Published in the April 19, 2017 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD — A deep and clear division continues to emerge in town over the potential development of the rail trail from Wakefield to Lynnfield that would pass through Reedy Meadow on its 2.5 mile stretch through town.

This situation could not have been displayed more clearly than at the second of two selectmen’s meetings last week. The board met on both Monday, April 10, which was election day in town, and Tuesday, April 11. Listed among the agenda items for both nights was having the board make its recommendations on the 29 warrant articles on the docket of the April 24 Annual Town Meeting.

At the Monday night meeting, the board debated as many of these articles as they could prior to the swearing in of Phil Crawford for his second three-year term after the polls closed, with the intention of voting on any remaining items Tuesday night, when the rail trail advocates and the recently enlarged Recreational Path Committee (RPC), an ad hoc group appointed by the selectmen, was due to make its first report to the board.

When the selectmen reached Article 24 on Monday night – a citizens’ petition proposed by advocates of the rail trail that seeks to empower the selectmen to enter into a 99-year lease with the MBTA for use of the land that the trail passes through – the selectmen ultimately voted 2-0 not to support it. The advocates had previously sought the selectmen’s support in March, but they declined to offer it at that time.

Selectman Chris Barrett had recused himself from the discussion as his sister is an abutter to the trail.

Selectman Phil Crawford said the petition was “brought forward to show town support,” adding that as part of the application for State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds from MassDOT, “they do ask to see town support.”

Selectman Dick Dalton said he had attended hearings at the state DOT recently and explained that town support can also be shown by having a selectman attend their hearings to indicate a town’s support in person.

“It does not require a vote of the town and this should not be before the town” Dalton said, because this project is only at its 25 percent stage. “Unlike the library or fields project, we do not know what is before the town. What does the $7M (in state funds) include? We still have not gotten a specific plan of what that will include,” he said, adding that it is estimated to cost another $600,000 to get the project closer to engineered completion.

Dalton stated that the “work product” produced to date by World Tech Engineering has been “questionable” for the half million dollars spent on a firm that has never designed a rail trail. Additionally, Dalton said at the hearing he attended the only project that appeared close to receiving funds was at 100 percent completion and current state projections indicated funds for the Lynnfield–Wakefield project are at least three to four years on the horizon.

Crawford concurred that these were valid concerns and opted not to support the article at this time as well. In response to a question regarding liability for any environmental issues uncovered during construction, Crawford said the town would make sure adequate insurance was purchased before ever agreeing to any lease with the MBTA.

When it was revealed at the Tuesday night meeting that the board had already voted not to support Article 24 the RPC members and rail trail advocates were visibly upset and expressed their disappointment repeatedly to the board.

RPC Chairman Randy Russell even suggested that the board may want to ask for his resignation given how emotional he had become over learning that the board’s support was not forthcoming. Dalton said their recommendation was just that, a recommendation – and the voters at Town Meeting would still have their say on April 24 about how they felt about the matter.

Patrick Curley, a volunteer with Friends of the Lynnfield Rail Trail, stated that for the town to achieve “acquisition authority” at this point the board’s support would help the town’s “readiness factor” to gain access to the $7M in promised state funds. He added that it is the “next logical step on more than a decade of work on this rail trail.” He noted “thousands of expert hours and over half a million dollars” have been invested to date.

Dalton maintained that the funding for Lynnfield would likely not be seen before 2021 or 2022 as there were at least 50 other projects in the pipeline.

Rail trail advocate Kendall Inglese stated that the rail trail would create “a linear park” accessible to all 12,500 of Lynnfield’s residents and provide them all with “a sense of vitality” that is achieved when exercising and having the opportunity to meet their neighbors out on a trail that ultimately would cost very little to the town.

Inglese added that town support at this stage would enable them to raise funds privately to help cover the costs that those who do not want to support the trail fear will be borne by the town.