Allston is set to enter high-stakes negotiations with Harvard to secure tens of millions of dollars in community benefits, as the university prepares to release a first draft of its second 10-year institutional master plan for its campus on the other side of Charles.

The last IMP, finalized in 2014, saw Harvard dedicate $43 million in community benefits to Allston to offset the impacts of its project. rapid expansion in the neighborhood. That commitment — negotiated between university and city officials and a city-appointed group of residents called the Harvard Allston Task Force — dwarfed the typical size of community benefit agreements in the city, which typically reach several million at most.

Now, the parties are returning to the negotiating table to agree on a benefits package that will almost certainly exceed the $43 million commitment — and neighborhood advocates are laying out their list of demands.

Cindy Marchando, chair of the task force, said in an interview Friday that the group seeks to prioritize affordable housing, support for artists and small businesses along Western Avenue, and support for replacing the Jackson Community Center -Mann, besieged, of Allston. She said the task force will try to respond to the increasing cost of living and changing demographics of the neighborhood.

“As our community has changed over the last 10 years, so have our needs,” she said.

The new IMP, which Harvard previewed at a public meeting in January, only applies to land used for “institutional” purposes. Harvard’s large commercial developments in the neighborhood, such as the $750 million Enterprise Research Campus, are going through a separate approval process, with their own benefits for the community.

But the IMP process, which will involve several rounds of negotiations and community input, gives residents, city officials and local leaders an opportunity to influence the direction of Harvard’s developing Lower Allston campus, as well as the shape of the neighborhood itself.

In public comments submitted to the city, local stakeholders have already begun to outline their vision for the deal.

Boston City Councilwoman Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon urged Harvard to build housing for graduate students, pointing to the neighborhoods’ current high demand for housing, exacerbated by a large student population.

Kevin M. Carragee, a member of the Coalition for a Fair Allston, proposed that Harvard transform its proposed Gateway project – a 300,000 square foot development for commercial, administrative and academic purposes – into a much taller, denser, mainly residential. .

Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics asked Harvard to join and expand a co-living program, piloted by the city in 2017, offering graduate students a room in the senior housing community looking to downsize.

And in its own public comment letter, the Harvard Allston Task Force said it had unfinished business regarding the latest IMP to resolve with the university.

“We find that a disproportionate share of community benefits, particularly those allocated to the Harvard Ed Portal, have indirectly served Harvard University and housed non-Allston/Brighton residents relative to the local community,” the group wrote . “As a result, benefits intended to improve the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods have not focused solely on these areas. »

A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment for this article.

In addition to negotiating with neighborhood residents and activists, Harvard faces some political hurdles in gaining PMI approval. He will have to convince two key Allston elected officials: Breadon and state Rep. Michael J. Moran, a longtime critic of the university’s expansion in the neighborhood.

Although their support is not technically decisive for the University, major developments and master plans have rarely been approved by the city without the support of district officials, according to a former City Hall official.

But Harvard’s close ties to Boston government could help grease the wheels of the IMP process.

Meredith L. Weenick ’90, Harvard’s executive vice president, is Boston’s former chief financial officer. Its director of government affairs, Mark Handley, was the chief of staff to former Allston-Brighton City Councilman Mark Ciommo. And several members of the Department of Planning leadership are Harvard graduates, as are Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07, State Representative Kevin A. Honan and State Senator William N. Brownsberger ’78.

Marchando said his approach to upcoming negotiations will be simple: “My community deserves the best.”

“If there’s a message that can be conveyed,” she said, “don’t settle for less.”

—Editor Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on @EmilySchwartz37.

—Editor Jack R. Trapanick can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on @jackrtrapanick.