The Supreme Judicial Court last week agreed to review an appeal filed by opponents of the White Stadium renovation plan that was decided in favor of the city of Boston and Boston Unity Sports Partners in Suffolk Superior Court earlier this year in a ruling by Judge Matthew Nestor. The plaintiffs are Emerald Necklace Conservancy (ENC) and a grass-roots group known as the Franklin Park Defenders.
Under the plan, the city-owned facility, currently under construction, will be used part time by the Boston Legacy FC women’s pro soccer team under a lease agreement that will mainly accommodate Boston Public School athletics.
The announcement of the high court’s review did not include a timeline for its decision.
Renee Stacy Welch, an abutter to Franklin Park and a party to the lawsuit, said the review is a major development in the fight.
“The White Stadium/Franklin Park case raises important questions about the state’s constitutional protections for public park and recreation land. Those legal questions have massive implications not just for Franklin Park and Boston, but for public parkland throughout Massachusetts,” she said.
“We are glad that the Supreme Judicial Court will take up this important case, and we look forward to defending Massachusetts’s public land protection laws before the Commonwealth’s highest court.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mayor Wu said the administration is also glad the SJC will decide the case once and for all.
“Boston Public Schools student athletes have waited for decades for this state-of-the-art reconstruction. We are pleased that the SJC will make a final ruling while our construction proceeds,” the spokesperson wrote.
Additionally, a statement from the Boston Legacy team said the students and communities around Franklin Park deserve the upgrade that will come from the project.
“Boston Public Schools students and the communities around Franklin Park have long deserved this kind of generational investment,” the team said. “We are proud to help deliver a modern venue for the entire city and remain confident in the trial court’s previous ruling in full support of the renovation of White Stadium.”
The appeal looks to address three key issues that plaintiffs say Judge Nestor did not consider: The impact the team’s use will have on surrounding parkland in Franklin Park; whether or not the lease agreement violates the stadium’s ownership trust, The George Robert White Fund; is the 14-acre White Stadium parcel is protected parkland under the state Article 97 protections.
As to the last issue, The city and BUSP contend that the parcel is school property and not parkland.
In his ruling, Judge Nestor said that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the complaint.
Seth Daniel photo
Kate Phelps, a member of the Franklin Park Defenders, spoke at a press conference in City Hall last week where she called for more transparency on White Stadium renovation plans.
