An Essex County Superior Court judge took a request for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Town of Andover from beginning work on paving the Haggetts Pond trail under advisement Wednesday.
Judge Jeffrey Karp heard arguments from the Town and lawyers for a group of residents who filed the lawsuit in Lawrence Superior Court last month. If granted, the temporary injunction would block Andover from moving forward with a plan to pave a mile-long stretch of the Haggetts Pond trail until the lawsuit is resolved.
Karp did not offer a timeline for when he would issue a decision.
The 13 residents who sued Andover maintain the trail and pond are a valuable natural resource that would be harmed by the paving, and that the project violates state law. The Town maintains paving the trail will make it more accessible without causing significant environmental damage.
The plaintiffs have staged a grassroots effort for more than a year to block the project. In addition to issuing a temporary order blocking the project from commencing while the lawsuit is pending, they want the court to rule the land is protected under state law and reimbursement for legal costs.
If the court rules in their favor, the Town would need to get approval from the state legislature changing the use of the land before it could move forward with the project.