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The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) issued its scoping determination for Boston College's Master Plan on Thursday, calling into question the merits of constructing housing on the Brighton Campus and Shea Field.
"The scoping determination by the BRA is a normal stage of the Master Plan process in which colleges and universities are asked to provide additional information on their proposals, often in the form of studies on issues ranging from traffic impact to parking," said University Spokesman Jack Dunn.
"We anticipated these requests and are happy to respond to the BRA through the submittal of our final Institutional Master Plan sometime this spring," Dunn said.
The mayor's office stood by the BRA in echoing the neighbor's concerns about building more residence halls on the Brighton Campus.
"I say to them, why can't they build the new dorms on the campus they already have?" said Mayor Thomas M. Menino in a Boston Globe article.
Menino has called on Boston's colleges and universities to house more of their students in an effort to ease pressure on the surrounding neighborhoods. BC officials feel that the plan to construct more residence halls on Brighton Campus is in line with the mayor's policy.
"Our proposal to house 500 students on the Brighton Campus is consistent with requests from the mayor of Boston, elected officials, and Allston-Brighton residents for colleges and universities to house more students on campus," Dunn said.
On a percent basis, BC is currently the leader in housing students on campus with 85 percent of students housed within the University's Chestnut Hill and Newton campuses. The proposal to add 610 beds in the Master Plan - 500 on the Brighton Campus - will increase the total students housed to 92 percent. Approximately 1,200 students live off campus each year at BC. The additional beds would reduce that number to 600.
BRA Spokeswoman Jessica Shumaker told the Globe that their recommendation is a "very clear signal that we have heard the message from the neighbors about the concerns they have.
"We feel, at a minimum, BC needs to address why they can't meet their housing goals on their current campus, and [we] expect a good-faith effort from BC to show us other options," she said.
The BRA has asked BC to consider alternate, non-residential uses for Shea Field, where the University currently proposes to add additional residence halls overlooking the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.
If BC is forced to construct more residence halls on main campus, it could also affect the placement of the new recreation complex, which is currently slated to be built on the site of Edmond's Hall.
"Given the density of our Chestnut Hill Campus, if we could not build 500 beds in the 65 acres of our Brighton Campus, it would mean that an additional 500 students would remain in the neighborhood, which would be to the benefit of no one except the most ardent obstructionists," Dunn said.
Neighbors were relieved after hearing the Mayor's position on housing on Brighton Campus.
"Taking that misbehavior and putting it right beside the neighbors doesn't address the issue," Alex Selvig told the Globe. Selvig unsuccessfully ran for a city council seat last fall in an effort to combat BC's plans for expansion.
University officials purport that increasing the number of students housed on campus, even on Brighton Campus, will positively affect behavior issues that many neighbors complain about, as resident assistants and the BC Police Department patrol on-campus residences.
In addition to concerns about the placement of housing on the future campus, the BRA asked BC to consider alternative layouts and designs to the proposed baseball stadium and alternatives to realigning St. Thomas More Road and the relocation of the MBTA station. The BRA would also like BC to hold at least one meeting for discussions on the Master Plan's sustainability, potential future sustainability programs and plans, green building, water use, storm=water=retention systems, and ways to reduce solid waste.
BC will take all the scoping questions into consideration and will file the final Master Plan once it has had time to examine the issues raised by the BRA. The approval of the Master Plan is requisite before construction can begin on any of the proposed projects on BC's Lower Campus and Brighton Campus. Middle and Upper Campus are in Newton, which is not under the purview of the BRA. Due to different planning requirements in Newton, the first construction project will likely be Stokes Commons, an interim student center, on Middle Campus.
"We hope that after we respond to their request, the city of Boston will see the benefits of our proposal both for BC and the community of which we have been a part for the past 95 years," Dunn said.
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