Information about parking
& amenities for
the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
- A
Brief
History
- The
Friends position on parking
- Why
should I
care about this issue?
- Current
status of the next phase of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
- Property
values, privacy, and safety statistics
- Isn't
there
already
sufficient parking in Chelmsford for the BFRT?
- How
do we
know there is a need for parking for the rail trail in Westford?
- What
sort of
parking is being envisioned for the trail?
- Parking
for recreational resources in residentially zoned areas
- Who
would own
the parking lot(s) and maintain them?
- How
would the
development and construction of the lots be funded?
- Why
can't we
wait until the next phase of the trail is built?
- Extending
the trail into Acton
- Informational
kiosk and benches along the trail in Westford
Parking in Westford was included
in the original Bruce
Freeman Rail Trail (BFRT) design, begun in 1987. Thirty eight spaces
were to be created on land donated by a resident near Griffin Road;
however, there were title issues and therefore the parcel of land was
never officially accepted by the Town. In the final BFRT
design, parking was not included explicitly, leaving specific parking
areas to be subsequently developed.
After the BFRT opened officially in October 2009, cars began to park at
the southern, temporary terminus - perpendicular just off of the
pavement of Route 27/Acton Road, and, additionally, on warm-weather
weekends, parallel to the roadway.
In the summer of 2011, citing safety concerns, Westford officials
installed no parking signs along Acton Road for 150 feet from the
intersection of Routes 27 and 225. The Friends of the BFRT paid for
these no parking signs (7/26/2011 Board of Selectmen meeting minutes).
Additionally Westford Selectmen sent a letter about Westford's lack of
legal parking for the BFRT to the Chelmsford Town Manager, stating that
Westford would like to erect a sign at the Westford trail terminus
directing trail users north to the parking area next to Hart Pond. The
Chelmsford Town Manager responded that Chelmsford was not in support of
Westford's action and that Chelmsford had parking issues towards the
Westford section of the trail as well. The Westford BoS felt that the
safety of drivers and pedestrians illegally parking on Rt 27 outweighed
the wishes of the Town of Chelmsford and proceeded with erecting a sign
directing trail users to parking in Chelmsford.
The Friends of the Bruce Freeman
Rail Trail
recognizes
the need of trail users to have parking in order to access the Bruce
Freeman
Rail Trail (BFRT).
Therefore
the Friends encourages the Town of Westford to pursue the 1700 ft
extension of the BFRT, a
multi-use recreation and transportation corridor, and establish a
parking area
in North Acton.
Realizing
that the North Acton trail extension proposal is not a guaranteed
success and
could be a multi-year endeavor, the Friends of the BFRT, Inc strongly
desire
continued discussion of additional Westford BFRT parking solutions. Specifically the Friends
urge the Town of
Westford to:
- Educate
the public on the specific parcels that
are suitable for parking adjacent to the BFRT
- Follow
the public process that any parking for
recreational amenities would need to proceed along in order to be
approved. If such a
process has not been
defined, create a process in which the public may contribute to the
discussion
of Westford BFRT parking in a well-informed manner
- Working
with the public, determine the
characteristics of parking
solutions and
provide that information to Greenman-Pedersen, Inc (GPI)
- Utilize
the mandate and funding provided in the
Phase 2A design contract to have two (2) parking areas designed in
Westford by
GPI
- Have
the Town or GPI generate cost estimates for
the construction of designed Westford BFRT parking
Tax dollars of Westford
residents helped fund the design and construction of the Bruce Freeman
Rail Trail (BFRT) and continue to pay for the maintenance of the trail
in Westford. Currently Westford is directing trail users to park in
Chelmsford. While sending residents to access the trail in Chelmsford
might work for some residents, there are those residents who are
older, disabled or with small children who may never be able to enjoy
Westford’s section of the trail because safe access for them is not
available. That is a disservice to those residents and the Friends of
the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, Inc are committed to helping address that
inequity and hope that Westford residents, whether they live near to
the trail or not, will continue to lend their support.
