State Supreme Judicial Court to Take Up White Stadium/Franklin Park Case Directly; Franklin Park Defenders and Emerald Necklace Conservancy Respond

Residents & Park Advocates Continue Effort to Protect Franklin Park from Impacts of For-Profit Sports and Entertainment Complex

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will take up the citizens’ lawsuit against the City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners directly, in a major step in the ongoing legal case regarding the proposed for-profit professional sports and entertainment complex at White Stadium in Franklin Park.

This afternoon, the lawsuit, which was on appeal before the state Appeals Court, was ‘docketed’ by the Supreme Judicial Court, meaning it will be taken up by the state’s highest court directly. Plaintiffs in the case responded:

“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,” said plaintiff Renee Stacey Welch, a Jamaica Plain resident and member of the Franklin Park Defenders community group. “This case matters for young people in Boston today, and for future generations all across the state. We are glad that the Supreme Judicial Court will take up this important case, and we look forward to defending Massachusetts’ public land protection laws before the Commonwealth’s highest court.”

“The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, along with a concerned group of community leaders, citizens, and BPS parents, continue to be focused on protecting the Commonwealth's public land protections, including the constitutional provision which declares that only a two-thirds vote of the state legislature can remove constitutional protections from protected park and recreation land,” said plaintiff Karen Mauney-Brodek, President of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. “We are encouraged by the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to take up the case and we are hopeful for a decision that upholds Massachusetts’ constitutional protections for public recreation land and resources in all of its different varieties: in the heart of Boston and throughout the state. There is still time to all work together to fund the rebuilding of White Stadium as a state-of-the-art, fully-public facility for BPS students and the Boston community, and work together to find a great location for Boston Legacy.”

Background on the White Stadium/Franklin Park Lawsuit

The White Stadium/Franklin Park Lawsuit appeal addresses several key legal questions regarding the professional soccer stadium proposal, which would be the biggest change in use in Franklin Park in at least half a century.

First, the April decision by a Suffolk Superior Court judge did not address the enormous impact the professional soccer project will have on surrounding parkland in Franklin Park, which all sides agree is constitutionally protected public park and recreation land. In addition to the major changes being made to White Stadium itself, plans for the new professional stadium and entertainment complex includes for-profit uses that require access, including the changed use of existing roads, the construction of a new road, and the installation of utilities through the rest of Franklin Park. This change of use to Franklin Park requires a two-thirds vote of the state legislature, state environmental reviews, and a thorough review of alternatives, none of which have occurred. The April decision focused only on the White Stadium parcel itself.

As the appeal brief states, “Even more egregious was the Trial Court’s failure to address whether the project’s grant of usage rights, construction within, and impacts on areas of Franklin Park beyond the Stadium Parcel require legislative approval under Article 97. On the facts found by the Trial Court, this Court should conclude that Franklin Park is protected by Article 97, as Plaintiffs are entitled to a full and fair disposition of all of their claims, which the Trial Court failed to provide.”

Second, the Court did not address claims of violations of the terms of the public trust that owns the White Stadium parcel. The citizens’ lawsuit alleges that the professional soccer project violates the terms of the George Robert White Fund, a public charitable trust that owns the White Stadium parcel in Franklin Park. The Court did not address these claims in its ruling. Instead, it found that the citizen plaintiffs lacked standing, even though plaintiffs have invested time, funds, and labor into the care of Franklin Park for decades.

And finally, the Court ruled that the 14-acre White Stadium parcel is not subject to constitutional public land protections. The citizen plaintiffs disagree, and the history of Franklin Park and White Stadium supports their case.

Refresher: The Latest on the White Stadium Redevelopment Project

With Boston Legacy Football Club now planning to play their inaugural season at Gillette Stadium, more and more people are calling for reconsideration of the proposal to build a professional sports stadium in Franklin Park. The NAACP Boston Branch has called for an immediate halt to the professional soccer stadium plans, and expressed support for a significantly more affordable, fully-public stadium renovation that would meet the needs of BPS students and the community, without the many flaws of the new private soccer stadium. And multiple elected officials, including Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and several of her Council colleagues, as well as State Representative Chynah Tyler, who represents neighborhoods on the north side of Franklin Park, and State Senator Nick Collins, who represents neighborhoods on the east side of the park, have spoken out against the private redevelopment proposal.

While the existing high school stadium on the site has been demolished, construction of the new stadium has still not been fully bid or begun, and residents and advocates say there is still plenty of time to reconsider plans to build a massive new professional sports stadium in Franklin Park. In June, leaked city documents revealed that the cost of the city’s half of the project could reach $172 million under ‘worst-case’ contingencies. That would put the total cost of the project as high as $344 million. Mayor Wu admitted that the project’s taxpayer cost would increase again once elements of the project are fully bid, after already tripling from a $30 million estimate when first announced to $91 million as of December 2024. A year later, the public was told this month that a full cost estimate would be delayed again, until next year, and the Boston City Council voted unanimously to request more transparency about the taxpayer cost of the project.

White Stadium sits in the middle of a park, with no parking, surrounded by residential neighborhoods, almost a mile from the nearest train station. Since the proposal by Boston’s new NWSL team Boston Legacy Football Club was announced, questions about game-day transportation planning have gone unanswered, and proponents have released a changing set of transportation plans that fail to address local residents’ concerns about traffic gridlock and disruption. In May, the city official overseeing the White Stadium project admitted that transportation plans are “still a work in progress,” even as the existing high school stadium was being torn down. No updated transportation plans have been released since then.

Background on the White Stadium Redevelopment Project

Residents of Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan have significant concerns about the plan to lease White Stadium to a professional sports team — rather than renovating it as a public stadium for the sole benefit of BPS students and the local community. The City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP) have demolished the existing White Stadium in order to build a new, significantly larger for-profit professional sports stadium, entertainment venue, and multiple restaurants and retail shops in its place.

In addition to the legal concerns expressed in an ongoing lawsuit against the project, neighboring residents and park advocates have expressed opposition to the project over issues ranging from increased air, noise and light pollution, increased litter, the removal of 145 mature trees, increased traffic and parking restrictions, and decreased student and community access.

Pro soccer games and other private events would displace BPS students and the community from White Stadium and surrounding parts of Franklin Park on 20 annual game days, 20 practice days, and additional concert and event days - more than half of all weekends during the summer, when residents use the park the most. BPS football teams would be displaced from the stadium entirely during the bulk of their regular season, because the soccer league doesn't want their cleats on the field.

Background on the Alternative: a Fully-Public Renovation of White Stadium

Neighbors and parks advocates support an alternative plan to renovate White Stadium as a public high school facility for BPS student-athletes, at a much lower cost to taxpayers and the environment.

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has proposed such an alternative concept: a state-of-the-art, fully public high school stadium that would avoid the many negative impacts of building a professional sports venue in the middle of historic Franklin Park. A detailed cost estimate conducted by Vermeulens, Inc. included in the report found that Boston could rebuild White Stadium as a high-quality, fully public high school stadium for $64.6 million, even after the demolition of the old stadium eliminated the possibility of a more-affordable renovation project.

There are numerous examples of high school and even college sports stadiums being built or renovated for similar amounts or less. Stadium expert Andrew Zimbalist states that “it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Boston taxpayers are subsidizing a professional sports stadium on public recreation land in Franklin Park.”

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