The Marion Conservation Commission on December 14 gave the green light to the Marion portion of the bike path, giving preliminary approval by accepting the wetlands delineation lines.
The bike path, which will traverse the Mattapoisett town line, across Route 105, over to Washburn Park and up to Point Road still has a winding path ahead of it, but with this first task now checked off the list, further progress can now ensue.
John Rockwell, chairman of the Marion Pathway Committee, wrapped up his site visit with the commission that took place over the course of the prior weekend, where Rockwell and some commission members walked the areas from the Washburn Park to Route 105 on Saturday, then Route 105 to Mattapoisett on Sunday.
“There’s a lot of wetlands,” said commission member Norm Hills, adding that only the right of way was flagged in some areas while there were still some wetlands inside the area. “There’s plenty of wetlands there, that’s the bottom line.”
Regarding two particular places where stormwater runoff cuts through the path to reach the lower-lying wetlands, Hills said, “This will have to be addressed as part of the effort when they do the work.”
Hills suggested a culvert of some sort.
“There’s a whole drainage problem,” said Rockwell, “So that will be fixed, and we found the two spots.”
Hills said there are no problems with the wetlands lines, per se, but the problem comes when the workers start within those two problem spots.
Rockwell said that once the project reaches the 25 percent progress benchmark with the state agencies, there would be a public meeting for abutters and neighbors to join the conversation.
Owner of some abutting property near Point Road, Sherman Briggs, said his only concern was a line of trees he wanted to stay put.
“It took 40-something years in order to grow those trees and block the highway so it’s kind of a concern of mine,” Briggs said.
The commission closed the hearing and approved the wetlands lines as presented.
The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for January 11 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry