Foxborough, Krafts battle over billboards – Boston Globe

The Kraft Group insists the billboards are on its land. Foxborough officials say an easement gives the town control.

The town is threatening to settle the dispute by taking the billboards by eminent domain, which the company warns would be “a dangerous position’’ for the town.

“Unfortunately, what I see is the relationship with the Krafts getting worse and worse,’’ said Larry Harrington, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “It’s like the Hatfields and McCoys right now.’’

The dispute has spilled into town politics, setting town officials against each other at a moment when Foxborough is most in need of leadership, as the town considers a proposal from Wynn Resorts to build a gambling resort on land Kraft owns near the stadium.

“That casino is the elephant in the room, without a doubt,’’ said Town Manager Kevin Paicos.

The Krafts presented their side of the billboard dispute over the weekend in a mailing sent to thousands of households. It accused “some town leaders’’ of damaging the relationship with the threat of land takings, an “extraordinary and unprecedented action’’ the company warns would hurt the taxpayers.

“We hope, for the sake of the relationship and for all taxpayers, that the town leaders who are driving this agenda choose a different path,’’ The Kraft Group wrote.

The relationship began in 1985, when Robert Kraft secured an option on land surrounding the old Foxborough Stadium.

More than 25 years later, the relationship is seen two ways by local officials.

Some focus on what they view as Kraft’s hard-nosed negotiating tactics over development and other issues, revealed in recently released minutes from closed meetings of the Board of Selectmen. “If you allow yourself to be supplicant,’’ Paicos warned the board in private session, “this is how they will treat you.’’

Others choose to focus on the roughly $ 5 million a year The Kraft Group pays in local taxes, fees, and other mitigation, after replacing what was the NFL’s worst stadium with one of the best, and then adding a hotel, movie theater, and mall.