By Jim O'Sullivan

In need of land to build a new science and technology building, UMass-Boston will meet with civic leaders, the Columbia Point Associates, and Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) officials in a closed meeting tonight at Boston College High School to discuss the possibility of moving a BWSC sewage treatment facility to a site on Freeport Street, between Morrissey Boulevard and the Southeast Expressway.

UMass has designs on a Columbia Point site that now holds the abandoned Calf Pasture Pump Station owned by the BWSC, which initially hoped to construct a four-story, indoor "de-watering" facility elsewhere on Columbia Point. A land swap between the university and the city agency was thwarted last year when Sen. Jack Hart and state Rep. Martin Walsh filed legislation to halt the deal.

The meeting, initially scheduled for 8 a.m. but pushed back to 7 p.m., in B.C. High President William Kemeza's office, was jointly organized by UMass and the BWSC, according to Annemarie Lewis-Kerwin, UMass vice chancellor for communications. Representatives from Cedar Grove, Port Norfolk, Clam Point, Pope's Hill, and Columbia-Savin Hill have been invited.

Hart and Walsh said they would abide by community sentiment in their decisions whether or not to support what Hart called "the collaborative effort" between UMass and the BWSC, which effectively would green-light the university's new facility and the sewage treatment plant.

Lewis-Kerwin told the Reporter Tuesday that the meeting would be a "preliminary discussion" about the site, currently owned by MassHighway and used by Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), which keeps trucks and construction materials there.

Joining the politicians in adopting a wait-and-see stance, Joe Sammartino, vice president of Phillips Family Properties, which owns Phillips Old Colony House and the Ramada Inn, said he was also concerned how the facility could impact business by emitting unpleasant odors.

Sammartino said he didn't know enough about the proposal to pass firm judgment, but added he also was worried about the height of the facility.

Hart called the project "by no means a done deal," and politicians and UMass officials alike appeared committed to allowing the community, represented by the heads of the five civic associations, give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

BWSC officials referred questions to UMass.

"From what we know, the components are there, but there's the larger issue, which is the community process, and whether or not this is the right site, and Boston Water and Sewer will have to explain that," Lewis-Kerwin said.