Find Alternatives

Boston Globe
City urges BC to seek other dorm options
Email|Print| Text size – + February 21, 2008 01:35 PM
By Peter Schworm, Globe staff

City officials are urging Boston College to find alternatives to its controversial plan to build dormitories on the former Archdiocese of Boston property, which many Brighton neighbors sharply oppose.

In a report released late Wednesday, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which reviews and must approve college expansion plans, called on BC to study ways to restrict undergraduate housing to its main Chestnut Hill campus.

The recommendation is a "very clear signal that we have heard the message from the neighbors about the concerns they have, and we are insisting Boston College look at alternatives before we make any decisions," said authority spokesman Jessica Shumaker. "We feel at a minimum BC needs to address why they can’t meet their housing goals on their current campus, and expect a good faith effort from BC to show us other options."

Neighbors who live near Boston College have raised a range of objections to the college's expansion proposal in public meetings this winter, but are most resistant to BC's plan to house 500 undergraduates in dorms on 65 acres it acquired from the Archdiocese, the first dorms slated for the Brighton side of Commonwealth Avenue. Some neighbors also oppose plans to build dorms on Shea Field, which they say would mar the view of the nearby Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said today that the report is a standard part of the review process and the college would work to address the city's concerns. But he said the Chestnut Hill campus is already "exceedingly dense" and cannot handle 500 additional undergraduates. Building dorms on the Brighton property, he said, is the only way the college can add student housing.

Dunn said neighbors' complaints about the location of student housing, in light of long-standing demands to house more students on campus, amounted to "a question of NIMBYism."

"Everyone wants to see college students live on campus, unless they happen to live close to campus," Dunn said.

Dunn said the city's demand that BC find alternative expansion plans ran counter to Mayor Thomas M. Menino's push for colleges to build more dormitories in response to neighborhood complaints

"We were following the mayor's lead," Dunn said. "We feel confident this plan is in the best interest of the college and the community."

The Redevelopment Authority also urged the college to relocate the proposed site of a recreation center to potentially allow housing there. It also recommended nonresidential alternatives to the Shea field site.

The full development of the former archdiocese property, which the college calls the Brighton campus, would increase the traditional 120-acre campus by more than 50 percent. The Brighton campus would also include an athletic field house, a softball field, and a 500-space parking facility.

Alex Selvig, a Lake Street resident who lives near the Brighton campus, said he was pleased by the BRA review, which he described as rigorous and thorough.

"It's very encouraging and renews a lot of people's faith in the BRA process," he said. "Everything we were concerned about, those questions are being asked."