The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has cleared the way for Nahant to acquire conservation and public-access easements over roughly 12 acres owned by Northeastern University at East Point, reversing a lower-court judgment that had stopped the taking. The September 3 opinion sends the case back for an order establishing the town’s right to take the easements and for additional proceedings, including the unresolved compensation process.
The ruling is consequential beyond the immediate dispute because it explains when a municipality may use eminent domain to preserve open space even when the action also blocks a specific development. The court found Nahant’s stated goals—conservation, public recreation and shoreline access—to be valid public purposes and concluded that Northeastern had no reasonable expectation of proving the taking was undertaken in bad faith.
The dispute began with an expansion plan
Northeastern operates its Marine Science Center on the peninsula. According to the court record, the university proposed a new 55,000-square-foot building, parking and an approximately one-acre geothermal wellfield. Nahant residents then authorized the Board of Selectmen to pursue conservation and access easements that would prohibit new construction in the covered areas while allowing existing structures to remain in use.
The town’s 2021 order described the intended benefits as preserving open space, expanding a buffer around Lodge Park, protecting wildlife habitat and coastal access, supporting climate resilience and maintaining passive recreation. The town also said the acquisition would proceed through the valuation structure in Chapter 80A, with compensation determined before officials make the final decision to complete the easement purchase.
A Superior Court judge had sided with Northeastern, concluding that the stated conservation purpose was pretextual and that the dominant purpose was stopping the university’s project. That judgment dismissed Nahant’s petition and awarded Northeastern more than $1 million in fees and costs. The high court reversed both parts.
What the justices decided
The justices emphasized that the Massachusetts Constitution expressly treats conservation of natural resources as a public purpose. They also distinguished Nahant’s actions from cases involving fabricated or purely private justifications: town plans had long identified East Point as an open-space and recreation resource, residents debated the taking, and the easements would actually provide conservation and public-access benefits.
The court acknowledged that Nahant moved after Northeastern announced its expansion and that the easements would prevent the proposed building. But it reasoned that preventing development is inherent in a conservation easement and does not by itself prove an unlawful motive. Private financial support or incidental benefits to nearby residents also do not invalidate a taking that serves a genuine public purpose.
The decision does not transfer the property without payment, erase Northeastern’s ownership or authorize towns to invoke conservation as a cover for private gain. Nahant must still pay just compensation, and the remanded proceeding must complete the statutory process. Its broader effect is to give Massachusetts municipalities clearer legal footing when documented conservation goals and real public access accompany an eminent-domain action—even when a disputed development prompted the timing.
