ContributorAt the Community Path Planning Committee (CPPC) Public Hearing on March 7, Select Board Chair Roy Epstein mentioned there was no money budgeted for lights, plowing or salting of the path. He did not mention that, also for budgetary reasons, the town has decided not to install trash bins on the path, although it is estimated that 1,000 people will use it daily. When my wife asked if the town expected abutters to pick up the trash to avoid breeding rats, a town official responded, “Good point,” and walked away.
Not mentioned is that the MBTA sprays a herbicide cocktail along the tracks twice a year. We found out because our new plantings near the back fence, about 50 feet from the tracks, were killed several times. Young trees between us and the tracks are sickly with twisted leaves, and many die. My wife warned the CPPC that the planned landscaping would be killed by the herbicide yet the town still plans what will be an ephemeral landscape where mature trees are now.
Also not mentioned is that there is an MBTA safety requirement for chain link fence panels along the tracks. Its purpose is to separate people wandering into the tracks and to block metal pieces and other debris that come off the train at times. The panels require fairly frequent replacement because they are damaged during track maintenance. Panel replacement will be the town’s responsibility and I ask: will there be a budget for that?
The reality of herbicide use, coupled with a lack of trash bins, means we will be left with railroad tracks, a 6’ chain link fence, an asphalt strip, trash, rats, and bare ground. Thank you, Belmont.
Darin Takemoto. Channing Road
