Photo courtesy of city of Everett
Plans for a professional soccer stadium on the Everett waterfront are back in play, just weeks after House Speaker Ronald Mariano tossed cold water on reports of Beacon Hill lawmakers’ plans to rezone the Constellation Energy power plant property.
An economic development bill filed Monday removes the Alford Street property from a state designated port area, which restricts activity to marine industrial uses.
The supplementary budget bill specifically mentions a professional soccer stadium and waterfront park on the 43-acre parcel, including portions located in Everett and Boston.
Power plant operator Constellation Energy is decommissioning the plant and sold the property for $25 million to Encore casino owner Wynn Resorts in March, leasing it back through the end of 2024.
The Kraft family, owners of the MLS New England Revolution soccer team, has sought a replacement location for the team’s current home at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough for years closer to downtown Boston.
Mariano told reporters in late October month that it would be “highly unusual” that the soccer stadium proposal would resurface in this year’s supplemental budget bill.
Representatives did not include the Everett soccer language in their version of the latest supplemental budget, though last year’s vote suggests they could be open to the change during cross-branch negotiations.
The top Senate budget-writer, Sen. Michael Rodrigues, is a Westport Democrat whose district includes what he described as the largest coal-fired power plant in New England. He said he “understand[s] intuitively how difficult it is to find redevelopment opportunities for heavy industrial contaminated sites.”
The legislation, Rodrigues said, would “try to provide a path so that a very dirty, contaminated site presently can be redeveloped into a facility that’s going to be good for the district, good for the community.”
Environmental advocates expressed concern about the legislation’s circumvention of the traditional process. Typically, changes to designated port areas are reviewed by the state Office of Coastal Zone Management and require a public comment period.
“As Speaker Mariano recently said, it would be ‘highly unusual’ to spot-zone a soccer stadium this way, and for good reason,” Conservation Law Foundation CEO Bradley Campbell said in a statement. “It’s an end-run around the public process for port area development and a gift for well-connected developers putting a massive project on an already gridlocked road with no provision for traffic and pollution impacts. The House should reject it in conference and, failing that, Gov. Healey should use her line-item veto to stop it.”
Environmental advocates Boston Harbor Now have advocated for preservation of designated port areas to serve clean energy and marine technology companies following the declining demand of such properties for historic uses such as the fishing industry.
“While we appreciate efforts made to protect waterfront access, it is premature to remove the Everett parcel’s DPA designation without a full public process and boundary review. The legislature will determine the fate of a key DPA based only on one opportunity immediately in front of us – potentially losing out on longer-term water-dependent options that create jobs and strengthen Greater Boston’s connection to the global maritime economy. With deep water berthing and industrial back land areas, this may be an ideal location for creating or contributing to clean energy production for the region,” Boston Harbor Now said in a statement. “We urge legislators to approach this precedent-setting vote with great caution.”
State House News Service staff writer Chris Lisinski contributed to this report.
