White Stadium

On July 11, the city of Boston and the National Women’s Soccer League Boston, whose local expansion team is owned by Boston Unity Soccer Partners, will host a community event to usher in the warm weather with various art and music offerings.

A group of Franklin Park area residents convened on June 4 to gather community input as they pressed forward with a lawsuit against the proposed plan to revamp White Stadium for use by a professional women’s soccer team.

After a Suffolk Superior Court judge denied a preliminary injunction against the planned renovation of Franklin Park’s White Stadium, Boston Unity Soccer Partners and its development partners are ready to forge ahead with the project.

More than half of residents generally support the City of Boston’s proposal to renovate White Stadium, a survey released last week found.

Since the city’s announcement last summer that a women’s professional soccer team would lease White Stadium, park advocates and activists in neighborhoods surrounding Franklin Park have struggled to keep up with the breakneck pace of project review meetings.

A growing number of Franklin Park abutters and open space advocates are calling on city officials to hit the brakes on controversial development plans for White Stadium.

In July, city officials announced a plan to lease White Stadium to a professional women’s soccer team, allowing for 20 games a year in a March 16 through Nov. 17 schedule. During that time, football will not be allowed on the field.

Residents in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury envision a revitalized White Stadium that is a hub for city student-athletes, a haven for neighbors and an axis for ample jobs for people in communities nearby.

Community members are expressing both support and caution in response to the city’s plans to renovate White Stadium in Franklin Park.