Westford needs to be a full partner for the rail trail. The trail is a
multi-town resource and every town it runs through needs to continue to
support it. If Westford does not decide to host parking for the rail
trail, that decision will negatively impact similar discussions in
other towns. The future of the BFRT in other towns has not been
completely decided, and we all owe it to ourselves and future
generations of trail users to make sure that the trail is accessible to
all and that every town does its part in supporting the trail.
Phase 2 of the BFRT would extend
the trail from the
current terminus at the intersection of Rt 225 and Rt 27 in Westford to
Route 2 in Acton.
At the 2006 Town Meeting Westford residents voted unanimously to
allocate up to $25,000 in Community Preservation Funds for the 25%
design of the Westford portion of BFRT Phase 2A. Similarly successful
votes in Carlisle and Acton allocated CPA funds for design work on the
trail in those towns. The Commonwealth has provided State Enhancement
funds for initial design work and, in July 2010, awarded an additional
$900,000 grant for funding the final design of Phases 2 A and C. Once
design work is completed, Phase 2 construction would be dependent on
federal and state funding. The State's Transportation Improvement Plan
(STIP) for 2021-2025 has included the BFRT. Inclusion in the STIP would
allow for federal funding to be allocated for the construction of Phase
2. This does not guarantee that federal dollars will be made available,
but
without being on the STIP no federal funding would be possible. This
means that at best construction of Phase 2 is over 10 years away.
Once the BFRT is extended southward, parking will be available in North
Acton Recreational Area (NARA) Park, adjacent to Route 27 about 2 miles
south of Westford. There is also a potential smaller parking area on
Route 2 owned by the Town of Acton 1,700 ft south of Rt 225.
Before the BFRT became a
reality; concerns were
expressed about property values, noise, traffic, litter and safety.
There have been several studies which have evaluated
home prices/sales as well as crime and privacy issues associated with
rail trails.
Excerpts from some of those
studies follow:
Home Sales Near Two
Massachusetts Trails
Craig Della Penna, Jan. 25, 2006.
Home sales were examined in the seven Massachusetts towns through which
the Minuteman Bikeway and Nashua River Rail Trail run. Statistics on
list and selling prices and on days on the market were analyzed. The
analysis shows that homes near these rail trails sold at 99.3% of the
list price as compared to 98.1% of the list price for other homes sold
in these towns. The most significant feature of home sales near rail
trails is that these homes sold in an average of 29.3 days as compared
to 50.4 days for other homes.
http://www.sudbury.ma.us/documents/dl/2470/HomeSalesNear2MARailTrails.pdf
Rail Trails and Safe
Communities, The Experience on 372
Trails
Tammy Trace &
Hugh Morris,
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, January 1998.
"As the data in this
report show, crime on
rail trails is minimal. This becomes all-the-more apparent when put in
perspective with risks associated with other activities. The way to
minimize crime on trails is to ensure that users exercise proper safety
precautions, keep the trail well maintained, and boost trail use. Crime
generally does not occur in places where there are lots of people and
few hiding places. Positive-looking places tend to encourage positive
behavior."
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/docs/rt_safecomm.pdf
The Impact of the Brush Creek
Trail on Property Values
and Crime
Michelle Miller Murphy, Senior
Project, Sonoma State
University, April 1992.
The purpose of this survey was to determine what effect, if any, a
bicycle/pedestrian trail has on property values and crime to adjacent
properties. This survey does not support claims that trails adjacent to
residences cause an increase in crime. Most of these crimes that can be
directly attributed to the Bush Creek Trail involved vandalism by
adolescents. Considering the trail has been open for 9 years, the
numbers and types of crime polled in this survey are minor in nature.
This survey finds that the Brush Creek Trail does not cause an increase
in crime.
http://www.brucefreemanrailtrail.org/pdf/brushcreek_final_sm.pdf
Evaluation of the
Burke-Gilman Trail's Effect
on Property Values and Crime
Seattle Engineering
Department, Office of
Planning, May 1987.
