As the proposed Twin Cities Rail Trail between downtown Fitchburg and downtown Leominster moves from the design phase toward construction, a couple of points of view have opened up about the project.

One group sees it as a welcome — and necessary — transportation route for bicyclists and walkers, as well as a way to make a 4 1/2-mile-long stretch of abandoned land usable and safe again.

“More people are going to be bicycling, whether you want to hear it or not,” Leominster School Committee member Ronald Houle told Leominster city councilors at a July 22 information session. “It's extremely important. I can't overemphasize it ... We need a bike trail. It's as simple as that.”

On the other hand, property owners along the 4.7-mile route are worried about the impact the project could have on their homes or businesses — an impact some of them claimed has not been fully explained.

“In my opinion, this is the most negative, anti-business, anti-homeowner, anti-resident transportation project in this region,” former state Rep. Dennis Rosa of Leominster told Fitchburg city councilors at their July 16 meeting. “ ... This is not going to be a positive thing. It’s not going to be positive economic development. It’s going to be very, very negative.”

In the works for nearly two decades, the Twin Cities Rail Trail reached a milestone in late April with the completion of design plans. According to the state Department of Transportation, the first phase — running from Carter Park in Leominster to 1st Street in Fitchburg — will go out to bid Sept. 14, with work scheduled to start in spring 2020 and take two years to complete.

The timetable could be impacted by the proposed redesign of North Main Street (Route 12) from Washington Street to Hamilton Street/Lindell Avenue, since the rail trail will run through the area. The redesign will be funded in the Montachusett Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2021 Transportation Improvement Program.

Meanwhile, property owners along Phase 1 of the rail trail project have received letters from the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster seeking permission to use part of their land for the trail, whether it is temporarily during construction or permanently.

For some owners, the land in question was owned by the CSX railroad company until the cities bought the railroad bed that will be used for Phase 1 in 2017. However, the landowners did not have an agreement with CSX or the cities to use the land. According to Lee Smith with the City of Leominster’s law firm, KP Law, that is considered an encroachment that must be removed under federal law, since federal money is helping fund the project.

Dino DiPlacido, one of the owners of Route 2 Hyundai in Leominster, said that land behind his dealership that falls under the encroachment guidelines is used for parking cars and his building’s rear entrance.

He told Leominster city councilors July 22 that without an arrangement to continue using that land, “I’m going to lose 30 percent of inventory. And I’ve got 45 employees. They all live in these communities. I’m going to have to get rid of them, at least 30 percent of them, with this change.”

“If that land or somebody has an agreement with the railroad, then they should come forward with that agreement so that we can see that,” said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella. “And some people have, and we've addressed that. We've spent a lot of time on the legal end addressing those things ... but if somebody doesn't own a particular piece of property, I can't help them if they don't own the piece of property.”

“This abandoned land around [the] Route 12 corridor has been sold, bought and built on for approximately 30 years. Anybody that lives here knows that,” Leominster resident Mary Jean, representing American Auto Body and Sunroof Sound and Design on Moore Street, said to Leominster councilors on July 22. “To suddenly declare all these businesses and homes have encroachments that are 30 feet away from the Twin City Rail Trail was not honest.”

Specifically, Jean claimed, the project would use not just the 12 feet that will be paved for cycling, walking and other uses, but also up to an additional 73 feet.

“No one knew we were clearing 85 feet of land,” Jean said. “If we were doing that, just tell the people. Be up front. Say ‘Hey, this is what our intention [is].’ It was never told. It was a huge understanding to us when we found out.”

In a question-and-answer sheet emailed to supporters on Friday, July 26, the Twin Cities Rail Trail Committee stated, “The paved portion of the trail is 12 feet wide. The total width of the right of way varies from 31 feet in the area around Water Tower Plaza in Leominster to 82.5 feet.”

Fitchburg City Councilor Amy Green said at her board’s meeting some of the additional land would be used for clearing brush, debris, overgrowth, trash and other items that encroach on the 12-foot trail path.

Fitchburg City Councilor Anthony Zarella told councilors in Leominster on July 22 that both the purchase of the land from CSX and the federal funding for the rail trail project are “a done deal. And that means that unless either city intends to pay back that grant money the removal of the encroachments is a done deal, regardless of whether the rail trail goes forward or not. There is no option there.”

Leominster councilors are being asked to spend $83,100 from the city’s Highway Capital Outlay Expense Account, on top of what they previously approved, to compensate landowners for the temporary (in 24 cases) and permanent (in seven additional cases) use of their land for the Twin Cities Rail Trail. A vote on the easements is scheduled for Aug. 26, according to Leominster Economic Development Coordinator Nikki Peters.

In Fitchburg, councilors unanimously voted July 16 to spend $75,800 from the city’s Community Development Expenses, Land Purchase account for a permanent easement at Fitchburg Green Apartments on Middle Street and temporary easements on Water Street, Duck Mill Road and at Fitchburg Green Apartments.

Phase 2 of rail trail construction will go from 1st Street to the Intermodal Transportation Center in downtown Fitchburg, and from Carter Park to Mechanic Street in downtown Leominster. Additional time is needed to design Fitchburg’s portion of Phase 2, while Leominster needs to secure funding and a purchase agreement with CSX for the land for its portion.

Supporters of the Twin Cities Rail Trail also spoke at the two recent City Council meetings, including Leominster’s Carrie Noseworthy.

“I am thrilled that anybody would come and bring us all of this money, all of this opportunity, and create something in our community that will actually encourage people to come and buy homes here,” she said to Leominster councilors. “Instead of worrying what might be worse, I think it’s better to have well-lit areas, paved areas. Drug dealers aren’t going to stand on a paved area and in a well-lit area, but right now from what I understand with all the brush and the woods there’s seedy stuff happening behind people’s homes.”