Harvard, State Meet to Plan MBTA Site

Planning for the MBTA Yard site once intended for the John F. Kennedy Library complex yesterday appeared to be moving smoothly toward completion.

Frank Keefe, state planning director, held a meeting yesterday for representatives of Harvard, the City of Cambridge, the state legislature, and the Kennedy Library Corporation to draft proposals for the 12-acre site across from Eliot House.

Steven E. Smith, president of the library corporation, said after the meeting that the corporation could submit a draft proposal to the Massachusetts Legislature some time next week.

"We are working toward something that makes sense for everyone concerned--a workable and acceptable plan," Smith said yesterday.

The site will probably be divided into three sections: a five-acre Kennedy Memorial park to be built by the Metropolitan District Commission, a four-acre parcel for commercial development, and at least 2.2 acres for Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Institute of Politics.

Donald C. Moulton, assistant vice president for community affairs, said yesterday the memorial park would be located next to Memorial Drive, and the Harvard building would be in the Northwest corner of the site, bordered by Boylston St. and Eliot Square.

Although the library corporation now owns the land for the government school, the federal government's General Services Administration (GSA) owns the rest of the site.

Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) filed a bill in Congress last month to transfer ownership of the land to the state.

Smith said yesterday he expectes that Congress will approve the bill by June.

The library corporation now plans to build the library at the UMass-Columbia Point campus in Dorchester.

Before the corporation can begin construction, however, the state legislature must approve a bill giving the land to the GSA, which will operate the library.

State government sources said yesterday the legislation to donate the Columbia point land could be contained in the bill dividing the Bennett St. site.

State Rep. Thomas Mahoney of Cambridge, who chairs a special legislative committee on the use of the MBTA yard, said yesterday the legislature might wait until after the GSA returns the land to the state to approve the bill giving the GSA the Columbia Point land.