AS STATE LAWMAKERS weigh whether to fast track an Everett soccer stadium on the Mystic River, Boston officials across the waterway are casting a wary eye, raising concerns about congestion that the venue, with little to no parking, could bring to an area just off I-93 on the northern edge of the city.
A sliver of the parcel that would be home to the stadium and a waterfront park is within Boston’s boundaries, while the rest is in Everett. Everett officials, including Mayor Carlo DeMaria, are pushing special legislation that would remove the area’s standing as a “designated port area,” allowing for the quicker construction of a stadium.
The Kraft Group, known for its ownership of the New England Patriots, has long sought a place for its New England Revolution soccer team to play, and is interested in the 43-acre polluted area that is dominated by a shuttered power plant. The soccer team currently plays at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
At Tuesday’s hearing, lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Economic Development heard support for the proposal from labor unions, which reached agreements to work on the project, Kraft Group executives, and DeMaria, who said the Krafts have the money to “get rid of dirty industrial uses that we have had to live with for too long.” The stadium would also be an economic boon to the area, they added.
But a top aide to Mayor Michelle Wu and a city councilor closely aligned with her raised transportation and parking concerns and said Boston wants a seat at the negotiating table. They deferred to the Legislature when asked what the seat and table would look like.
“I would just say it would start with outreach from the Krafts or the representatives that’s substantive. We haven’t had that,” said Arthur Jemison, Wu’s planning chief. “That would be a great start.”
Aside from a “cursory” conversation with Kraft representatives at the Mintz Levin law firm late last year, Jemison added, “We haven’t had any substantive contact.”
As for the potential removal of the parcel’s status as a designated port area, or DPA, Jemison said, “For something to be removed from it, we have to be concerned about the environmental impact and precedent that’s being set.”
That echoes the argument put forward by the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group that has decried the move as a “backroom deal.”
Stadium supporters say attendees would primarily rely on public transit to get in and out of the area. But Sharon Durkan, a Boston city councilor whose district includes TD Garden and Fenway Park, venues that could potentially compete with a soccer stadium, said that could be a traffic “nightmare” if the Everett stadium and nearby TD Garden were hosting simultaneous events.
“I know there are discussions about the Silver Line and other expansions,” Jemison added about potential transit upgrades. “But today, if you wanted to get there and didn’t have access to a car, you’d get off [the Orange Line] at Sullivan Square and walk [a half-mile or so] across Alford Bridge.”
Asked by a reporter if a call from one of the Krafts would clear things up, Jemison said, “Listen, there’s no clearing up needed. I just need someone to engage us, so we can talk to them.”
Kraft executives indicated they want those discussions to happen after the DPA is gone, and as the state’s environmental review process, among other approvals the stadium would need, gets underway.
“We really want to get to the public input process,” said Brian Bilello, president of the New England Revolution. But he said none of that can happen “until the DPA is lifted. That’s really the first thing that has to happen before we can start any process.”
Rep. Jerald Parisella, the House chairman of the economic development committee, said Boston should have a “seat at the table, for sure.” Pressed on what that would mean, Parisella said lawmakers are considering adding language to the bill that would require Boston to “have some input.”
“It’s going to impact the surrounding communities,” he said.
Garrett Dash Nelson, the president of the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, wrote a recent piece for CommonWealth Beacon that used the soccer stadium debate as an example of the shortcomings of having decision-making over big development projects governed entirely by municipal boundaries.
Everett state Sen. Sal DiDomenico, the sponsor of the DPA bill, said he is hopeful the two sides can come to an agreement.
Last year, he pushed to have the designated port area status removed through a supplemental budget, but the language was dropped by House and Senate negotiators before the budget was sent to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk last fall. DiDomenico then filed the standalone bill that was the subject of Tuesday’s hearing.