Homes immediately adjacent to
the trail did not
experience an increase in burglaries and vandalism as a result of the
trail. In the eight years the trail has been open, there has been an
average of two incidences of vandalism or break-ins per year where a
trail user was thought to be involved. This is well below the
neighborhood average, which would expect about five incidents per year,
given the number of homes along the trail. Police officers interviewed
stated that there was not a greater incidence of burglaries and
vandalism of homes along the trail.
http://www.brucefreemanrailtrail.org/pdf/Burke-Gilman.pdf
Three other studies conducted between 1979 and 1997 concluded that
rail-trails do not increase crime.
- Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources.
Living Along Trails: What People Expect and Find.
Saint Paul, MN, 1980.
- Moore, Roger L., et
al. The Impacts of
Rail-Trails: A Study of Users and Nearby Property Owners from Three
Trails. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1992.
- Schenectady County Department
of Planning. The
Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail: It’s Impact on Adjoining Residential
Properties. Schenectady, New York, 1997
As far as privacy issues are concerned:
- The vast majority of abutters
and neighborhood
residents use the trail so it would be hypocritical to complain about a
lack of privacy because of the rail trail but at the same time use the
trail.
- Mass Highway gave each direct
abutter the choice of
having the State fund and install shrubbery or a fence between their
property and the rail trail.
- The trail has been in
development for over 20
years. Construction of the trail should not have been a
surprise to abutters. They bought property next to a rail
corridor and should have kept that in mind when thinking about privacy.
The Chelmsford section of the
BFRT does run through
commercial areas which can offer public parking; however, that parking
is not without its problems. As one example, there is a big dispute
over parking along the rail trail in Ginger Ale Plaza where Bertucci's
and other businesses are located.
http://www.change.org/petitions/northern-bank-trust-company-remove-fencing-blocking-the-staircase-from-bruce-freeman-trail
The Byam School is another option, but BFRT parking it is not available
during school hours for 10 months of the year. Red Wing Farm in
Chelmsford has 3 spaces for parking (one of which is handicap only).
The Town of Westford is directing people to the parking at Hart Pond
despite objections by the Town of Chelmsford. There has been talk about
restricting that lot to Chelmsford residents only.
Parking in Chelmsford Center is not easy due to congestion and
reduction of available trail-adjacent spaces due to their Old Town Hall
renovation to a Center for the Arts.
While parking for the rail trail does exist in Chelmsford, there are
clear limitations to its ability to handle the need. The rail trail is
a regional transportation and recreational resource running through
several towns and the
Town of Westford should be a good neighbor and do its part to provide
access to the rail trail.
Many, if not all, residents of Westford have at one time or another
utilized a transportation or recreational resource in some other town.
In the majority of
those cases, they utilized a parking area of some kind. Undoubtedly the
construction and utilization of the parking area impacted the residents
of that town who lived next to the resource. If the Town
of Westford decided to not have parking next to
their resources
and other towns followed suit for their resources all of us
would
be disadvantaged and our opportunities for transportation and
recreation limited.
An electronic BFRT Parking
Survey was conducted over two
days in late August of 2011. 322 respondents completed the survey.
Respondents were asked several questions about parking and amenities
for the trail. Using a 5 point Likert scale respondents were asked to
rate the importance of each item. 69% percent indicated that parking
for the rail trail in Westford was moderately to very important to
them. For full survey results please click here.
The informal parking that existed at the trail terminus in Westford was
very popular as demonstrated by these two photos. In fact, the parking
situation was so popular that the town eventually had to close it due
to safety concerns.
Despite the no parking signs, the Westford police department have
issued as many as 3-4 no parking tickets a day after the no parking
signs were erected.
Closing this parking area resulted in increased use of side streets for
parking, impacted people's ability to utilize the Westford section of
the trail, and placed more load on Chelmsford parking.
Currently there are no formal
parking designs; however
it is safe to say that because of the lack of possible areas to put the
parking adjacent to the trail only one or two small lots would even be
at all feasible.
Parking supporters are looking for inexpensive, unpaved, unlit, parking
areas similar to what the town has adjacent to the vast majority of its
other recreational resources.
(Parking for Nashoba Brook off of Rt 225)
There is currently no support for paving the lot or having lights.
