Rail Trail receives initial construction funding

Date: 1/24/2012

Jan. 25, 2012

By Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

WESTFIELD — The Columbia Rail Trail project is moving ahead, thanks in part to a $1 million grant from the state and ongoing education and outreach efforts by a non-profit organization promoting its construction.

City Engineer Mark S. Cressotti confirmed for Reminder Publications that the city was notified on Jan. 17 it was awarded a $1 million Gateway City Parks Program grant. Cressotti said the money would be used for the construction of approximately one mile of the southern phase of the proposed 3.2-mile bike trail. That section of the project extends from the Southwick town border to the Little River, excluding the bridge.

“We’re finalizing the designs,” Cressotti said, adding that the city would begin soliciting bids from contractors “in a matter of days” following the City Council’s formal acceptance of the grant.

Jeffrey LaVallee, chair of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, said his group is hosting a public meeting on the southern portion of the project at the club on Jan. 26.

“Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and from 6:30 to 7 p.m. the site plan will be available for people to review and ask questions of the designers from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB),” LaVallee said.

Beginning at 7 p.m., LaVallee said the group plans to present a video presentation on the project followed by a short talk by Steven Mitchell, a resident of Simsbury, Conn., which recently completed a similar rail trail project.

More specific details about the first leg of construction, which LaVallee said would be presented by Cressotti and representatives from VHB will close the presentation.

Funded by the Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Gateway City Parks Program grants, one of Gov. Deval Patrick’s signature initiatives, is a flexible program, providing municipal officials with a menu of funding options for all phases of park development.

“Westfield’s trail is a former railroad corridor and runs pretty much elevated through the center of the city, which makes it very exciting,” Cressotti said. “It is safe for seniors and juveniles in bypassing the downtown [traffic] to get to destinations and in connecting the outskirts [of the city] to its inner areas. It opens recreation opportunities to inner areas that wouldn’t be there [otherwise].

Conservation Commission coordinator Karen Leigh said the commission hosted a public hearing at its Jan.10 meeting pertaining to storm water and wetland issues for the site plan for southern portion of the project where it abuts Shaker Farms Country Club. She expected the commission to vote on the site at its Jan 24 meeting.

“This is really a city project,” LaVallee noted. “[The Friends] role is simply to educate people in the greater Westfield area about the project and how it will benefit the community.”

He said these efforts include “target neighborhood outreach efforts so we can inform people in specific neighborhood how [the rail trail] will benefit them” such as the meeting on the 26.

“Our goal is to let people know this [project] is a definite,” he continued. “It’s an exciting opportunity for Westfield.”