Joslin, a resident of Kerry Corner, said the agreement sets height limits of 35 feet everywhere except for a plot on Cowperthwaite Street, where the height would rise to 45 to 55 feet. According to Joslin, residents are willing to allow a taller building on that site because it is an ideal location for a dorm, but they hope the agreement will include more stringent restrictions on the size of buildings on other neighborhood plots.

“We were worried about dorms being built in areas they shouldn’t be built,” Joslin said, citing an area on Grant Street and another area on Athens Terrace as examples.

Harvard’s Senior Director of Community Relations Mary H. Power said this weekend that she could not discuss specific aspects of the agreement because the University viewed the deal as a “package of assurances and commitments.”

“There has been tremendous effort by all to work towards a resolution,” she said.

Councillor David P. Maher, who has been at the forefront of the negotiating efforts, said after Friday’s abbreviated meeting that he expected the agreement to be ready for a vote today.

“On Monday we will have a finished, very creative piece of zoning,” he said. He added that the letter of commitment would be available to the public today.

Wysoker said there were still “substantive differences” between Harvard and the neighborhood, especially over the Kerry Corner and Western Avenue sites.

“If Harvard is going to stick to their guns on that, then the deal may fall apart,” Wysoker said. “I hope it doesn’t, but I think that they need to reduce the size of their program a little bit....The bottom line for me is that Harvard will be getting a significant amount of development out of this deal and I would hope that they would allow for a little flexibility in order to get it done.”

Joslin said he felt the two sides were not very far apart but that both the residents and the University wanted to make sure all the details were specified in writing.

“The list we gave back was relatively small and items that we don’t think are deal-breakers,” he said. “They would be if we lost them, but I can’t imagine they’re deal-breakers for Harvard, so I’m relatively optimistic.”

“If it all goes through and meets all the concerns of Harvard and the community, then there are large parts of the process which are a wonderful precedent for future negotiations on similar areas around Cambridge,” he added. “We hope that this will serve as a shining model for how the University and the community and the council can work together.”

—Staff writer Jessica R. Rubin-Wills can be reached at rubinwil@fas.harvard.edu.