Councilors Ask State to End University Zoning Exemptions

The House Committee on Local Affairs Wednesday postponed action on a bill to end zoning exemptions for Cambridge universities.

The panel will hold another hearing later this month and consult with city officials before taking action on the "home rule" petition, which would apply only to Cambridge, and would allow a city review of universities' expansion into certain zoning districts. Harvard and other educational institutions are currently exempt from zoning laws under state statutes.

"I doubt if any city in the state is so impacted by universities," City Councilor David A. Wylie told the committee at Wednesday's hearing. "This is really an effort to stabilize our neighborhoods, to keep our residential areas intact," City Councilor Mary Ellen Preusser added.

Assistant City Manager David Vickery said the bill, sent to the State House last month by the City Council, would prevent institutions from buying property and then converting it from taxable housing property to tax-exempt "educational uses." "It is getting a little bit ridiculous," Vickery said, adding "a lot of property is being taken off the tax rolls."

Not Sure

Lewis Armistead, assistant vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday he is "not at all sure what the city is trying to accomplish."

Armistead said the University will be represented at future hearings, but said the University has not decided whether to enter the case. Harvard had no representative at the Wednesday hearing.

Two tenants in Harvard-owned buildings at 7 Summer Rd., who recently received eviction notices from the University, told the committee the legislation is necessary to prevent other such evictions.

"I don't know if this can help us--unless something happens we will be evicted by the end of the summer," John Henze, one of the tenants, said yesterday. Another tenant, Charlotte Taskier, told the committee, "I have been hunting persistently to find another place. Everything else in the city has either been bought up by Harvard or turned into condominiums."

Taskier also said the University had promised two years ago when Harvard brought 7 Summer Rd. that it would not evict tenants for at least ten years.

"That is flatly erroneous," Armistead said, adding, "No one in the University made that commitment.