass Ave and be entirely visible, essentially moved over to the right. I agree that it is a beautiful building, so I am pleased to know it has been incorporated into this plan.
But why move it? it looks fabulous just where it is.
Absolutely, Ilan, typically, it is the residents of the community who have the perspective to think about the parking or traffic impact, the way that a new development will change or harm neighborhood patterns. And so, residents need to be involved, deeply, in these processes. I am sorry about the East Cambridge issue, and that residents didn't feel seen or heard. Your voice is important in bringing accountability to the process throughout the city.
Sorry, if I was a little out of context this morning, the steam of last night still fogged my mind... The main issue that I actually wanted to bring about is how the city handles development of this size and above... Like in East Cambridge, many of the residents worry about the infrastructure impact of such projects and how they integrate in our neighborhoods. Not that they don't want the development (most of the time they are strong supporters), they just feel a piece of the puzzle is left out. It is my experience that for the time being their seems to be a vacuum. The city forgets, voluntarily or not, to first evaluate the impact and then negotiate the proper mitigation. But maybe this should be a discussion for another blog... And I also would like to apologize if I earlier gave the impression I was flat out against any development...I'm not...
Yes, I have heard very positive feedback about Lesley's community process. I had the opportunity to hear the president, Joe Moore, speak last week - he really does have a sincere dedication to the community and his students' place in it. So, I concur with Karen that in this case, the situation is different from what you are seeing in East Cambridge, Ilan.
By the way, I appreciate your (and Mark's) continued blogging on the development issues in East Cambridge - I wouldn't hear anything about it otherwise.
Thanks, Ilan, but part of the point of my story is that there is a great difference between dealing with a developer and with a university, or at least Lesley. While Lesley doesn't need me to speak up for it, on this point, anyway, I think I can say that the community has been generally happy with the way the process has gone forward. Lesley is not trying to make a buck out of relocating the art institute and its other plans, it is trying to carry out its educational mission. It has been around for nearly a century and it wants to continue on for at least another century--it does not want it or its students to be surrounded by hostile neighbors. Many folks think Lesley has learned something from Harvard's sometimes bullying tactics with the townies and has put that knowledge to good use with a more constructive "can we all get along" approach.
Before I write my own blog this morning, I wanted to voice my unconditional support to my Fellow neighbors up North. We have just been pressed, here in East Cambridge. Like oranges one by one...picked and pressed... the juice squeezed out of us till the last drop. You have a tough road ahead. Protecting our neighborhoods against the union of Labor, the city council and the developer is tantamount to re-enacting sysphus myth. Good luck and if you need help don't hesitate to call me, us ... the only way we're really gone make our voices heard is if we speak as one...