City Board Approves Plans for Apartments

The Cambridge City Board of Appeals has removed the last major obstacle facing construction of a proposed 136-unit apartment building near the Law School, but the Middlesex Superior Court may overrule the decision. The structure is designed to relieve the acute shortage of housing for married graduate students.

The Board granted four zoning variances to co-planners Charles Kirkwood and Thomas M. Payette last week, including permission to build the structure 48 feet over the present city height limit of 65 feet. Construction will begin next fall unless the Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge upholds the present ordinance laws sustaining a possible appeal by Lesley College.

If Lesley College appeals, however, the court will probably refuse the variances, J.A. DeLoria, Cambridge Building Commissioner, indicated yesterday. "It has been my experience that the court will go along with the opponents of the variances unless the property in question is under a real hardship so as to require them," DeLoria said.

Philip M. Cronin '53, an attorney representing Lesley College, told the CRIMSON "It is my inclination to believe that we will appeal," but said the college's trustees have not yet made any decision.