Letter To The Editor: Dedham Rail Trail Ballot Question

The following was submitted as a letter to the editor by the Friends of the Dedham Heritage Rail Trail Steering Committee. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, email samantha.mercado@patch.com.

The Friends of the Dedham Heritage Rail Trail (DHRT) are currently collecting signatures from registered Dedham voters to place a non-binding public advisory question on the election ballot in April 2020. Approximately 2100 signatures will be required to place the question on the ballot. The question reads as follows: “Do you favor, if there is no cost to Dedham taxpayers for design and construction, the creation of the so-called Dedham Heritage Rail Trail on the 10-acre parcel of public land that runs from East Street to the Boston/Readville line? This question is non binding.”

The goal of asking this question on a town-wide ballot is simple: to essentially “take the temperature” of the Town at large as to whether the Rail Trail should be pursued at this time. The results of this non-binding question will provide insight for Town officials and elected leaders about how the public feels about this topic, and how the process should move forward.

The question of whether Dedham should convert the abandoned rail corridor running from East Street to the Readville/Boston line into a multi-use community path goes back to 2002. That year, the corridor was capped by the Town for future active transportation, such as biking and walking, and for recreational use for the community. In the years since, the issue has been discussed and debated at board meetings, Town Meetings, and on social media. A feasibility study was completed in 2017, paid for by grants, the Town, and in part by the Friends group. In 2018, Article 19 at Town Meeting was proposed to hire a collaborator to create a process for hearing from stakeholders, and to conduct a traffic study around the schools; this was voted down by Town Meeting members 146 to 105. As the Town Moderator said the night of that vote, a “no” vote did not mean that the Rail Trail should not happen. The negative vote meant that no collaborator was hired, no traffic study was started, and the Town forfeited a $50,000 grant that would have covered some of those costs. At the Fall 2018 Town Meeting, a traffic study was ultimately approved, the total cost of which was covered by the Dedham taxpayers without any grant offset, and this study is currently underway. The question of whether the Town should move ahead with the Rail Trail remains unanswered. To date, the 21,000 voters (approximate number) of Dedham have never specifically voted on this project.

We believe that the most productive approach at this time is to gauge the interest of the voters on this project, and to let those results inform the next steps. If the results of the referendum question indicate that the Town’s voters support this project, and the Town does decide to create a process to move forward, the Friends of the DHRT commit to raising funds through donations and grants to cover the design and engineering costs of the project, at no cost to the Dedham taxpayer. All construction costs would be covered by MassDOT, as with many other trails across the Commonwealth. Maintenance costs would be a Town expense (and some communities utilize their Friends groups to offset some of the maintenance costs), estimated in the feasibility study to be approximately $7,000 per year. Yet all of those details should come after we answer the main question at the root of all of this: should Dedham create the Dedham Heritage Rail Trail? Only the voters can answer that question, and we believe their voices should be heard.

In the years since we started working on this project, we have heard repeatedly from Dedham voters — “Let the people vote on the rail trail”. The non-binding public advisory ballot question we are pursuing is a legitimate process based on state and local law, and we are following all legal requirements to the letter. The right to petition is ensured by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Although unfounded, some opponents of the project have suggested that the Friends are attempting to circumvent Town Meeting. In fact, at this point we do not have an ‘ask’ for Town Meeting. Items that are voted on at Town Meeting typically are funding requests, zoning amendments, and such. A public opinion advisory question is not something that is appropriate for Town Meeting. Towns such as Topsfield, Danvers, Lynnfield, Dover, Swampscott, and others have all had referendum votes of some type on their path to a decision on their rail trail projects. This is one of the benefits of our democracy - taking questions directly to the people. Referendums happen all the time for all different reasons, in towns/cities with town meeting or mayoral and other political structures.

If you would like to sign the petition to place the question on the ballot for the public to vote (regardless of whether or not you support the actual project), please email us at dedhamrailtrail@gmail.com and visit our website for more information: http://www.dedhamrailtrail.org. Thanks to all our supporters who have remained engaged, energized, and motivated over these last few years as we work through this process. We are hopeful that we will finally join the other 76+ other Massachusetts cities and towns who have enhanced their communities with a recreational path for all to enjoy!

Friends of the Dedham Heritage Rail Trail Steering Committee:
Paquita Bass
Michael Cocchi MD
John Dashe MD
Kathleen O’Neil
Howard Ostroff
Mary Jane Parnell
Paul Reynolds
Clarissa Robyn
Chris Ryan
Georganna Woods
Jean Zeiler