A series of Boston Planning and Development Agency meetings about the proposed renovation of White Stadium for a proposed National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team will continue online next Thursday at 6 p.m. – with construction proposed to begin, if permitted, in the second quarter of the year.

On Wednesday of this week, an Impact Advisory Group (IAG) kicked off the official meetings – which were preceded last summer by informal listening sessions put together by the team owners, Boston Unity Soccer Partners, who in collaboration with the city, filed the project with the BPDA on Dec. 18.

“The Proponent is excited to commit to the City’s vision of restoring White Stadium as a central hub for BPS athletics, and enhancing and complementing the City’s athletic offerings with new resources that will create a world class facility for Boston’s new National Women’s Soccer League team,” read the filing.

“These resources will improve BPS’s ability to use the stadium for sports across the spring, summer, and fall seasons, school day games, and graduation ceremonies, and provide a vastly improved first rate venue for all participants.”

The soccer team owners will make the largest improvements on the facility’s West grandstand, where they will keep the distinctive clamshell white wall but demolish the seating and the superstructure. The new configuration would allow for 5,000 stadium bucket seats in the grandstand and a roof canopy to resemble a leaf in a nod to the Franklin Park trees around them.

The second piece is the creation of the “The Grove,” an open space that would connect the stadium with the adjacent Playstead area. “The Grove” would include food and beverage stations, restrooms, and storage. Food trucks, merchandise sales, and game-day activities are also envisioned there. It is described as “a special and unexpected space” that will be full of activity.

A building called “The Terrace” on the western side would include a restaurant with a beer garden and outdoor dining to “provide a location for pre- and post-game food and beverage with supporting amenities.

“It is the Proponent’s goal to add energy and new ideas so that the stadium and its site can be better appreciated and reinvigorated,” read the filing. “The Proponent’s goal is to knit the new project into the natural environment of Franklin Park, as a magnet for present and future generations.”

The East grandstand and some other areas of the stadium will not be completed by the ownership, but rather by the city through a public-private partnership.

“It is understood that as part of the overall plan the City of Boston will renovate the East grandstand and other areas of the existing stadium,” read the filing. “The parties design teams are already engaged in coordination of their respective efforts.”

The owners have committed to maintaining the field – taking that over from the city – at a cost of more than $400,000 per year, according to the filing.

Already, there has been some controversy over the commitment to BPS students, as the Boston Globe reported it is likely that city football teams would not be able to use the new facility. Other promised public-private partnerships for city students and schools – such as the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center – have not panned out with access provided to students, making some wary of any new ventures that could further exclude city students from their existing facilities like White Stadium.

It was constructed for the city’s school-age athletes in 1949 using a bequest from the George Robert White Fund and has been the home of Boston Public School athletics ever since, including football, soccer, and outdoor track.

Members of the White Stadium IAG include Theresa Latson of Dorchester, Louis Elisa of Dorchester, Bob Barney of the South End, Rodney Singleton of Roxbury, Abbi Holt of Jamaica Plain, Elijah Evans of Jamaica Plain, Victoria Williams of Roxbury, Dorothy Fennell of Jamaica Plain, Alfreda Harris of Roslindale, Paul Debarros of Dorchester, Abdillahi Abdirahman of Roxbury, and Bobby Jenkins of Mattapan.

Boston Unity Soccer Partners is headed by Jennifer Epstein, whose family has ties to the Abbey Group developers, who built out Landmark Center in the Fenway and are now working to build Exchange South End, a life sciences campus on the former Boston Flower Exchange property there.

NWSL teams schedule about 22 to 25 games in a season that lasts from March to October.

For more information on the Jan. 11 meeting, see legal notice on Page 3.