Harvard presented a new package of community benefits totaling $43 million to the Harvard-Allston Task Force on Monday evening. The community benefits package is linked to the University’s ten-year Institutional Master Plan for development in Allston. Documents for the Chao Center, an executive education facility at the Business School that will be the first project in the IMP, will be filed Tuesday.
In response to demands from task force members for community benefits related to housing, the new proposal adds $5 million to support new housing and homeownership in the neighborhood. The package also pledges $500,000 to the Gardner Pilot Academy for general improvements. The final modification is the reallocation of $1.7 million from Harvard’s planned ‘transformative project,’ to a flexible fund that could be used for projects that emerge later in the IMP process.
Kevin Casey, Harvard’s associate vice president for public affairs and communications, said that this proposal, which offers more money than any past package associated with the IMP, may be the maximum the University is willing to offer in terms of community benefits.
“This is the third time that I’ve come to you since July, and each time we have added millions of dollars to the package,” Casey said. “The well is dry in terms of what we believe is commensurate with the physical development in the master plan.”
Despite Harvard’s proposed additions to the community benefits package, some task force members said they remained unsatisfied.
Task force member Cathy Snedeker called for a greater emphasis on workforce and employment development.
“It’s just not enough,” Snedecker said. “I see nothing that’s linking us to…how we’re going to be able to protect existing businesses and what [new businesses] we’re going to bring in here.”
Read more in News
Baker Joanne Chang Talks Sweets and ScienceRecommended Articles
-
Harvard Begins Planning for AllstonHarvard initiated an open planning process that will create a new Institutional Master Plan for the University’s development in Allston at the Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting on Tuesday.
-
University Unveils New Blueprint For Allston Development -
Harvard-Allston Task Force Requests Deadline ExtensionThe Harvard-Allston Task Force requested an extension to submit comments on Harvard’s Institutional Master Plan for development in Allston at a packed HATF meeting Monday night.
-
A Master Plan for Good JobsAs Harvard moves forward with its plans to build, among other things, a hotel and conference center in North Allston, it has the responsibility to bring good jobs to the Allston community.
-
Allston Residents Divided On Benefits PackageMembers of the Allston community remain divided on the promise of a community benefits package attached to Harvard’s Institutional Master Plan for development in Allston, which the Boston Redevelopment Authority will accept or reject on Oct. 17.
-
BRA Approves Harvard's Institutional Master PlanThe plan calls for nine projects that will be completed over the next ten years, representing the first step in Harvard’s long-term vision for its Allston campus.
