Defense attorneys make final effort to stop Boston and professional soccer team’s plans to rebuild White Stadium

Supporters of Boston’s plan to redevelop Franklin Park’s White Stadium as the new home of a professional women’s soccer team are demanding a state review of the plan’s legality in a last-ditch effort to stop the project.

The Garrison Trotter Association and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, which is suing the city and Boston Unity Soccer Partners for allegedly “unconstitutionally privatizing” the land — a charge of illegality that the city has denied — sent a letter to the heads of key state agencies on Wednesday saying the city failed to fulfill a number of other legal obligations related to the permitting, including state review.

The defense attorneys’ letter comes as the White Stadium renovation project is set to receive final approval from the Boston Parks Commission on Monday, with demolition set to begin in the fall, according to the mayor’s office. The court previously dismissed an injunction filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of private citizens seeking to halt the project, but the case is still “pending.”

“In this letter, we will not reiterate the basis for this active lawsuit, but will focus on the separate, specific failures of the proposed project to comply with statutes and regulations requiring state permits and approvals, MEPA review, MHC review and consultation, and other state-level processes and reviews that have not yet been undertaken or conducted,” the defense attorneys wrote.

The mayor’s office responded Friday to the allegations in the letter, saying a court had already ruled they were unfounded.

“As the court has already ruled, the claim of state jurisdiction over this project is without merit,” a spokeswoman for Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.

“We are thrilled by the public support for this generational investment in our Boston Public Schools students and the surrounding community, and we are grateful for the many voices from area residents who helped improve every aspect of the design and planning as we approach the final stages of the permitting process.”

The mayor’s office said the court’s decision to deny the temporary injunction shows the project is not subject to state review under Section 97 of state law, which requires review of developed park lands by MEPA or the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office.

The mayor’s office said White Stadium has been owned by Boston Public Schools since its completion in 1949, and a state law was passed in 1950 that required White Stadium to be operated as school property rather than as park land.

Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, disagrees.

“State environmental laws are completely separate from the ongoing Franklin Park conservation status lawsuit,” Mauney-Brodek said in a statement. “There is no question that a state environmental impact assessment is required for an 11,000-seat sports and entertainment complex in the middle of a historic park surrounded by the environmental justice communities of Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan and Jamaica Plain.

“Our letter simply calls on the appropriate state agencies to take action before any damage occurs.”

Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association, said advocates simply want to examine factors that should have been considered from the start and are optimistic they will be able to stop the demolition plans.

“Eleven thousand people coming in, whether they’re coming directly or indirectly, it’s going to have an impact on the road, it’s going to have an impact on the air quality, but it’s really going to have an impact on environmental justice,” Elisa told the Herald.

The “only glimmer of hope” in the city’s approval process, Elisa said, was the Parks Commission’s decision to postpone the vote on the demolition plan.

“I understand that they will reconvene on Monday after the last meeting and discuss whether the idea will work,” Elisa said. “But I don’t think any intelligent person who understands monuments, understands antiquities, understands history and understands recreation would agree that what is being proposed now, without further and more comprehensive information, is beneficial to the community.”