By Elizabeth Dobbins

edobbins@sentinel andenterprise.com

FITCHBURG — City councilors approved the purchase of 3.8 miles of abandoned railroad paths Tuesday night, moving the city one step closer to making the long-discussed Twin Cities Rail Track a reality.

The $16.5 million project proposes the construction of a walking and biking path that would connect the downtowns of Leominster and Fitchburg, according to Kurt Gaertner, director of sustainable development at the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, one of the project’s partners.

“It brings recreational opportunity, hike, bike, cross-country ski — whatever you want to do on that corridor,” Gaertner said. “It brings recreation and the health benefits that goes with it. Also, it brings economic-development benefits. You’d be surprised how much people biking, walking on the corridor spend on businesses adjacent to the corridor.”

Fitchburg purchased the abandoned rail path from CSX Transportation for $87,099, money that had previously been allocated by the city through the Community Block Grant Development program.

The remaining purchase, planning and construction costs will be covered by a combination of federal and state support from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the state Department of Transportation and an earmark established by former U.S. Rep. John Olver.

Though the rail trail was proposed for 4.2 miles, the recently purchased segment is only 3.8 miles, stopping short of both downtown Leominster and Fitchburg Center. The 3.8-mile stretch starts at 3rd and Railroad streets in Fitchburg, and ends 187 feet south of Mill Street in Leominster.

Larry Casassa, Fitchburg’s director of community development, said the project’s partners are in negotiations to obtain the remaining portion of the railway path in Fitchburg from the MBTA.

The portion of the tracks in Leominster that were not included in the purchase are owned by CSX Transportation and have not been officially abandoned, though the company agreed to begin the procedure to abandon the track if the rail-trail project moved forward, Casassa said.

Public hearings on the project’s design are scheduled to be hosted next spring and summer. Construction is expected to begin on the project in spring 2019 and take two years, Gaertner said.

The Twin Cities Trail Association, the group that has promoted the construction of the trail for 15 years, will be responsible for maintaining the project after completion.

Maintenance on the trail will be funded by the $11,000 the city expects to receive annually from pre-existing leases on the land. The Romolo Testarmata Trust has also been set up as an endowment to fund maintenance of the trail.

Gaertner said concerns about the trail’s potential to decrease home values or provide an area for illegal activity are unfounded. Similar projects in the sate, such as the Minuteman Bikeway in the Greater Boston area, increased home values by as much as 5 percent, he said.

He said a similar bike path in Salem did not increase the amount of “undesirable activity,” but instead drew families to the area.

“It turned out to be a very positive experiment in the city of Salem, and you would expect the same here,” he said.

The nine councilors present for the vote Tuesday night unanimously supported the acquisition. Several people in the audience from both Leominster and Fitchburg also spoke in favor of the path, including Fitchburg Director of Economic Development Mary Jo Bohart.

“From a commerce perspective, it will be a really great opportunity,” she said. “This type of rail-trail amenity really becomes a reason a person wants to reside somewhere.”