[B]URLINGTON — A judge has ruled against a group of citizens who are attempting to block the city’s planned renovation of City Hall Park.
Judge Helen Toor denied the citizens’ attempt for an injunction in a ruling issued Monday. The injunction would have prevented the city from moving forward with work on the park.
The citizens argued the City Council violated the city charter by not getting approval from voters before pledging city credit or acquiring bonds. The citizens also argued that the City Council violated the charter by deciding not to put an advisory question about the park on the March Town Meeting Day ballot despite a citizen petition.
The city contested the group’s arguments. Richard Haesler, an assistant city attorney, wrote that the plaintiff’s real concern was about the design of the park, which they did not have a fundamental right to vote on.
Supporters of the project believe the new park will be an improvement while also retaining approximately the same number of trees. The group “Keep the Park Green” and others opposed the cutting of fully-grown trees and planned increase in the amount of pavement in the park.
Toor wrote that the public interest weighed in the city’s favor and noted approval from the City Council and years of public meetings during the plan’s development process.
She noted that the plaintiffs didn’t want trees cut based on climate change concerns and their emotional connection to the current iteration of the park.
“While they will no doubt be smaller trees when planted, and the court appreciates the importance of public green spaces to the quality of life in urban areas, that too does not meet the test for irreparable harm,” Toor said in her opinion.
Mayor Miro Weinberger said Monday that the city welcomed the ruling and was continuing to work to get construction started as soon as possible.
“We did not think that there was any real argument that the city didn’t have the authority to move forward with this project as the appellants were arguing,” he said. “I’m excited, I think this removes one of the few remaining potential barriers to starting construction in the coming weeks.”
Kira Kelley, the lawyer for the citizen’s group, said that the despite the decision, the citizen group would continue to move forward.
She said group was hopeful they’d get another chance to make their arguments before the city is ready to start construction, and could appeal the decision or amend their complaint.
“Even though this project currently has a legal green light, there are other steps that need to happen before anything does happen,” Kelley said. “We’re certainly not going to abandon the lawsuit until everything’s already been cemented over, and we’re hoping that doesn’t happen.”
