Image courtesy of Stantec
The state’s highest court on Wednesday sided with Boston, rejecting a challenge from opponents of the city’s White Stadium project that is designed to overhaul a 77-year-old stadium and provide a home field for the Boston Legacy women’s pro soccer team.
Ruling in Emerald Necklace Conservancy vs. the City of Boston, the Supreme Judicial Court said the Franklin Park parcel where the project is unfolding is not subject to Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, which requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to dispose of parkland or convert it to another use.
The court wrote that the stadium parcel and others in West Roxbury were acquired in 1883 by the city by eminent domain for use as a public park. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed what is now known as Franklin Park, which is part of a system of parks that became known as the Emerald Necklace.
“Olmstead envisioned an area he called the ‘Playstead’ at the north end of Franklin Park to be used ‘for the athletic recreation and education of the city’s schoolboys, for occasional civil ceremonies and exhibitions, and for any purpose likely to draw spectators in crowds,'” Justice Gabrielle Wolohojian wrote. “Since Franklin Park’s opening, the Playstead has been used for both individual recreation and large-scale gatherings such as athletic events, festivals, and parades.”
However, the stadium parcel was dedicated to another use not subject to Article 97 as a result of legislative actions in 1947 and 1950, the court ruled.
In 1947, the court wrote, the Legislature authorized the stadium parcel to be conveyed at fair market value to the White Fund to be used in accordance with purposes outlined in George Robert White’s will, “and those purposes were not limited to park use.” In 1950, the court wrote, the Legislature recognized and designated White Stadium and the stadium parcel as “a school building and yard” to be repaired and maintained though appropriations by the city’s school committee.
“Taken together, these two pieces of legislation effectively removed the stadium parcel from its previous designation as parkland and made it a school department facility to be maintained by the school committee,” the court said. “Accordingly, by the time art. 97 was ratified over twenty years later in 1972, the stadium parcel was no longer subject to its provisions.”
Under Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, the city advanced a rebuild of the dilapidated stadium, partnering with Boston Unity Soccer Partners LLC which intends to operate a National Women’s Soccer League team out of the stadium. The project moved ahead under a lease and stadium use agreement entered into without seeking Article 97 clearances.
“We are thrilled that the court’s decision – clear, unanimous – decisively ruling that this landmark investment in our future can move forward without further delay,” Wu said Wednesday afternoon. “You could go on site now and see just how fast the progress has already been in structure taking shape and all the work that’s happening. My heart is very full and excited that our Boston public school students will get to have the best sports facility anywhere in the country for student athletes.”
Opponents of Boston’s project had a much different take.
“We’re disappointed by this outcome, which means that a new professional for-profit sports stadium and entertainment complex in Franklin Park will not be subject to the high level of scrutiny, formal review of alternatives, and required approvals that our state’s constitutional public recreation land protection laws require,” Emerald Necklace Conservancy President Karen Mauney-Brodek said in response to Wednesday’s news.
The court on Wednesday also found that the plaintiffs had “no cognizable individual interest” in the George Robert White Fund, “and therefore do not have standing to challenge alleged violations of its provision.” The court described White as an antibacterial soap magnate who died in 1922.
