Neighbors and advocates will have to wait a little longer to know the fate of their request that looks to stop the city and a professional women’s soccer team from moving forward on a major restoration at Franklin Park’s White Stadium.
The uncertainty continues after a Suffolk Superior Court judge decided to grant both sides until the end of next to respond to arguments made during an initial hearing on the legal spat. The judge said she will issue a ruling by March 22.
“We are moving towards a preliminary injunction … against the defendant to prevent them from taking any steps to advance this project, to demolish and privatize White Stadium and surrounding land situated in Franklin Park,” said Ed Colbert, an attorney representing neighbors and advocates.
Wednesday’s hearing marked the first time that the plaintiffs and defendants have squared off in the case
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a nonprofit park advocacy group, and 21 city residents are challenging the proposed redevelopment of White Stadium because they believe the project would unconstitutionally privatize the public land.
They filed a lawsuit on Feb. 20 in Suffolk Superior Court, also alleging the endeavor would largely displace Boston Public School student-athletes and community members who regularly use the park and stadium.
Colbert based the bulk of his 26-minute argument off how he believes the White Trust Fund, which has held White Stadium as an open space for public recreation and school sporting events for over 74 years, is being violated.
The purpose of the trust, Colbert said, is to finance projects involving “works of public utility and beauty, for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of the City of Boston.” The trust’s income can’t be mingled with other funds to be applied for joint undertakings, he added.
Colbert also emphasized how the plaintiffs believe the project violates requirements of Article 97,” which requires two-thirds approval from the state Legislature for other uses for land or easements taken or acquired for conservation purposes.
“The plaintiffs and residents of Boston and the beneficiaries of the White Trust will be irreparably harmed,” Colbert said. “You cannot change a piece of real estate such as this one, particularly with its historic significance, and then turn back the clock. … It has to be decided now that this is a violation.”
Boston Unity Soccer Partners, an all-female ownership group, won an expansion bid last September to become the 15th team in the National Women’s Soccer League. The team is slated to take the pitch at the long-neglected venue at Franklin Park in 2026.
BUSP last June submitted the only response to the city’s request for proposals to lease, improve and use the stadium’s West Grandstand and adjacent areas in the park as part of a public-private partnership.
Gary Ronan, an attorney representing the city, called the plaintiffs’ dispute an “attack” on the project and is not accurately painting what the public-private partnership with BUSP intends on accomplishing.
The stadium, Ronan said, is not being “sold or otherwise transferred to a private entity for the purposes of building commercial enterprise.”
“The team’s rights under the agreement will be significantly curtailed,” Roman said, highlighting how Boston Unity will be limited to no more than 20 games a year and 20 practices.
“First priority is always Boston Public Schools students and their sports,” he added. “The summer camps, graduation ceremonies … those all get priority over the team and they’ll have to find dates that work their practices.”
Boston last held a professional women’s soccer team in 2017, the final season for the Boston Breakers, part of the NWSL, before it folded in 2018. The team played its matches at the roughly 4,000-seat Jordan Field in Allston.
A conceptual study the city conducted in 2013 indicated the stadium required considerable capital investment to become a state-of-the-art home for student-athletes, the RFP states. A fire destroyed the East Grandstand decades ago, making it unusable, and the West Grandstand does not meet accessibility requirements and is out of compliance with the building code.
A renovation, Roman said, will remedy all those issues, but a preliminary injunction on the project could ruin the entire effort.
“That would be a shame for the residents of the city of Boston, the student-athletes of Boston and fans of professional soccer to lose all of this terrific benefit that’d come from this project,” he said.
