Northeastern University owns most of East Point peninsula in the Town of Nahant.
East Point is the location of the university’s Marine Science Center.
The town owns a small park on the eastern-most part of the peninsula and has an easement over Northeastern’s property.
In 2018 the university announced its plan to build a new 55,000 square foot building on East Point.
Unsurprisingly, the residences of Nahant were not happy with the idea.
So in 2021 they took to the polls and voted to authorize the town’s selectmen to use the municipality’s eminent domain powers to claim conservation and access easement rights across the Marine Science Center.
The new easement rights would permanently block the university’s building plans.
When the town petitioned superior court for an order establishing its right to take the conservation/access easement through eminent domain, a superior court judge denied the request.
The judge ruled that the town’s use of the eminent domain violated case law set forth in Pheasant Ridge Assocs. Ltd. Partnership v. Burlington, 399 Mass. 771 (1987).
The court in Pheasant Ridge invalidated a town’s use of eminent domain in bad faith to block a housing development.
The town appealed the superior court judge’s decision.
Today the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a slip opinion reversing the judge’s decision.
According to the SJC,
We conclude that on the record before us Northeastern has no reasonable expectation of proving that the town’s taking is invalid under Pheasant Ridge. In short, the town’s stated purpose for the taking is a proper public purpose in accord with past actions by the town evincing interest in the area of the taking, and the extreme circumstances of Pheasant Ridge — where the record showed that the town did not intend in good faith to use the property for the ostensible purposes for which it had been taken — indisputably are not present here. We are also unpersuaded by Northeastern’s various alternative arguments challenging the validity of the taking. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment in favor of Northeastern and remand this matter for entry of an order establishing the town’s right to take the property interests at issue and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The full text of the slip opinion is attached below.