To the editor:

The proposed Hub project — the massive student housing project at 11th and Massachusetts — has a lot of problems: lack of parking, inappropriate scale, lawsuits against the developer elsewhere. Many people have pointed out these problems. But there is another issue that is not getting the same attention: the downtown master plan, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. The city is putting a lot of resources into the downtown master plan. But if The Hub is approved this spring, those resources might as well have been thrown out the window. If The Hub is approved, there will be no point to a downtown master plan. The downtown’s course will have been determined by The Hub, no matter what the city’s consultants recommend and no matter what plan the commissioners eventually adopt. The City Commission has wisely decided to hold off further permits for Airbnb’s until further study determines what possible further regulations might be needed. It seems quite reasonable to hold off any decision on The Hub until we have a downtown master plan by which to measure it.

Judy Roitman,

Lawrence