Neighbors divided over proposed bike path

Back then, a small train rattled down the tracks toward the Grossman's home repair center every few weeks. Now, the state has plans to build a bike path over the former rail bed that would follow the same route across the Charles River from Newton's Lower Falls to Wellesley.

But with Wellesley residents supporting the 1.1-mile path, and some Newton neighbors rallying against it, the planned connection between the two tony suburbs is, perhaps predictably, proving divisive.

"These are people who would do anything for each other," said Amy Sangiolo, a Newton alderman for the neighborhood. "This issue has really torn people apart."

Supporters of the proposed path, a 10-foot-wide paved route from the Riverside train station to the Grossman's property on Washington Street in Wellesley, say it would liberate a neighborhood walled-off by highways and busy roads and give residents a safe and scenic route to shops, restaurants, and wooded trails.

"We're this little gated community, and some people worry about the people who would come in," if the path is built, said Kay Khan, a state representative from Newton who has lived beside the rail bed for almost 39 years. "But I feel it's a chance to make connections to outside areas that we're cut off from."

Yet opponents said the path would drive a wedge through the heart of a quiet, close-knit Newton neighborhood that likes its privacy, and feels besieged by nearby traffic and development. The neighborhood, already used as a cut-through from the Mass. Pike to Route 16, will again be tapped as a thruway, they said.

"It would bisect the community," said Scott Lanciloti, a Lower Falls resident, noting that residents already have walking access to the path's destinations in Wellesley and Newton. "All of a sudden you would turn an area where no one goes into a major thoroughfare."

Lanciloti and other neighbors criticize Khan for her support for the project, which, they say, constitutes a conflict-of-interest because it could increase the value of her property. Khan rejects the idea, and says she supports the project because she believes it is good for the community.

Supporters and opponents alike acknowledge that Lower Falls is cut off from other parts of town by a confluence of major roads, including routes 16 and 128. But while the bike path might help ease that isolation, it would divide neighbors from each other, opponents say.

Abutters to the rail bed, whose backyards now meet, say they will find themselves separated by tall fences built to shield bikers and pedestrians. Some have already sued to halt the plan, claiming the rail bed, after years of neglect, now rightfully belongs to them.

Those on both sides of the issue agree the rail bed has, over the years, essentially become an extension of their backyards, and a convenient dumping ground for leaves and compost.

Lanciloti and other neighbors criticize the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the state agency that is promoting the path as part of a statewide rail-trail campaign, for failing to consider alternatives to the path that avoid residential areas. Most abutters say they are opposed to the location, not the idea itself, saying a route along the Charles would be a better option.

"It's not that the neighborhood is against a bike path," Lanciloti said. "It's that we're against it where it's being proposed. And we feel like we're being told what's going to happen."

State officials say that plans for a path are in the preliminary stages and that they will listen to neighbors' concerns at public meetings in the coming weeks. The immediate plans are to repair the bridge, potentially as soon as this fall, as part of a $3 billion state overhaul of aging spans. The $800,000 project includes building a short path on the Wellesley side, said Anne Roach, a DCR spokeswoman.

In response to the neighbors' lawsuit, the agency counters that the state never lost ownership of the easement. Supporters say they are confident state officials are committed to the project and will not be deterred by some local opposition.

Regardless of their opinion on the bike path, most neighbors appear to support the bridge project, though some worry it would pave the way for the trail's approval, calling it "the camel's nose in the tent."

Wellesley officials and residents support the trail, which would not run through residential areas in that town. The town is working with National Development, the Newton firm that plans to build a commercial building and apartment complex at the Grossman's property, to build a short path along the river that would connect to the bike path. Some neighbors have sued to stop the complex, but after years of fighting a Stop & Shop supermarket proposed for the Grossman's property, Wellesley officials support the current development.

"The town is very supportive," said Meghan Jop, Wellesley's planning director. "This would provide great access to the river, and would be a great amenity."

Citing the Minuteman Bikeway, a popular rail trail that met years of staunch resistance before approval, Jop predicted that Newton residents would have a similar change of heart.

Alison Leary Mooradian, a member of the Newton Conservators, which backs the bike-trail plan, said it is ironic that a neighborhood so boxed in by large roads now views an escape route as another disruptive roadway.

"It's not people that are the problem, it's the cars," she said. "We have prostrated ourselves to the car, and that has to change."

Supporters of the plan accuse abutters of NIMBYism, a charge that has angered opponents who say they are good neighbors with legitimate concerns. They detect a different irony - that a pathway billed as a unifying force has divided a neighborhood even before blueprints are drawn up.

"That's the saddest thing about this," said Jeff Armstrong, a Newton resident who opposes the plan. "This has been very divisive."