Lynnfield Rail Trail

-advocating for the Wakefield-Lynnfield  Rail Trail project.

Leadership Team Letter  -  March 3, 2017

The Friends of the Lynnfield Rail Trail have worked diligently to inform residents about the facts and misconceptions regarding the

Wakefield– Lynnfield Rail Trail project.  We are committed to making sure our residents understand the opportunity we have to greatly benefit our community in a number of important ways.

The Rail Trail will foster in the community:
* Safety

* Health & Wellness

* Improved social connections

* A Four season recreational path for all ages and abilities 

* Town Pride 

* A Boost to Home Values 

Most important, this Rail Trail can save a child’s life. 

There are number of people in town that are worried about the Wakefield -Lynnfield Rail Trail project because of potential crime. A few abutters in an attempt to create fear, cite crimes with no evidence from local and national studies. They have not spoken to local towns with existing trails. Concord this year voted to connect to the Minuteman Rail Trail - the oldest in Massachusetts - 25 years duration. They are a smart, fiscally wise, and experienced town with their first hand viewing of this trail for 25 years. To date, no rail trail communities, not one, have experienced additional crime as a result of their rail trails.  This statement is supported both by studies and by direct information provided by officials in communities with established rail trails and if you think about it, why would crime increase in the presence of a rail trail? The corridor was always there, and criminals can access a community by roads much more easily. 

These abutters should not decide what is best for the town, you should.

Learn for yourself, get some of your friends and neighbors together on a rail trail and ask the local residents themselves their personal experience and opinion. This will hopefully give you the insight to overcome these fears and vote Yes, to build this rail trail. You will be very happy you did, as all other communities that have done this before us are.  

Remember this; of the twenty thousand plus miles of rail trails that have been built not one has ever been closed.. That is a great testimonial to how these rail-trails are viewed and that they are highly prized assets for the communities that are lucky to have them.  Can 107 towns that have built rail trails/ Rec Paths in Massachusetts be wrong? Including the most recent to vote yes- Concord and Dover? 

A boost to home values- Local and national data indicate that rail trails increase property values, especially those nearer the rail trail.  “The results show that houses near the trail sell for a higher proportion of the asking price and in about half the time that it took for houses in the general inventory”. See “Life adjacent to a rail trail“ by Craig Della Penna (Massachusetts Realtor and leading expert on this topic).

We strongly believe the Wakefield- Lynnfield Rail Trail project creating a recreational path that serves the entire community is an initiative that you need to support. Pedestrian, bicycle, baby strollers, roller blade, cross country ski; ADA compliant, Non-motorized use only, dawn to dusk hours of operation. 

Towns across Massachusetts and the country desire these paths and continue to add them. We are fortunate in that we have an engineered rail bed currently unused that can be converted to a recreational path, expected to be paid for entirely with State and Federal funds( MA DOT STIP funding) and maintained at no cost to the town via a non-profit group assisted with private donations and volunteer efforts ( see Danvers and Topsfield).  This path would cross only two streets and abut only 60 of 4200 homes but would connect the major public buildings in town. This includes the High School and Middle school which towns today strive for especially to allow children and parents to walk and bicycle to school. Studies show the major health and educational performance benefits to this activity.  

Community spirit happens when people work together for the good of the whole.

People learn civic responsibility in their families, churches and schools. Working with others to do good for the community creates good feelings. There is positive reinforcement for constructive behavior.

This Rail Trail project exemplifies civic responsibility and civic betterment. It is in the very best interests of the community. 

Go to our site www.Lynnfieldrailtrail.org and become informed.   Read the Personal statement of Tom Grilk, 29 year resident of Lynnfield and abutter to the rail bed in Lynnfield.       

Read the FAQS which are continuously updated, to answer the questions raised by citizens. 

Please contact us to help you with any concerns or questions.  Become involved with the process and help us get this asset built.

Please vote “Yes” at the upcoming Town Meeting on April 24, 2017 for the Rail Trail initiative, no solution satisfies everyone, but this is one of the best value opportunities this town has had in its history. 

Thank you. 

Friends of the Lynnfield Rail Trail

                      Leadership Team ( 3/3/17)

Tom  Adamczyk                       Stephen Fantone

Sheila Aronson                         Kendall Inglese

Sanjay Aurora  M.D.                 Vince Inglese

Eric Baras                                Bob Lee     

John Ciampa                             Keith Nobil M.D.           

Patrick Curley                           Dara Reppucci                                   

Mike DAmore                           Randy Russell

Camille Ernest                         

.  3/3/17