A Suffolk Superior Court judge last week cited procedural grounds for his dismissal of a trio of lawsuits brought by abutters who oppose a 4-story, 72-unit housing complex on Centre Street next to Shawmut MBTA station.
In a succinct, 7-page decision, Judge Peter Krupp found that the plaintiffs missed a statutory deadline early in 2024 to file their complaints directed at the building’s developer— Trinity Financial Inc. — and the city’s Planning Department, which approved the project in November 2023.
The plaintiffs, including Epiphany School, Andrew Saxe, Rachel Kemper, and three other neighbors, are said to be weighing an appeal to the April 24 ruling. Their lawsuits, all filed in January 2024, were aimed at the same target: the 150 Centre St. development, which would replace what is now the Fitzpatrick Brothers Auto Body with 72 affordable apartments just steps from the Red Line.
The suits named Arthur Jemison, the former director of the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), and the principals of Trinity Financial, as defendants in the case.
One suit specifically challenged the BPDA’s decision to approve the project on the grounds that the agency incorrectly used a specific designation — termed 121A in zoning parlance— that applies to “blighted” areas of the city. The plaintiffs also argued that city planners ignored a specific section of the zoning code that they said should have been applied to the 150 Centre St. site.
Trinity and lawyers for the city of Boston counter-argued that the agency applied the rules in a manner consistent with other projects nearby and across the city. A third lawsuit from direct abutters to the project based their challenges on a claim of adverse possession, sometimes referred to as “squatter’s rights.”
In his ruling, Judge Krupp largely steered clear of any discussion about the merits of the lawsuits or the counter-claims made by lawyers for Trinity and the city’s planning agency. Instead, he dismissed the suits because, he said, the plaintiffs failed to file their claims within 30 days of the “triggering event”— a Nov. 21, 2023, notification to the city clerk of the BPDA board vote to approve the project, which was also approved by Mayor Wu.
In his ruling, the judge noted that there is a 30-day time limit under state law authorizing court challenges to projects approved in the city of Boston. “Nonetheless,” he noted, “plaintiffs did not file these three cases until January 12, 2024, more than fifty days after the triggering event.”
Krupp also wrote that while the 20-day lapse might seem arbitrary to some, it is “a critically important component of statutory design” that is enforced “in the strongest possible way.” And, he ruled, the plaintiffs — who closely tracked the BPDA’s review of the 150 Centre Street project— should have been aware of the vote and the notification to the city clerk.
“All three of these consolidated cases shall be dismissed,” Krupp concluded.
The decision is a victory for the development team led by longtime Dorchester resident Jim Keefe, one of the principals at Trinity Financial, Inc., which first proposed a building at the 150 Centre St. location in 2017.
Trinity spokesperson Greg Lane called the decision “a major step forward for an urgently needed affordable housing development.
“Having met with scores of neighbors in living rooms, across kitchen tables and in dozens of public meetings over the past five years, we worked very hard to earn community support. We are thrilled to be finally moving forward,” he said.
Trinity’s bid had been a source of bitter controversy well before the lawsuits detailed here were filed. Public comment on the matter was split during the year-long review process in 2023, with opponents urging that the building would be too dense and out of place in a residential neighborhood and supporters citing the urgent need for affordable units built in the shadow of public transit.
Hundreds of people signed a petition seeking to block the Trinity plan in favor of an alternative housing plan suggested by the leadership of the Epiphany School.
In a statement on Tuesday, Rev. John Finley, the Head of School at the Epiphany School, said: “We continue to hope that Trinity Financial will consider our offer of $3 million and half our parking lot so they can pursue an alternative plan that would keep our children safe, provide affordable housing, and which would be supported by over 1,000 people who have signed the petition…”
Trinity downsized an original plan from 91 units to 72 and lowered the building’s height by one floor before submitting its final plan, which the BPDA board approved, 4-0, on Nov. 16, 2023.