Many of the conceptual designs provided by the Town at the August 31,
2011 meeting on parking are no longer options after further research
was done. Two examples:
The lot on Landmark Rd cannot be used because the land is owned by the
Westford Conservation Trust and that organization has voted to not
allow it to be used for parking. Also there are no safe, ADA compliant,
ways to get people from Landmark Rd to the rail trail.
The original design (from the 1980s) for parking in Westford for the
rail trail showed a large lot in the land adjacent to the trail and
across the street from Ashley Place and Anne Teresa Way. Over half of
that parcel has been purchased by a private party and is no longer
available for parking.
The Town of Westford is
fortunate to have an abundance of recreational amenities ranging from
town beaches to hiking trails. These resources are utilized by a large
number of people from Westford and the surrounding communities. The map
below on the left shows parking areas for resources such as trails (red
dots) and other recreational amenities (blue dots). The map
on the right shows the zoning for the Town of Westford (areas in yellow
are residential zones unless otherwise noted). By looking at
these two maps it is clear that the vast majority of parking
areas for recreational resources are in residentially-zoned areas.
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| Click on images to enlarge the maps |
The care and maintenance of the
BFRT in Westford is
under the Parks and Rec Department. The Friends of the Bruce Freeman
Rail trail has established an effective network of rail trail stewards
who work with the Town to keep the trail clear of debris. The efforts
of the trail stewards and their dedication to their task are
impressive. As one example, after the Oct 2011 storm the trail was
largely impassable, but due to the efforts of these stewards the
Westford section of the trail was cleared of downed trees and limbs
very quickly. That same dedication and effort would be extended to the
maintenance of any parking area along the rail trail.
Survey and design funds for two
Westford parking designs
have been provided as part of the State contract for Phase 2A of the
rail trail.
Constructions costs for parking have yet to be determined, but groups
such as the Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail are committed to
assisting with any financial support necessary for parking efforts in
Westford.
Phase 2A has received full
funding for design work
however all indications are that funding for construction will not be a
possibility until at least 2021. Even if funding was provided in 2021,
the work would be awarded after a bid process and then construction
would take at least a year or two to complete. That means it could be
potentially 2023-2029 before we see completion of the next phase of the
trail.
At the August 2011 All Boards
Meeting on parking for the
rail trail in Westford, the Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
made the suggestion to extend the trail 1,700 feet into Acton and
create a parking area adjacent to the trail in an area zoned for
parking.
During the fall of 2011, Westford town staff investigated the option of
extending the trail into Acton. Working very quickly, the Town and the
Friends coordinated meetings between the three towns involved with the
extension of the trail (Acton, Carlisle, and Westford) as well design
agencies and the non-profit organization (Iron Horse Preservation
Society) which would build the trail.
As a result of that work, a grant request was submitted asking for
funds necessary for extending the trail. Unfortunately the grant
application was denied and further work on the idea was shelved due to
resource constraints.
Significant political and
financial efforts will need to
be made in order for the trail extension to proceed. First,
Mass Highway will need to provide access to the rail right of way and
relinquish the rails to the Iron Horse Preservation Society.
Second, approximately $165K would be necessary to create a safe
crossing at Rt 225, construct a parking area in Acton, obtain the
necessary permits, and purchase recycled asphalt for the trail surface.
A Westford Boy Scout has
proposed an Eagle Scout project
to construct a small rest area alongside the trail which would include
an informational kiosk, two benches and minor landscaping. The proposed
location for the park is on a parcel of land most frequently identified
as the "Vose Parcel" which currently is under the jurisdiction of the
Tax Possession Sales Committee (TPSC). This parcel is located near the
Westford trail terminus (see below picture).
An article to support the transfer of the Vose parcel from the TPSC to
the Westford Parks and Recreation Commission is on the warrant for the
Town Meeting in March. If that article is passed, the TPSC
will
have a vote to determine the final disposition of the parcel. If it is
conveyed to the Parks and Recreation Commission, they have stated that
they will hold public meetings to determine use of the parcel.
Westford's
Board of Selectmen have voted 5-0 to support the Article 16 which
requests the transfer. Westford's Park and Recreation Commission
will be amending Article 16 to include a no parking restriction at Town
Meeting.
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