A Suffolk Superior Court judge has ordered Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration to stop building accessibility ramps in historic Beacon Hill until the project undergoes state review.
In issuing her decision this month, Judge Bonnie H. Mac-Leod sided with the Beacon Hill Civic Association and residents who are fighting the city, contending Walsh officials are improperly bypassing crucial legal steps to build the ramps.
The judge rejected the city’s claim that installing the ramps was a matter of public safety and determined the city was circumventing the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, which the Legislature established in 1955 to preserve the neighborhood’s historic integrity.
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MacLeod ordered a preliminary injunction and told city officials to stop installing the ramps until they notify the state Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
“It is ordered that the defendants are enjoined from further construction or renovation of sidewalks and pedestrian ramps on Beacon Hill, and all projects contested in this action,’’ Mac-Leod wrote in her decision, dated June 8.
Colin Zick, a Beacon Hill Civic Association board member, said his group hopes the judge’s action will get Walsh and his officials back to the table to determine a resolution that works for everyone.
“It’s in the city’s interest to have a neighborhood that continues to be one that is such a historic magnet for tourists and to maintain the standards there, and at the same time to have access for everybody,’’ said Zick, who has lived on Beacon Hill for 25 years.
The judge’s order, first reported by The Boston Courant, gives weight to the association’s argument that a historic architectural review should be conducted, and that the materials and method used be consistent with the history of Beacon Hill. Zick said the group supports ramps for the disabled that fit the character of the neighborhood.
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Walsh officials said the city is taking steps to address the court’s concerns, but it appears the legal fight is far from over.
“The city believes that the project in Beacon Hill does not fall under any state environmental jurisdiction, and that our efforts will soon result in the lifting of the injunction so that this important work can resume in the near future,’’ said Bonnie McGilpin, a Walsh spokeswoman.
The Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, citing the ongoing litigation, declined to comment.
The city had proposed installing 238 pedestrian ramps with tactile warning strips throughout the neighborhood, as part of a decades-long effort to bring the city’s curbs into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
The city plans new ramps in other neighborhoods, too, including Back Bay, Bay Village, and the South End. Citywide, the project is estimated to take 15 years.
A survey by an independent firm hired by the city found that 90 percent of Beacon Hill’s pedestrian ramps did not comply with the disabilities act or guidelines established by the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board, a state regulatory agency, according to the judge’s order.
In 2012, the city first sought approval from the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, proposing to remove certain trees, fill in window wells and coal chutes, and add accessible pedestrian ramps and detectable tactile warning panels to several curbs and sidewalks.
The proposal indicated the city would use poured concrete to construct the accessibility ramps and tactile warning panels in place of brick at the intersections, the court document said.
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The Architectural Commission rejected the city’s initial application. The city twice reapplied. In January 2014, the commission accepted one of the proposals to reconstruct the sidewalks at intersections on Joy Street with new pedestrian ramps and wire-cut bricks in place of existing brickwork.
But it denied the other application, determining “the poured concrete and tactile warning panels were not appropriate materials.”
After the rejection, the document said, the mayor said he would consider bypassing the commission out of fear the city would lose federal money for not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Last July, William Christopher, the inspectional services commissioner, wrote a letter to the Department of Public Works, saying he had determined that ramp upgrades were necessary to ensure public safety.
The “current condition of ramps and intersections throughout the district create an unsafe and dangerous condition for individuals with disabilities,’’ Christopher wrote, according to the court document.
But the judge said the commissioner did not inspect the sidewalks before making that determination. The city also began demolishing and reconstructing ramps on Beacon Street without Architectural Commission approval, she added.
The city installed four ramps in Beacon Hill last year. The city suspended ramp construction during the winter while the judge reviewed the case.
MacLeod’s ruling said Christopher’s public safety claim was “insufficient.”
“The court noted that the certification did not provide any evidence to support the ISD commissioner’s otherwise conclusionary statements,’’ she wrote.
Meghan E. Irons can be reached at meghan.irons@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeghanIrons.
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Correction: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated which news outlet reported the news first.