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CPC review finds Stapleton stairway sits partly on private land; funding held pending legal clarity
Summary
A Horsley Witten survey presented to the Framingham Community Preservation Committee found portions of the Carol Getchell stairway and path fall on private lots and cemetery land. Committee members and conservation trustees urged the city solicitor work to secure recorded easements before design or construction funds are released.
The Framingham City Community Preservation Committee on Jan. 13 heard that a professional survey of the Carol Getchell stairway shows parts of the walkway and timber stairs sit on two private abutting parcels and on land controlled by the Edwards Cemetery, complicating eligibility for Community Preservation Act funds.
Dan, a Horsley Witten representative, told the committee the firm had been hired to create a topographic and property-line survey. "We found that, where we believed there was an easement, there was not actually" a legally recorded easement, he said, adding that the walkway as located on the ground now "is on these 2 abutters' properties." He also noted the route crosses land near Edwards Congregational Church and the cemetery.
The finding matters because Community Preservation Committee (CPC) rules require that projects backed with CPC funds take place on land under appropriate municipal custody or documented easement. "You are the…
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