Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Harvard University announces major construction on Charles River in Allston

1. Report.
2. Marilyn Wellons Comments.

1. Report.

Review of this week’s Environmental Monitor leads to the following document which is listed under Requests for Advisory Opinion in “Cambridge”: http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepadocs/2011/072011em/rfao/6.pdf.

Harvard’s official Map of the Harvard Business School, at http://www.hbs.edu/about/visit.html, could be of help in understanding the proposal.

Reading through the legalize, I see a “150,000 square foot project” which will include 180 bedrooms plus a whole bunch of other stuff. Height is 78 feet which could be 8 or 9 stories.

The project includes a tunnel connecting the project to Baker Hall.

Because of that tunnel, review of the Harvard Business School Map leads me to the very strong opinion that the project will face on Soldiers Field Road and the Charles River in Harvard’s only undeveloped area between North Harvard Street and Western Avenue, adjacent to “Kresge” and to the massive Soldiers Field Park housing complex.

Please note that, as is usual when dealing with these people, this conclusion is anything but easy to come by. I think my conclusion is inescapable.

Other wording in the letter goes into Harvard’s plans for Western Avenue and misleads the casual reader (including me until I got the map) to believe this project would be on Western Avenue in Allston.

2. Marilyn Wellons Comments.

Harvard has been preparing the site for about a year. They put in fill at the SFR edge, as you can see from the elevation of the tree trunks near the fence.