BC neighbors plot new push to corral dorms
Boston College's neighbors are taking a new tack to push their longstanding grievances against the school.
The effort involves about 50 Brighton residents who are dissatisfied with the way BC has responded to neighborhood and Boston Redevelopment Authority objections to its 10-year expansion plan.
After much heated discussion Monday about what they might be able to achieve, the group decided to start calling, writing, and e-mailing elected and appointed officials.
Their goal? To get BC to put as much student housing as possible on its old campus.
In its plan filed last month with the BRA, the university would house 560 students at a high-rise apartment building at 2000 Commonwealth Ave. that it recently purchased.
Dorm accommodations for another 220 undergrads would be added to the college's traditional Chestnut Hill campus, between Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street in Brighton. Another 500 dorm beds are proposed for the "Brighton Campus" - what BC calls the former Boston Archdiocese land north of Commonwealth Avenue. School officials also agreed to prohibit BC students from renting one- or two-family homes in the neighborhoods once all the dorms are built.
Roughly the same group of residents, who have organized as the BC Neighbors Forum, had turned out last winter to lobby against dorms proposed for the Brighton Campus, which is now mostly open space, and asked that all students be housed on campus. Comments to the BRA on the initial project outlines, submitted in January and February, were almost unanimous in these points.
The group includes longtime residents who have successfully fought past university expansions, run for elected office, and are or have been active in well-regarded neighborhood groups like the Brighton Allston Improvement Association and Brighton Historical Society.
Homeowners just south of the Brighton Campus, on such streets as Lane Park and Radnor Road, estimated that about 40 percent of the properties are rented out to students.
"I have not had one weekend of uninterrupted sleep," said Karen Marshall, who lives on Lane Park. "I'm about ready to go. Another five years of this and we're all gone."
Others said they were also sleep-deprived, but said it was time to work out a deal with the university. They suggested that the neighborhood champion some student accommodation, either at 2000 Commonwealth Ave. or on the Brighton Campus, in order to make sure BC students would be moving out of their area.
"We have to convince the BRA. How? By just saying no?" asked Sandy Furman, another Lane Park resident. "It may sound good, but I don't think it will work."
But more residents, including Furman's wife, Fran Gustman, opposed any compromises, which divide neighbors based on how close they live to the proposed student housing. They urged that the neighborhood take a stand against both off-campus housing and Brighton Campus dorms.
"BC is stonewalling," said Elsa Lieberman, of Kirkwood Road. "If we give in, we might as well lay down and let them roll on over us."
Calls to Boston College officials seeking a comment were not returned. In the past, BC representatives have said high-rise dorms on its Chestnut Hill campus, the option preferred by neighbors, made for a poor student experience, and the school had determined that spreading out dorms was a better option.
Residents pointed to the 19-story Commonwealth Avenue building, and asked why that was feasible while a five- or six-story dormitory on campus was not.
Neighbors also examined Mayor Thomas Menino's reported comments about the unacceptability of building on the Brighton Campus, leaving students in the neighborhoods and making 2000 Commonwealth Ave. into student housing.
"The mayor has demonstrated that he's still the mayor of neighborhoods," said Theresa Hynes, a local activist. "Let's be hopeful. We are a strong neighborhood."
Calls to the mayor's office seeking a comment were not returned last week. 