In the wake of a CommonWealth magazine report,  Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is urging Cardinal Seán O’Malley to stop attaching 90-year deed restrictions to surplus properties sold by the Boston Archdiocese.

The Archdiocese’s restrictions, imposed on its property sales across eastern Massachusetts, bar use of the land and buildings for activities that violate church teachings, such as abortion clinics, stem cell research, euthanasia counseling, and birth control advice. In many instances, the use bans go even further, barring their use by other churches or charter schools, restrictions that are especially problematic in Lawrence.

Lantigua, who is sending a letter to O’Malley urging him to reconsider the land sale policy, says the restrictions are “handcuffing” developers in his poverty-stricken city and preventing badly needed charter schools from moving into shuttered church schools. More than 4,400 students in Lawrence are on waiting lists for the two current charter schools and the two that are planned to open in the next two years.

“While the buildings sit idle, they are not on our tax roll and that hurts our city,” Lantigua said. “I am very concerned of those restrictions.”

One Lawrence developer sought to buy the Holy Trinity School, closed since 2004, and lease it to one of the city’s charter operators. But the Archdiocese refused. The developer, Alberto Nuñez, finally agreed to buy the property but the church placed a restriction in the deed that passes on to subsequent buyers specifically stating that the building could not be used as a charter school for the next 90 years.

Another nonprofit tried to buy the closed St. Mary’s of the Assumption School to fix it up and lease it at a nominal cost to Community Day Charter Public School, but that offer was also rebuffed by the Archdiocese. The nonprofit even offered to set up scholarship funds and grants to nearby parochial schools in the city to make up for any economic harm. The offer was never accepted.

Lantigua, who sent his oldest daughter to the now-closed St. Mary’s school and sends his two other children to the city’s two charter schools, says he is baffled by the Archdiocese’s intransigence. “You would think they would be happy for the building to be used for educational purposes,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese defended the church’s stance in an email.

“Because of the unique importance of this ministry, we are responsible for ensuring that church assets are used in ways that foster, and never negatively impact, Catholic education,” Kellyanne Dignan wrote. “In Lawrence, as in all parts of the Archdiocese, it is our responsibility to protect the strength of existing Catholic schools. We are not willing to pursue real estate transactions that might negatively impact the enrollment and vibrancy of existing Catholic schools.”

Lantigua and his aides say the deed restrictions imposed by the church are dividing a community that is predominantly Catholic. Patrick Blanchette, the chief economic development director for Lantigua, says the deed restrictions aren’t the only sore spot in town-church relations.

Blanchette said the Guilmette elementary school had a major issue with mold in the 2010-11 school year and the struggling school department needed a place to temporarily house the students while the clean-up went on. Less than two blocks away, the Our Lady of Good Counsel School was sitting empty. The city, with few options available that didn’t disrupt walkers, bus schedules, and parents, agreed to lease the property. The cost was $19,500 a month plus utilities from October 2010 to April 2011.

Lantigua sent a letter to O’Malley seeking some relief on the rent but the mayor said an aide to the cardinal responded there was nothing that could be done. “I don’t want to call it disappointment, [but] I was hoping for a little bit of consideration knowing how devoted the Catholics in the city [are] and how much they have contributed to the church,” says Lantigua. “I’m surprised we didn’t get a better deal.”

Dignan says the Our Lady of Good Counsel lease was a business deal and nothing more.

“The Archdiocese of Boston was pleased to be able to assist the City of Lawrence,” Dignan wrote. “While we very much sympathized with the city’s financial situation, Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish was obviously not in a position to financially subsidize the Lawrence Public Schools or the City of Lawrence. The lease terms were entirely fair. The parish paid for building improvements to accommodate the Guilmette School and received what small proceeds there were from the rental once these expenses were paid.”

More than a year after the city’s students returned to the Guilmette, the Good Counsel school still sits vacant and, as is the case with other church properties, is off limits to charter schools.

“They have not been strong partners with our community,” says Blanchette. “It’s sad.”