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Health & Fitness

A Difficult Decision

The Stoneham Greenway Committee faced a difficult decision when asked to re-consider Articles to support short term leases at two properties along the RR RoW.

Decisions are not always easy. That is especially true when deciding an issue between two groups that have different views and a history of distrust.  In the past week, the Stoneham Greenway Committee was faced with such a decision.

The Greenway has been a long and arduous process to bring to town but it is just around the corner.  I will forgo the long version, and focus here on the licenses to use part of the ROW corridor (think lease but slightly different) put in place at Town Meeting in 2009.   Those licenses expire at the end of June. There were two Greenway related Articles on the May Stoneham Town Meeting this year.  Article 12 was to extend the Railroad Right-of-Way (RR ROW) overlay district in section 4.18 of our town code for an additional year or until construction of the greenway started.  Article 13 was to allow the Town Administrator to license sections of the RR ROW with a number of new protections for the town and Greenway included.

The week before Town Meeting, the Greenway Committee voted to Indefinitely Postpone both articles due to information provided by MassDOT (Department of Transportation), including the necessity to clear the ROW for a survey due to start next month. Furthermore, Article 12 is a Zoning Article and was not properly posted or reviewed by the Planning Board before Town Meeting so  Article 12 was pulled from the meeting. Indefinite postponement was supported by Town Meeting Vote on Article 13. Since Town Meeting, subsequent conversions with MassDOT have made clear that we have more time to clear the ROW.   

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After Town Meeting, two of the businesses affected by the end of the leases requested the Board of Selectman schedule a Special Town Meeting, which the BOS supported unanimously.  Now that a meeting is scheduled, anyone could add warrant articles with signatures or support of a committee.

This brings us to the difficult decision. The Special Town Meeting was scheduled and two Stoneham Businesses (Montvale Plaza and Cleveland Fence) requested that the Greenway Committee resubmit the two articles that extended the temporary zoning and a very short extension of leases (to November 15, 2014) while they find other accommodations.

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First let me say that every member of the committee takes our charter very seriously.  In October 2010, the Town voted to create the Bikeway/Greenway Committee and instructed “said Committee to assist the Selectmen/Town Administrator in the implementation and the development of the Town-owned land or leased land commonly known as the “Railroad Right-of-Way “as a Linear Park/Greenway with a continuous multi-use trail and associated uses from the Woburn City Line to Recreation Park at Gerry Court”.  In addition, the unanimous Town Meeting votes to support Greenway Articles in October of last year show the continued support of the town.   

That said, Stoneham is a community, including the businesses. The Greenway Committee sat at the table with the two business owners to hear them out.  Montvale Plaza and Cleveland Fence requested the committee resubmit the articles that would allow licenses to use ROW land through November 15th.  The primary question from the Committee was why?  The end date of the licenses has been known for a while.  One response was that they had not expected the Town Meeting articles to be postponed.  After discussion we identified the extension would provide Montvale Plaza a few months to work through Planning Board and zoning issues to expand parking into a new area they recently purchased. It would also provide Cleveland Fence some relief in their busy season over the summer.  Both owners pledged their support for the Greenway and to leave the land when any license was up.

This was not an easy decision.  The committee considered the pros and cons.  The pros include working with our businesses to help solve a problem and controlling the details of the articles. The cons were generally focused on some of the challenges with abutters in the past or concerns about risking the funding by extending any licenses.   To accommodate the cons, the committee made any vote contingent on confirming with MassDOT that a brief license would not delay the project or cause an issue for them, as well as on the removal of fences across the ROW to ensure public access to the entire length after June 30.L

The decision was difficult. Sitting at a table and looking people in the eye while they profess support of the Greenway and commit to leave the land after the lease builds confidence.  After much debate, a motion was made to resubmit the articles for limited extension of the leases until this fall.  The motion passed 7-1. In the end, this is a decision for the town at Town Meeting. Please come express your opinion and cast your vote on June 19th. 

 

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