Locals Protest Plan For Bio Lab

At last night’s Cambridge City Council meeting dozens of residents voiced their opposition to a zoning change that would allow a more than 100-foot tall biotechnology lab building to be constructed within 50 feet of residential properties in East Cambridge.

Residents protested the possible loss of sunlight and an increase in industrial noise that may result if Beal Companies, LLP, a Boston-based real estate firm, is permitted to move forward with the project.

Several residents drew parallels between the current petition and the zoning variance—a one-time exception to zoning laws—granted last month to Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc, a developer that plans to build biotechnology labs in East Cambridge.

Local attorney Heather M. Hoffman accused the council of conceding to industry pressure, rendering comprehensive zoning plans powerless.

“Imagine having a building the size of Holyoke Center in your back yard,” said resident Janice St. Clair.

Currently, commercial buildings in the area—located near the Kendall Square T stop—may not exceed 45 feet tall and must be at least 100 feet from residential property lines.

The current zoning rules, implemented in 2001, include a statement that the stringent regulations are intended “to provide an incentive for residential development within the designated [district].”

“The Beal Companies have not been working for the residents, they have been working the residents,” Cambridge resident Anthony J. Keeber said at the meeting. Keeber was one of 27 residents who submitted statements in opposition to the zoning change.

The zone is currently classified as a transition area between the industrial zone in Kendall Square and the densely populated Wellington Harrington neighborhood. According to resident Isabel Caseres, the neighborhood has the lowest percentage of people with a high school education anywhere in the city, and the second highest population density.

Lino R. Becerra, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard who lives in the affected neighborhood, presented the council with a study of the shadows that would potentially be cast by the proposed building, which he said would make neighboring homes 3 degrees colder.

Tonio Buonassisi, an MIT professor who runs an interdisciplinary photovoltaic lab, said that he had recently spent $18,000 to install solar panels on his home, which he said would be rendered useless by shadows if the proposed zoning change is passed and the is building constructed.

Sean D. Hope, and attorney who has done outreach for Beal Companies for the past 8 months, emphasized to the assembly that the current petition was only before the council as a preliminary step and said he would continue to attend meetings with residential groups.

But the Council is required by Massachusetts law to pass the measure along to the Cambridge Planning Board—one of several steps that stand in the way of the Council’s final vote on the proposed amendment.

Residents vowed to continue opposition to the proposed change as the process continues.

—Staff writer Sarah J. Howland can be reached at showland@fas.harvard.edu.