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Lynnfield board advances Rail Trail with MBTA lease; easement for church delayed pending vestry review
Summary
The Select Board ratified an MBTA lease to advance the Rail Trail to bidding while pausing a separate vote on temporary easements at St. Paul’s Church until the vestry and diocesan review the proposal; an agreement was reached with residents at 130 Summer Street.
The Lynnfield Select Board voted unanimously June 8 to approve and execute a lease with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for the town’s rail bed corridor, a step Town Administrator Dolan described as necessary to move the Rail Trail project into an August bid cycle.
The adoption of the nine-month-finalized MBTA lease follows staff work to update easement documentation required by MassDOT by July 1. DPW Director John Scenna and Town Administrator Dolan told the board that an agreement has been reached with the homeowners at 130 Summer Street (the Campbells). Discussions remain underway with St. Paul’s Church at 127 Summer Street, where Reverend Rob Bacon and Senior Warden Kwame Ofori‑Asante requested a temporary delay so the church vestry can vote and the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts can review the proposed temporary easement and associated safety and fencing parameters.
The board agreed not to take the St. Paul’s easement up for a town-side vote immediately and instead to hold a brief remote Zoom meeting later in the month to approve the easements once the vestry has reviewed the parameters. Town staff said the July 1 MassDOT deadline is to keep the project on track for an August bid cycle; staff framed the MBTA lease ratification as essential to advancing the corridor toward construction bidding.
The board’s lease vote was moved by Vice Chair Richard Dalton and seconded by Member Joe Gallagher; the motion passed unanimously. No formal eminent-domain order was recorded at the meeting for the properties mentioned; town officials described the actions as temporary-easement negotiations required for project compliance with state timelines.
The next procedural step staff described is a short remote vote later in the month to finalize temporary-easement approvals after the church’s internal review is completed.
