Court denies suit against city and Lesley over Art Institue plan

But in a decision issued April 5, Land Court Judge Alexander H. Sands III struck down the neighbors’ suit, including a claim that the Cambridge City Council engaged in illegal spot zoning on the church site.

The plaintiffs are now considering appealing the decision to the Massachusetts Appeals Court, said Thomas Bracken, the attorney representing the neighbors, Peter Lang, Katherine Lapierre, Sarah Farrington and her brother John Farrington.

Bracken said Judge Sands “ignored” the history of the church site when he ruled it was not a case of illegal spot zoning.

“We were disappointed,” Bracken said. “We still think we have a good case, particularly on the spot zoning issue.”

Bracken said the city had including the church property at 1797-1893 Massachusetts Ave. in a residential district for more than 100 years and the City Council’s decision in 2009 to switch the site into a business district was illegal spot zoning. The business district is less restrictive to new development.

Sands ruled that while the property had been in a residential district, the church site had not been used for residential purposes for more than 100 years and extending a closely neighboring business district to the site “can hardly be classified as violating principles of uniform zoning.”

Lesley University spokesman Bill Doncaster said the school is pleased but not surprised by the judgment. The university plans to break ground on the site next spring, he said.
Last month the Cambridge Planning Board granted Lesley a special permit needed to move forward with the project.

Lesley purchased the church in 2006 and plans to move it to the corner of the property. It will be renovated, converted into a library and connected to a modern glass building that will be erected on the property. Together, the buildings will house students from the institute, which merged with Lesley in 1998.

Lesley will then sell the institute’s Beacon Street building in Boston’s Kenmore Square, Doncaster said.

Neighbors who filed the suit have said they don’t object to moving the institute to Lesley’s Cambridge campus, but they do object to the plans for the church site. Bracken said his clients are also suing the Historical Commission for endorsing the project and moving the church even though it has been declared a landmark by the city.

The church was built in 1845 on the site of what is now Harvard University’s Littauer Hall. It was moved to Porter Square in 1867 by a team of oxen.

Cambridge Mayor David Maher was unavailable for comment Monday and City Solicitor Donald Drisdell did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

--Brock.globe@gmail.com