City Environment Committee Debates University Housing Near Somerville

The Cambridge City Council's committee on environment held preliminary discussions last night on Harvard's plans for cooperative housing on a heavily wooded six-acre estate near Somerville.

Most of the 20 people at the meeting--including committee chairman Alfred E. Vellucci--opposed building on the estate, which they said ought to be a park.

An Urban City

"The entire population of Cambridge are looking for open space," Vellucci said. "Pretty soon we'll have an urban city of six square miles with no green in it," he added.

Vellucci also suggested that the estate be used for low-income housing, instead of for "University-related people" paying from $195 to $410 a month.

Donald C. Moulton, Harvard's coordinator for community affairs, defended the plans, which he said would leave more than an acre of open land.

"I wonder whether some of this opposition isn't obstructing for the sake of obstructing," he said. "It isn't fair to blame us for the housing shortage and then refuse to let us put up housing."

The proposed development would include one 22-story tower with 165 units, 91 more duplex units, and a garage for residents--married students, faculty, and other University employees--as well as the one-acre park.

Moulton said that the plans had not met with serious opposition at two meetings with the community held this month.

'Harvard Put 'Em There'

Members of the committee showed slides of the estate, which appeared to be flowering, beautiful and nearly wild, despite beer cans, broken glass, and a discarded refrigerator. "Harvard probably put 'em in there to discourage us," Vellucci muttered.

Other people, however, stressed the use of the estate as a playing area by Cambridge children.