Rail Trail Committee Reserves Up to $15,000 for Benches, Racks, and Signs

WESTON — January 22, 2018 — Weston's Rail Trail Advisory Committee voted to set aside up to $15,000 within a $200,000 Community Preservation Committee funding request to cover benches, bike racks, and wayfinding signage along the planned rail trail. The allocation came after a Recreation Commission priority list endorsed those amenities, and follows the committee's signing of a contract with design consultant Niche, whose staff walked the corridor with DPW's Tom Cullen earlier the same day. Niche identified the North Spur near Concord Road and the trail at Concord Road as the most likely sites for significant parking, and discussed a potential reconfiguration of the Conant Road crossing to eliminate its dangerous angled geometry. Two neighborhood meetings — roughly five abutters on Concord Road and 16 residents on Warren Avenue — produced a written proposal capping North Spur parking at 14 spaces and raised concerns about narrow-street overflow that the committee said will require wetlands review. Niche returns February 12 with full parking options; the committee is targeting a late-March CPC presentation.