Houses Face Construction Woes

With construction of graduate student housing next to their dorms slated to begin this summer, residents of Dunster House met with Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES) representatives yesterday to lodge complaints about early morning noise, safety, and the impact on House life.

Parts of Dunster, Mather, and Leverett Houses are designated as “high impact” areas during the construction of a new six-story apartment building on Cowperthwaite Street, according to an information packet distributed to Dunster residents on Monday.

The prospect of living next door to construction—which is scheduled to begin in August and last through the summer of 2007—has sparked an outcry on House open lists.

Construction on the Hasty Pudding building will force the closure of some rooms in Claverly and Apley Court next year. All rooms in Dunster, Mather, and Leverett are currently slated to remain open.

Dunster students said yesterday that the schedule does not accommodate their lifestyles. Construction will begin at 8 a.m. during the work week and one hour later on Saturdays.

“You’re not considering how this impacts our life,” Erinn M.M. Wattie ’06 told the HRES representatives, who tabled in Dunster Dining Hall during dinner yesterday. “I don’t think work before 9:00 should even be considered.”

But Susan Keller, Harvard’s Director of Residential Real Estate, told students that construction normally starts at 7 a.m., and if they delayed the start they wouldn’t be able to attract work crews.

Preliminary soil testing has already begun on the site, generating student complaints of repetitive “pinging” noises throughout the day, starting early in the morning.

HRES officials said students could address noise complaints during construction to the Mitigation Management Team, which is responsible for ensuring that work crews adhere to the schedule.

Students also cited safety concerns, complaining that the walkway that cuts past Leverett House will be closed during construction and will be narrower in its final form.

HRES representatives said they would consider opening the Leverett courtyard to pedestrian traffic, increasing the shuttle frequency, and installing more blue light phones. The Harvard University Police Department will also step up its patrol of the site.

“It’s very helpful talking to students,” said Edward LeFlore, the project’s mitigation manager. “We don’t walk around here at 9:00 at night, so we just don’t know about safety concerns.”

The University has already dealt with significant obstacles to developing the area from neighborhood residents. Under an agreement with the city, Harvard will provide affordable housing and a public park in return for permission to build along Cowperthwaite and Grant Streets and on another site on Memorial Drive.

The University has said that expansion on the two sites is critical to achieving its goal of housing 50 percent of its graduate students.

But some Dunster residents questioned why the Cowperthwaite Street building wouldn’t be used for overflow housing for undergraduates.

“This will seclude Dunster and Mather even more from the Harvard community,” said Shaunaq Arora ’05.

Keller said that zoning rules prohibited Harvard from building undergraduate housing on the site.

Dunster House Committee co-chair Colin B. Jackson ’06 said he hoped for some changes to the construction plans, such as prohibiting construction during reading and exam periods.

“I think the point of this meeting is to show them that they can’t just do what they want,” said Jackson, who is also a Crimson editor.

Not all students at yesterday’s meeting were upset about the construction.

“Frankly, I’m not that worried,” said Jonathan S. Chavez ’05, who noted that he will be graduating this spring. “I think Harvard students are overreacting like they always do.”

“The name, though, that’s key,” he said, suggesting “The Cowperthwaite Palace” as one possibility.

Senior tutors and masters in Dunster and Mather did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

—Staff writer Natalie I. Sherman can be reached at nsherman@fas.harvard.edu.