A Suffolk Superior Court justice sees the planned massive renovation at Franklin Park’s White Stadium as a win for all Boston residents.
The joint effort between the city and a group trying to bring a professional women’s soccer team to the stadium scored points in court Friday, with Justice Sarah Ellis declining a request from a group of residents and advocates for the project to be halted.
Ellis tossed out motions from The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a nonprofit park advocacy group, and 21 city residents for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and lis pendens, measures they desired to prevent additional steps from being taken in the massive $100-million undertaking.
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.
Gary Ronan, an attorney representing the city, highlighted during a hearing on the case earlier this month how a preliminary injunction had the potential to derail the project entirely. He called the dispute an “attack” on the effort, one that inaccurately painted what the public-private partnership with BUSP intends to accomplish.
“Plaintiffs assert irreparable harm will ensue absent a preliminary injunction because the demolition and renovation of White Stadium,” Ellis wrote in her decision, “and any lease and/or license agreements contracted between the City and BUSP, will negatively change the nature of White Stadium, limit the public’s enjoyment, and have an immediate detrimental impact on the neighborhoods abutting Franklin Park.”
“I am not persuaded,” the justice added.
Louis Elisa, one of the plaintiffs and a member of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association, compared Ellis’ decision to the 1857 Dred Scott case which upheld slavery in United States territories and denied the legality of black citizenship in America.
“I view the failure of the court to take the concerns of possible harm and displacement which would occur as being similar to the Dred Scott decision wherein our rights as black citizens are not worthy of serious consideration or respect,” Elisa said in a statement. “Nothing has changed in Boston.”
Renovations at the dilapidated park and stadium — where half of the grandstands were burned out from a fire decades ago— would triple the number of hours the stadium could be used, 90% of which would be dedicated to Boston Public School student-athletes and the community, project proponents have said.
Boston Unity is slated to contribute $50 million, with the city matching that investment.
“I’m thrilled to see the court’s clear ruling that this frivolous lawsuit from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy must not block our ongoing community engagement to deliver a generational investment in White Stadium and Franklin Park,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement Friday evening.
“For decades, Boston student-athletes and community members have watched plans for revitalizing this historic facility come and go without tangible progress,” she added. “Now, for the first time since the stadium’s opening, the City has a committed partnership to invest in and sustain the improvements that our students, park lovers, and neighbors deserve.”
In their lawsuit, hearing and supplemental responses, the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the stadium’s proposed redevelopment because they believe the effort “privatizes public land.”
They also emphasized how the stadium would be reserved exclusively for the new professional women’s soccer team for 20 weekend days from April to November, roughly 77% of Saturdays during the warmer months. That could displace BPS football games from being played at the venue, they argued.
In filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were “asking the city to slow down and respect the public process,” Emerald Necklace Conservancy president Karen Mauney-Brodek said on a press call last month.
“We support the renovation of White Stadium and Franklin Park, but we do not support the required involvement of a professional sports team that would displace the local community for the next 30 years while privatizing and profiting from this public resource,” Mauney-Brodek said. “This major redevelopment is being fast-tracked without adequate community input or proper environmental review.”
Ronan fought back during the March 6 hearing, saying Boston Unity will be limited to no more than 20 games a year and 20 practices and the team’s practice schedule will be worked around BPS students and athletics which he called “first priority.”
An assessment of the facility conducted last year found that the stadium needed to be improved and expanded, with suggestions including a bigger staff office, modernized press box, improved locker rooms and an eight-lane track.
BUSP expects its endeavor will have a wide range of economic benefits on the greater community. Construction would generate more than 500 jobs, and the workers would be employed onsite for two years. About 300 permanent jobs would then be created once the stadium is renovated, according to the proposal.
In her decision Friday, Ellis called the overall effort “a clear benefit to BPS and the residents of Boston.”
A survey released earlier this month by the Franklin Park Coalition, a community-based, park advocacy organization, showed that 56% of the more than 700 respondents supported the project. About 20% of park users said they’re “against it.”
The project has been under review by various public agencies and community stakeholders including the Boston Planning & Development Agency, Landmarks Commission, Parks Commission, among other entities.
Early site work is projected to begin in April and construction next January.
“We invite the Emerald Necklace Conservancy to participate with us and welcome the opportunity to collaborate,” BUSP said in a statement Friday evening. “We are proud to be a part of the project that honors the legacy of White Stadium so that it will continue to serve as a point of pride for generations to come.”
