Harvard Seeks Appraisal; City Leaders Blast Move

City leaders reacted angrily yesterday to Harvard's announcement that it will ask a county court to determine if Cambridge paid enough money for a one-acre vacant lot off Sacramento St. which it took by eminent domain last month.

Harvard yesterday asked a Middlesex Superior Court judge to order a reassessment of the land, for which the city paid Harvard $480,000 despite a later appraisal indicating the land may be worth $750,000 or more. Court officials said a decision in the case is not expected soon.

City Manager James L. Sullivan called the University's action "proof that Harvard has more interest in the almighty dollar than in Cambridge's financial plight," and added that the city will demand Harvard pay back taxes on the land, located north of Lesley College.

Councilor David Sullivan said yesterday the decision would make him "very ready to use new controls on Harvard's expansion that the state legislature may grant Cambridge this spring.

Harvard officials said no final decision had been made to seek more money for the land should a new appraisal indicate a high market value, but Robin Schmidt, vice president for government and community affairs, said last night "if the city wants to take the land from us, they ought to pay us what it's worth."

"It is obvious that even the $750,000 appraisal is not valid within the laws of the Commonwealth," Lewis Armistead, assistant vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday. "We just haven't got a legally sufficient offer," he added.

The Cambridge City Council voted to take the land by eminent domain three weeks ago. City leaders, including Sullivan, said they hoped to persuade Harvard to take the $480,000 price because of the city's budgetary crisis.

Appraisers hired by the city fixed the value of the land, a one-acre parcel of weedy open space located north of Lesley College, at $480,000 two years ago. An appraisal done by the city last year set the value at $750,000.

"I guess may be I'm not surprised at Harvard's reaction to the city's financial condition," city manager Sullivan said yesterday. "I was hoping they would rise above their past posture, but obviously they haven't, " he added.

Sullivan said Harvard had not paid taxes on the land, which the University hoped to develop into junior faculty housing, since at least 1970.

Harvard will pay the taxes immediately "if it is determined that they are due," Schmidt said.

The court fight will give "added impetus" to legislation pending on Beacon Hill to allow Cambridge to regulate Harvard expansion into the community, councilor Sullivan predicted.

Since Harvard has always followed city zoning codes, that new legislation, which would make Harvard subject to all zoning, would "not be a new tool at all," Schmidt added.