The purpose of last night’s meeting, Draisen said, was to allow the Board to gauge the community’s response to the sale, in order to fine tune their draft.

The board will meet again tomorrow, and Draisen said they hope to be able to finalize the document and vote on it at that time.

Joseph A. Lima, Houghton’s vice president of operations, said after the meeting that the loss of the railyard would have an impact across New England.

“I’m happy to see local people spoke for local issues, but it’s really going to affect an area larger than the Allston-Brighton area,” he said.

Ginger Esty, a member of the Framingham Board of Selectmen, said she believed the recent cost overruns of the Big Dig have led the MTA and the Massachusetts Port Authority to try to sell any of their assets that they can.

“Real estate people probably thought they died and went to heaven because things they never would have thought would be available became available,” she told the board.

She questioned the idea that getting rid of the railyard would have any benefits beyond the aesthetic.

“What they call an eyesore is really the lifeblood of the economy,” she said.

After the meeting, a University spokesperson reiterated Harvard’s previous position that the University currently has no plans to develop the land and displace CSX.

“We don’t foresee any changes in the use of the land in the foreseeable future,” said Lauren Marshall, a Harvard spokesperson. “The University is looking at the purchase of the property as a long-term investment.”

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