The meeting, hosted by the Allston-Brighton Task Force, included BC officials from the Office of Governmental Relations and Public Affairs, BC's architects, Sasaki Associates Inc., and members of the general community. It was an attempt to procure early stages of approval from the city for a plan that encompasses large-scale redevelopment over an extended period of time. BC was presenting its ideas for an Institutional Master Plan, which will take the next 30 to 50 years of improvements, but will have a considerable amount of construction hopefully completed in the upcominng 10 years. Those from BC believed it was a productive meeting and that their work is heading in the right direction.
"The Task Force takes Boston College very seriously. The people that come to these meetings are homeowners and have lived in the community for a long time, and we have to respect that," said Tom Keady, vice president for Governmental Community Affairs. "After [Tuesday] night, I feel good about where we are. We are right on schedule."
Those positive feelings are a relief for some after tensions again began to rise with an article in The Boston Globe detailing the updated, but not final plan announced by University President William P. Leahy, S.J. at Convocation in early September.
Some community members were upset that BC had created what were seen as definitive plans without consulting those whom it would affect directly. Keady and his department, the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs, were quick to explain that nothing has been finalized and that the decision to announce it at convocation grew out of Leahy's desire to first inform faculty and members of the BC community.
"We talked about respect, and we also have a responsibility to our own community," said Keady. "We need to make sure everyone knows what is going on."
The biggest concern raised at the meeting were questions about a report that BC would actually be eliminating beds in residence halls, and consequently putting more students into the neighborhoods.
One citizen stood up to tell BC that unless there was an improvement in undergraduate housing, their plans would have a tough time getting through. "The community is not going to give whatever approval you need from us without more undergraduate housing," he said.
Jeanne Levesque, director of Governmental Affairs, emphatically denied a Globe statement that 400 beds were going to be lost, while at the same time citing BC's standing as a leader in Boston schools at providing housing.
"We are replacing every bed we take down, bed for bed," she stated. "We house 85 percent of our students, and that's the best in the city. We plan on incremental increases, but some people want us to have 100 percent and I don't think that will happen."
Another long topic of discussion at the meeting was the effects on traffic of the planned redirecting of St. Thomas More Road so that it connects to Commonwealth Avenue closer to Chestnut Hill Avenue. BC officials said they were acting in the interest of pedestrians and that taking into account a new MBTA station, the movement of the street would alleviate strains on both walkers and drivers.
BC presented those present at the meeting with a detailed timeline of the steps already taken in planning, and detailed the process involved in gaining approval to move forward. The first step for approval requires BC to submit its IMP to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for a scoping determination, at which point the public will be allowed to comment. BC must then respond with an updated plan with those comments in mind. The IMP is required by the BRA for any university or hospital, and BC's has been sited as a model for other institutions to emulate.
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