Plans for the next eight months, which include analyzing Northeastern’s current space utilization, examining building projects in the surrounding communities and finding locations where the university could construct more residence halls, were set last week during a Community Task Force meeting.
The Community Task Force, a committee of community members, Northeastern administrators and city officials, met last Wednesday in the Raytheon Amphitheater and laid out its agenda from now until the group’s new January deadline to come up with locations where Northeastern could build more residence halls.
The task force missed an April deadline, and the City of Boston has extended the committee’s deadline until January.
Over the next eight months the task force plans to discuss Northeastern’s long-term goals, what building and housing projects are occurring in the communities surrounding the university, the economics of building new residence halls, air rights (rights to the air space above an open space or property), the physical aspects of Northeastern’s campus and design specifics for new residence halls.
Although the group has set their agenda up until its new deadline, Bill Richards, a task force member, said he does not hold out much hope that what the committee needs to accomplish will be done by January.
“I have no confidence in [making the new deadline]. It’ll be interesting to see if that happens,” said Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association. “It’s going to be tough over the summer … people go away, it’s harder to stay in track.”
Northeastern officials, however, said they believe once the work starts going, the task force will accomplish what it has set out to do.
“It’s hard because people are still in the unknown until we start to get into these things a little bit,” said Jeff Doggett, associate director of community relations.
At the Community Task Force’s March 14 meeting, Northeastern officials proposed a plan to build two new residence halls on current parking lots. An 855-bed residence hall was proposed for the North Lot site. In addition, over 700 beds in three towers, one 21-stories tall, was proposed for the Camden Lot site. The proposals drew quick opposition from community members at the mid-March meeting, and led to further discussion concerning other locations where Northeastern could build residence halls.
Also drawing opposition from community members, as well as elected officials, was Northeastern’s recent purchase of St. Ann University Parish. The April 27 task force meeting was the first since the unofficial announcement of the university’s most recent acquisition. Most of the meeting went by without a mention of the purchase, until the final minutes of the meeting when City Councilor Michael Ross expressed his concerns.
“I think the actions of Northeastern are disgusting,” said Ross, who represents the Fenway neighborhood. “This has damaged the relationship between Northeastern and the task force, and I don’t know if it will ever repair itself.”
The next meeting for the task force is May 26, when the committee will discuss the current physical conditions for some of Northeastern’s buildings, to assess their usefulness.
