Dear Editor:

I am writing this letter as the Wakefield Board of Selectmen’s liaison to, and as a member of, the Town’s hardworking Rail-to-Trail Committee. The RTT Committee is ably led by Kevin Scott and Dot Halpin and was appointed by the Board of Selectmen in 2004 to look into the feasibility of converting to a bicycle and pedestrian path the four and one-half mile railroad right-of-way that runs from the area across from the Galvin Middle School in Wakefield to the Lynnfield/Peabody town line.

I intend this letter to be a status report on the RTT project. It is submitted at this time because the inclusion in the recently-enacted Transportation Bond bill of $500,000 of design and engineering funding for our RTT project is a major milestone in a long journey that we hope will ultimately replace a littered and unsightly railroad right-of-way with a beautiful linear park that can be used by walkers, joggers and bicyclists for generations to come.

On behalf of Wakefield’s RTT Committee, I wish to thank and congratulate Senator Richard Tisei and Representatives Mark Falzone and Katherine Clark for their hard work and success in having that design and engineering funding included in the Transportation Bond bill. This is a fine example of a bipartisan approach to public policy that we have seen many times in the past from our outstanding legislative delegation.

The RTT Committee consists of engineers, lawyers, real estate professionals and other Wakefield residents committed to analyzing and, if feasible, implementing this complex project through a combination of state and federal grants and private donations. The overall goal of the committee is to have the project designed, engineered and constructed at no significant out-of-pocket cost to the property taxpayers of either Wakefield or Lynnfield. Final responsibility for the project rests with the Selectmen and Town Meetings of Wakefield and Lynnfield.

We have made a great deal of progress during the past four years. PanAm Railways, the railroad which had the freight rights over the right-of-way in question, has now officially abandoned those rights in a proceeding before the Surface Transportation Board. Our town counsel, Tom Mullen, was instrumental in achieving that goal.

The MBTA owns the track bed and the right-of-way itself. The Towns of Wakefield and Lynnfield jointly entered into negotiations in 2005 with the MBTA on the terms of a 99-year lease under which the Towns would rent the right-of-way for a consideration of One Dollar. Together with our then Town Administrator and our Town Counsel, I participated in those negotiations at the MBTA’s main office in Boston as one of Wakefield’s representatives.

The most difficult issues we faced were the onerous environmental indemnity provisions in the MBTA’s proposed long-term lease and the MBTA’s stubborn refusal to agree to any changes in those provisions. We suspended lease negotiations in 2005 with the MBTA after we reached an impasse on those environmental liability provisions. The issue, of course, is the possibility that the track bed and surrounding areas might be contaminated with oil or other hazardous substances attributable to years and years of railroad operations, and we did not want to expose either Wakefield or Lynnfield to third- party damage claims based on those environmental conditions.

To solve this problem, we enlisted the efforts of our state legislators--Senator Richard Tisei, Representative Mark Falzone and former Representative Mike Festa. It took over a year of work, but in due course we and RTT supporters in other communities were instrumental in causing the Legislature to enact and former Governor Romney to sign legislation that will protect the Towns of Wakefield and Lynnfield--as well as all other Massachusetts municipalities hosting RTT projects-- from potential third-party environmental liabilities that might affect a RTT project. The creative legislative solution to this legal exposure involved a special type of environmental liability insurance entailing a one-time premium payment to be subsidized by the state.

The RTT committee is fully cognizant of the financial straits affecting Wakefield and Lynnfield and the fact that no significant contribution of Town funds can or should be expected for the design, engineering or construction of the project. For that reason, a non-profit corporation, The Reedy Meadow Rail Trail Alliance, was recently formed as a fund-raising vehicle by Wakefield and Lynnfield residents with generous pro bono assistance from local Atty. Patrick Curley.

This newly formed 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization will be able to solicit tax deductible private contributions to supplement the state and federal grants that will be needed to implement the RTT project. For example, Wakefield and Lynnfield will be required to pay one-half the cost of the required RTT environmental liability insurance premium. The Commonwealth will pay the other half. We anticipate that the Towns’ share of said expense will be covered by private fund-raising conducted by the newly formed non-profit corporation.

Principally through the efforts of Senator Tisei and with the strong support of Representative Falzone and former Representative Festa, Wakefield and Lynnfield in 2006 received a state grant in the amount of $30,000 to pay for a feasibility study of the RTT project. That feasibility study was performed by a competent and experienced engineering firm and concluded that the project, despite a number of technical challenges and some complicated environmental permitting issues, is feasible and could be pursued if funding for project design, engineering and construction became available.

We estimated that the cost to design, engineer and produce detailed bidding specifications for the project would be about $500,000 and have spent the last two years working with our state legislators to obtain such funding. Many believed that this would not be achievable. In fact, we were not able to get this funding in the State’s annual budget and were unsuccessful in our efforts to obtain Congressional funding through Congressman Tierney’s office. However, as stated above, the Massachusetts legislature recently passed a Transportation Bond bill which contains $500,000 to be divided between Wakefield and Lynnfield to fund the design and engineering of the RTT project.

We will now work to persuade Governor Patrick to “authorize” the release of these funds to the Towns of Wakefield and Lynnfield. This will not be automatic since there is no requirement that the Governor ever release funds in any bonding legislation. However, we believe Governor Patrick will do so in this case because he has in the past expressed an interest in supporting RTT projects in the Commonwealth. Also, we are confident that our state legislators will do everything possible to urge the Governor to release those funds.

In the hope that design and engineering funding will soon be authorized by the Governor, Wakefield’s Town Planner, Paul Reavis, has already begun to develop a Request for Proposals for the detailed design and engineering of the RTT project. The RTT Committee and the Board of Selectmen will make certain that the final design protects the legitimate privacy and safety interests of all abutters and residents and that there is adequate parking at each end of the pathway. Such an RFP will not be issued without the approval of the Boards of Selectmen in both Wakefield and Lynnfield.

The final step, and perhaps most difficult challenge, will be to obtain RTT construction funding through the Massachusetts Highway Department which dispenses federal funds for projects such as this. Please be assured that the Towns will not proceed without full vetting of the long-term and short-term financial implications of the project and the support of the Boards of Selectmen in Wakefield and Lynnfield. Town Meeting approval will also be required in each community.

We expect the construction cost to be about $4,500,000 and that it will be fully funded by state and federal grants. We also believe that the $500,000 of design and engineering funding that we expect to receive from the Transportation Bond bill will be treated by state and federal authorities as the Towns’ required 10% match of total project costs.

I would encourage any Wakefield resident who wishes to help us bring this project to fruition to get in touch with me or any other member of the RTT Committee. We need your help and support. With the support of an engaged public a great deal more can be achieved.