Rail Trail Included in Field Committee's Recommendations

Members of the Field Study Committee are expected to go before Lynnfield selectmen Monday night to discuss their recommendations for town recreation spaces.

The committee came together more than a year ago to work on what was then envisioned as a mutli-use recreation fields complex near Sagamore Spring Golf Course. After the land turned out to be unsuitable, attention shifted toward the various fields that already exist in town and its various schools and parks. Along with the way, community members, including the town sports organizations, were surveyed on what they would like to see as well.

According to the committee’s report, “the largest perceived recreational need throughout the town is for additional multi-purpose trails for walking, biking, running, hiking and fitness.” In recent months, much of the attention in this area has been focused on a proposed rail trail that would run from downtown Wakefield through Reedy Meadow in Lynnfield and into Peabody. The field committee members recommended the continued development of this project. However, they add that if the full trail cannot be completed due to financial or environmental concerns, a rail trail should be completed that connects the middle school with the high school. This would actually result in as much as six miles of a loop trail when considering other trails that would apparently be built in the vicinity of both schools.

The committee didn’t just focus on the rail trail proposal. They also suggest additional funding for the conservation commission to improve existing conservation areas – including parking, trail marking and maintenance – at Partridge Island Trail, Kallenberg Quarries (Bow Ridge Reservation), Bennett Kennan Conservation Area, Beaver Dam Brook, and Pine Hill. Another proposal is to consider a parcel of land on Main Street owned by Lynnfield Central Water District as a site for future passive recreational use. Looking ahead, one idea could even involve having inmates at the Essex County House of Correction work on trail maintenance and creation in some places, noted the report.

“None of these areas are easy to use and the parking these beautiful natural reas is grossly insufficient,” states the report.