City Councilors Still Divided On Alewife Rezoning Proposal

An attempt to force reconsideration tonight of a two-week-old city council vote against rezoning the Alewife area of the city appears likely to fail.

Three city councilors filed an order Friday asking for more neighborhood participation before the area is rezoned. A fourth councilor, David Sullivan, said yesterday he will continue to oppose the plan. Six of the nine councilors will have to vote in favor of the rezoning for it to pass.

But councilor David Wylie said yesterday he would ask tonight for reconsideration of the controversial rezoning, designed to allow easier industrial expansion.

"I don't know if we have the votes--I will certainly talk withmy fellow councilors informally before the meeting begins," Wylie said.

Councilors Thomas Danehy, Leonard Russell and Walter Sullivan co-sponsored the order asking for increased community involvement in the plan.

"This is a really involved zoning change--it took the community development department three years to formulate it and they want us to digest it in two months," Danehy said, adding he would probably vote for rezoning once the plan had been revised.

Sullivan said he would also ask for labor involvement in the planning, and added he would suggest the community development department reformulate the plan with the help of other city agencies to increase attention to the city's employment problems.

"We want more assurances that it will not be just highly technological jobs that are created, that there will be a certain percentage for blue-collar workers," Danehy said.

Backers of the plan say it could create thousands of jobs in the industrial area near the Arlington and Belmont line, and add millions of dollars to the city's tax base.

If reconsideration is defeated, the rezoning would probably be delayed until next fall, Wylie said.