Bob Espindola, president of the South Coast Bikeway Alliance and the Southeastern Regional Economic Development District, appeared before the Marion Select Board on March 2 looking to establish the most-feasible route for the shared-use path through Marion.
“If other towns endorse the same route, we’ll be in a much better position to secure funding,” he said.
Jackie Jones, the district’s principal transportation planner, said SRPEDD is endorsing a different route from the past, noting that several projects are currently under development along Route 6 incorporating bikeways. Choosing Route 6 over County Road became more feasible, she said, due to the latter’s difficult route through Wareham and its ineligibility for TIF funding (the town would have to pay for design and engineering.)
Select Board member John Waterman said that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is looking at resurfacing Route 6 from Point Road to the Weweantic River.
While Jones said that the DOT is in strong support of the bikeway, Waterman is concerned with the timeframe given the construction activity planned on that stretch over the next couple of years. Projects potentially include two residential developments and a new watermain.
Jennifer Francis, chair of the Transportation & Circulation Task Force, said the plan puts the bike path on the village side of Route 6 and said it would make sense to keep it on that side.
John Rockwell, who chairs both the town’s Open Space Acquisition Commission and the Pathways Committee and said he has been working on bike-path issues since 1994, told the meeting that he supports a bike lane on Route 6 but that the town is mistaken to assume that connection would negate expenses.
Rockwell stated that the bike-path connection from Point Road to Route 6 is not on DOT property. “To say it won’t cost the town any money is not correct,” he said. “I do think we have to do a connection to Wareham on Route 6 … but I don’t want to confuse that with a Class 1 facility from Marion to Wareham.”
In highlighting the differences between three classes, Rockwell described Class 1 as a separate path, Class 2 as a 4-foot bike lane along streets that he says “makes cars go faster,” results in a “higher fatality rate” and offers “no pedestrian way – might as well put in a separate path,” and Class 3 as the least-safe scenario, biking on the street.
Wareham selectman Alan Slavin, sitting in on the meeting, said the connection to Wareham, “if not on Route 6 might be a path to nowhere.”
While Waterman said, “Even if we don’t do the County Road connection, it makes sense to do Route 6,” Rockwell called the presentation a misrepresentation of costs.
“None of us are the Mass. DOT designers … it would be premature to say that this is not going to work. … How we get there, we’re not deciding that tonight,” said Select Board Chairman Norm Hills.
Select Board member Randy Parker said he has no issues with the proposed Route 6 connection.
A frustrated Rockwell asked, “Should I not finish?” He said the Select Board is the decision maker and that he doesn’t care what SRPEDD thinks.
“We’re only being asked one question tonight: Do we support having Mass. DOT putting a bike path on Route 6 … DOT-funded … I want to see a bike path in my lifetime,” said Waterman.
Jones clarified that the South Coast Bikeway Alliance is the entity that was seeking the Select Board’s support.
In his Town Administrator’s report, Jay McGrail told the Select Board that once the FY23 budget work is wrapped up with the Finance Committee, its recommendations will be made and then McGrail can put together the draft warrant for the May 9 Town Meeting.
Waterman stressed that the town needs to enforce committee attendance.
McGrail was happy to report that Marion was recently rerated by S&P with a favorable result. He said he, Finance Director Judy Mooney, the town treasurer, collector and financial advisor fielded “a million questions” and produced “a ton of documentation … It felt like a job interview,” said McGrail. In the end, Marion was assigned a “1-plus” for short-term rating and a “AAA” for long-term borrowing. The report, said McGrail, concluded that Marion presents “a strong financial team.”
The board voted to grant the Elizabeth Taber Library a one-day liquor license for an event the library will host on April 29 at the Music Hall, pending proof of insurance to the state ABCC.
The board voted to approve Water/Sewer commitments of $1,948.99 (final readings on February 14) and new water service for $1,538.00 (February 16) and $4,531.00 (February 18.)
The board held a special, in-person meeting with Hills and Parker present at the Town House on Tuesday morning to vote on and sign the renewal of $8,006,287 in bonds for ongoing projects including: the first and lagoon projects, the recently completed $2,700,000 lagoon liner project, Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and water mains on County Road and Mill Street.
The bonds, payable from March 16, 2022 to March 16, 2023 come with an $82,000 premium (.97133 percent.) The vote also authorized the town treasurer to enact and update notes.
The next meeting of the Marion Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, at 6:00 pm.
Marion Select Board
By Mick Colageo