Foxborough Selectmen Pull Billboard Land Takeover Off Town Meeting Warrant

(Updated Wednesday at 12:01 p.m. with Kraft Group's response.)

After being served with legal papers Tuesday, the Foxborough Board of Selectmen are now hoping to resolve the issues without further court action with the Kraft Group over billboards on Route 1.

And they made a move Tuesday night that they hope will lead in that direction.

Selectmen voted 5-0 to remove the article from the town warrant in a good faith move to allow their attorney to meet with lawyers from the Kraft Group. Before being eliminated, the town meeting article was to allow to take over by eminent domain land across from Gillette Stadium with the billboards on them.

Town counsel Paul DeRensis said he thinks he can resolve the billboard issue and suggested the selectmen remove the warrant.

"The board, by not voting to go forward with an eminent domain taking, has sent a strong conciliatory gesture to the Kraft organization," said DeRensis. 

DeRensis said he would be in contact with Kraft Group General Counsel James Cobery Wednesday morning in an effort to resolve the issues that led to the lawsuit being filed.

"The resolution of the lawsuit, I think, is moot," said DeRensis. "(It is) the restoration of the relationship of trust and confidence and not one of hostility."

Cobery had asked to meet with DeRensis at the March 13 meeting.

Town manager Kevin Pacios was in favor of removal of the warrant article.

"We're really not jeopardizing anything by removing it," said Pacios, "but it's a sign of good faith to the Kraft organization. We don't want to have to resort to that. We find it probably as repugnant as they do. The sensibility of each of one us is that we all dislike eminent domain.

"That was never a likelihood. It was just a back-up plan, so now based on the dialogue we achieved in the last 48 hours, and now that we've got the clearance to be able to talk to one another again, we'll make good things happen. I'm very confident at this point."

In an email response Wednesday, Kraft Group spokesman Jeff Cournoyer wrote, ""The Town Manager may now be calling it a backup plan, but we took it very seriously. Threatening to take real property from a taxpayer to attempt to settle a dispute was a dangerous strategy and set a bad
precedent. Later denying our right to speak on the issue also set a bad precedent. Hopefully these tactics won't be recommended in the future."

(Read more stories from the selectmen's meeting on Foxborough Patch throughout the day.)