Opinion: Vote No At The Special Town Meeting

A Letter to the Editor from Jill Giugliano:

On Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 .p.m at the Middle School, there will be a Special Town Meeting requested by the proponents of the Wakefield/Lynnfield Rail Trail. Lynnfield taxpayers will be voting on the transfer of $348,000 from the town budget for the proposed rail to trail project. The Warrant Article says that the requested money would be used for the remainder of the design of the trail, and it also says, ”and for the purposes of any other costs associated with Wakefield/Lynnfield Rail Trail project, or act on anything relative thereto”. This sounds very vague and open ended. Do we really know how this money would be spent?

Selectmen Derail Trail Spending

At the September 9 Lynnfield Board of Selectmen’s meeting, the Selectman voted NOT to recommend the appropriation of funds for this project. The argument of the Selectman for not recommending the article is very clear. Mass. House Minority Leader Brad Jones earmarked $500,000 in the state environmental bond bill for the rail trail. Phil Crawford, the Lynnfield Board of Selectman Chairman, said for a town the size of ours, it would be more prudent for the town to wait and see if the funding comes in at the end of the fiscal year. Chairman Crawford also said the Friends of Rail Trail can reapply for a DCR grant of $100,000 once the funds in the bond bill are released.

Funding Pushed Out

The state TIP funds are no longer available for 2022. It has now been pushed out to 2024, and
possibly 2030 or even further. Are these funds really available?

Budget Shortfall and Additional Trail Costs

Lynnfield’s Fiscal Year 2020 Capital Budget will have a shortfall of over 2 million dollars, and
according to the Lynnfield Strategic Planning Committee, Lynnfield is on the threshold of projecting a 50 million dollar override. The requested $348,000 would be better spent on the NEEDS of our schools, police, fire, library, roads and sidewalks, not on the WANTS of a special interest group. Proponents say that the trail would be an asset and an investment, but the real investment and our most important asset is our schools which bring up our property values.

There will also be costs for environmental insurance, easements, and maintenance and future replacement of the entire trail and all the abutting fencing. If contamination is found during the trail construction, there would be a $50,000 deductible for EACH OCCURANCE. Our roads and sidewalks are in deplorable condition. Why would we want to add to our infrastructure when we can’t maintain what we already have?

Contamination

Contamination is a very serious concern. The Department of Environmental Protection has concluded that all railroad beds have some contamination. If disturbed, it can be very dangerous. We must bear in mind that the MBTA will not allow us to test the railroad bed prior to the signing of the lease, which is a huge red flag!

Lynnfield also has some other potential pollution areas. The Lynnfield Chemical Plant existed at
the end of Keniston Road which was situated on the tracks across Pilling Pond. There they mined magnesium for bombs during World War I, probably using the latest Davy Method of electrolyzing damp magnesium sulfate utilizing mercury as a cathode, along with the associated Serpentine Mine near Underhill Road. Arsenic was used on the railroad beds for weed control and also on the railroad ties. Throughout the years, trains would leak chemicals along the railroad bed. The former railroad station, located where St. Paul’s Church now stands, is also an area of concern.

Impact to Reedy Meadow and our Woodlands

Reedy Meadow is a National Natural Landmark which Lynnfield has been entrusted to protect. The raised trail would bisect the meadow. This fragmentation could be disastrous to the endangered birds which depend on a large area of undisturbed marsh for breeding, foraging and migrating. In addition, there would be an increased risk of fires in the highly flammable cattail marshlands, as well as in our woodlands.

The drilling of hundreds of holes to support the raised structure has a high potential of releasing buried railroad toxins into Reedy Meadow and the Saugus River Watershed which supplies drinking water to the City of Lynn.

In the process of building the 2.5 mile trail, many trees would have to be destroyed. This would devastate our woodlands and the meadow.

Reduced Safety

There have been many reported crimes on area rail trails in Massachusetts. There was just an incident a few days ago where a woman was attacked by a man on the Neponset Trail. Others crimes include: 2018 a man sexually assaulted a mother and her daughter on the Saugus trail, and a man in Amesbury exposed himself to young girls; 2017 a cyclist in the Minute Man Trail was attacked by a group of men; 2016 a woman on the Marblehead trail was sexually assaulted; 2014 a high school girl was raped on a Malden trail, and a woman was sexually assaulted on the Minute Man Trail. The list goes on and on. NO ONE can guarantee that similar incidents would not happen in Lynnfield. The fact is that trails give predators easy access to vulnerable people in remote areas.

Rail trails are public transportation routes and sex offenders cannot be excluded from using them. The trail in Lynnfield would go right next to the Middle School, High School, and Bethlehem School. We should be increasing the safety of our children, not decreasing it!

There would be increased traffic and additional bikes on our narrow roads, which would mean a
greater risk of accidents. This trail would eventually link to other area trails, and it would become part of an East Coast trail system, bringing even more bike traffic across busy Summer Street and through our neighborhoods.

In March of this year, two cyclists collided on the Minute Man Trail and one of the men died, so trails can be just as dangerous as the roads.

No Dedicated Parking

Because there would be no dedicated parking for trail users, visitors would park at our already overcrowded schools and playgrounds, which would force overflow parking onto the nearby side streets.

Please help preserve our quaint small town and VOTE NO on, Thursday. This may be your last chance to vote on this project! Doors open at 6 p.m. Early arrival is suggested.

Jill Giugliano
Citizens of Lynnfield Against the Rail Trail
www.NotForLynnfield.com