Boston College Files Institutional Master Plan Amendment

Boston College today filed its Institutional Master Plan Amendment (IMPA) Notification Form and Project Notificaton Form (PNF) with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.  

This IMPNF/PNF seeks to further amend the Approved Master Plan with respect to two Proposed Projects: (i) to substitute Bishop Peterson Hall for St. William’s Hall as the facility to be renovated and used as the location of the STM; and (ii) to include in the Approved Master Plan the renovation and use of the existing Library Building formerly owned by St. John’s Seminary for use by both the St. John’s Seminary and the STM.

The STM is BC's new School of Theology and Ministry, which is the product of the merger with the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.



The document can be found posted at Boston College's institutional master plan website.

BC is also appealing to the BRA to waive full review of this IMPA:

Boston College respectfully requests that the BRA in its Large Project Review scoping determination for the Bishop Peterson Hall renovation waive the requirement of further review of these Proposed Projects pursuant to Section 80B-5.3(d) of the Zoning Code.

This will be an important question for BC officials at Tuesday's meeting of the BC Task Force, particularly in light of their statement at the September 18th meeting that they would not be pursuing expedited review of this IMPA.  Instead, they are seeking to waive the Draft Project Impact Report review -- not just the Final Project Impact Report like Harvard was recently successful in having waived.  It will be important to hear them clarify why they need to avoid a DPIR altogether.  The text of Article 80B-5.3(d) referred to begins:

Scoping Determination Waiving Further Review. If the Scoping Determination indicates that the PNF, together with any additional materials and comments received by the Boston Redevelopment Authority prior to the issuance of the Scoping Determination, adequately describes the impacts of the Proposed Project, the Scoping Determination may waive the requirements of both subsection 4 and subsection 5 of this Section 80B-5 for the filing and review of a Draft Project Impact Report (DPIR) and a Final Project Impact Report (FPIR). In such case, the Scoping Determination also shall include any conditions the Authority may require for the mitigation of such impacts.

.