Inaugural Meeting

Bay Colony Rail Trail

Inaugural Meeting

July 23, 2009 

Greetings everyone, and thank you for joining us here today. This meeting marks the beginning of a long journey that, hopefully, will result in a beautiful multi-use recreational trail through Medfield , Dover and Needham and perhaps beyond into Newton.

The Needham-Medfield corridor is an almost seven mile stretch that crosses only seven roads, and traverses town conservation land for over 70% of the distance.

There is another unused rail corridor that runs from Needham Heights, across Rt. 95 to Winchester Street in Newton. A group from Newton and Needham are examining this stretch as a potential Green Line extension, recreational path, or both.

Our objective for today's meeting is to bring together a diverse set of officials, experts and supporters and begin to build a common understanding of the opportunity and the initial steps required to fulfill that vision.

Specifically, we're looking to the following stakeholders:

• Town officials from the three towns, who can help navigate and coordinate communications with town governments and agencies.
• such as DCR, TTOR and MAPC, who can help provide guidance on research, regulations, funding sources and stewardship.
• Experts in rail trails who can provide wisdom on the steps required and the pitfalls to avoid. Special thanks to Craig Della Penna for traveling all the way from Northampton to provide his guidance and support.
• Private citizens interested in making the vision a reality by contributing time and resources. We will be collecting names and email addresses

The agenda for today's meeting is as follows:

• Welcome and introductory comments - Tom Connors (5 minutes)
• Walking tour of the tracks to the Charles River (15 minutes)
• Overview of Rail Trail Conversions - Craig Della Penna (20 minutes)
• Open discussion
• Wrap-up and discussion of next steps - Tom Connors

Again, thank you for your time and interest today. To stay involved in the project, please go to www.baycolonyrailtrail.org where you can add your name to our mailing list and participate in online discussions relevant to your town and area of interest.

Here's to a successful rail trail project!

Tom Connors
Christian Donner
Tad Staley