She credited Story Professor of Law Daniel J. Meltzer’s work on a strategic planning effort that identified HLS space needs, including meeting areas for students, rooms that allow for smaller classes and more student housing.

“Our dorms are really quite substandard these days,” she said.

She said that incoming HLS Dean Elena Kagan would use the results of the feasibility study to make final decisions about development.

Possible sites for expansion include the corner of Mass. Ave. and Everett Street. The parking garage on the site may be moved underground to make way for new construction.

Other sites mentioned include the corner across from the garage, the current home of retail shops, and the building at 23 Everett Street that houses the Program on the Legal Profession and the Human Resource Services.

Tsoi said they will also look at North Hall, farther down Mass. Ave. in the former Holiday Inn building. The site is now used for student dormitories, and Tsoi said it may be possible to add retail space on the ground floor.

And Englund emphasized that if HLS moves to Allston it won’t happen in the short term, Englund said.

“You can’t deprive 10, 15, 20 years of students of facilities here on the campus,” she told the residents.

City Councillor Brian Murphy said after the meeting that even 20 years is a short time for an institution that has existed for centuries.

Any new buildings will have to be designed for multiple uses in case HLS leaves.

“It’s a multi-dimensional chess game,” Murphy said.

He said Cambridge residents “don’t want to just be an afterthought” as the University negotiates with Boston city officials.

At a recent City Council meeting, the councillors discussed HLS expansion and voiced a desire to be a part of the process.

“The general tone was that there’s a desire to keep Harvard Law School in Cambridge,” Murphy said after the council meeting.

Space Crunch