Waltham City Council Committee Rejects Eminent Domain Taking of Stigmatines

WALTHAM, MA – A Waltham City Council committee vote Monday night rejected taking the Stigmatine Fathers & Brothers property by eminent domain. According to Waltham Newswatch, the committee vote was 12-3.

Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy had asked the council to take the 46-acre property, sans two buildings allotted for retired clergy. In exchange, the city would have paid the Stigmatines an appraisal of $15 million.

The land has been eyed as the preferred site for a new Waltham High School, but the city has sought to acquire it for open space for several years.

Ahead of Monday's vote, one official issued a final plea to parishioners: contact your city councilors, oppose the "hostile eminent domain seizure" of the land. In a letter obtained by Waltham Newswatch, Rev. Robert White wrote that the Stigmatines do not find the city's proposals suitable for the ministry's needs.

The Waltham Channel reported last week that a lawyer for Stigmatine Fathers & Brothers threatened legal action against the city if the council voted to take the land by eminent domain, saying the Stigmatines would not be "bullied" into selling the property. McCarthy has said the Stigmatines have not met with the city after multiple requests to negotiate.