SUDBURY — Town Meeting voters on Monday night approved using $650,000 of free cash to fund a complete design of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, paving the way for the next stage of the project.

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail is a 25-mile rail trail that runs between Lowell and Framingham, along the former Lowell Secondary Track right-of-way of the Old Colony Railroad. In Sudbury, the trail would run 4.4 miles from the Concord town line to Station Road. The project is to connect the north-south rail trail with the southern point of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, connecting Framingham with Lowell.

Construction of the Sudbury segment will cost roughly $7 million, but state and federal transportation agencies are expected to foot the bill.

"It's no longer a dream. It's now at our doorstep in Concord," said Selectman Len Simon, who submitted the article as a citizens petition.

The project is currently in its 25 percent design phase. The next steps are 75 and 100 percent design phases, as required by the state. Simon's petition asked that the town fund these next two steps together to complete the design process.

In a presentation, Simon said the rail trail has broad support and has been supported at Town Meeting over the years. If the article did not pass, he said the town stood to lose its place for construction in 2022 as part of the Transportation Improvement Program.

Bryan Semple, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said the town has around $1.3 million in free cash for the town to use at the Monday night meeting. Free cash is unspent money left over at the end of a fiscal year and comes from unexpected revenues or from unspent amounts in budget line items. He cautioned voters to think of other items the town may need to purchase at the May Town Meeting.

Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Carty and Susan Berry, chairwoman of the Budget Strategies Task Force, made a motion to amend the article, asking that the town instead use $100,000 of free cash to design the 75 percent phase of Sudbury's portion of the rail trail and fund the complete process in the future.

"It's really going to cut our available free cash in half going into Spring Town Meeting...we feel it's fiscally irresponsible to use all this free cash now," said Carty.

The amendment failed to receive enough support and the motion died. Voters then discussed the topic, with some urging the town to take the step towards completing the project and others concerned with using free cash to fund the design.

Richard Williamson, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, spoke in favor of the article, saying completion of the project has taken too many years.

"The question was asked: 'Will you see a rail trail in your lifetime?'," said Williamson. "I really don't know if I can answer that question."

Voter Dan DePompei spoke against the article, saying the town may need to spend more money in the future.

"It's not apparent that the money we say is the last money we will spend -- the $650,000 for design completion -- include mitigation costs we are responsible for to replicate for loss of wetland values and functions," said DePompei.

After a lengthy discussion, Simon's petition passed with the required majority votes.

Town Meeting also overwhelmingly passed another citizens petition, submitted by Bill Schineller. That measure asked that the town petition the state Department of Revenue for flexibility to decide each year whether to tax above-ground utility wires at a different rate than other commercial property. The aim is to encourage utilities to bury existing wires and put any new lines underground.

The nonbinding article does not change any tax rates but would establish the flexibility to do so.

"Downed overhead wires are the primary cause of power outages...Sudbury took one small step last night towards demanding accounting for the real costs that fragile, ugly overhead infrastructure imposes on communities in hopes of one day having reliable service and restoring the visual landscape of Massachusetts," said Schineller in a statement to the Daily News.

Schineller is a Sudbury resident, director of the nonprofit Protect Sudbury, and a participant in the ISO-New England Consumer Liaison Group.

The successful vote comes as Sudbury awaits the Energy Facilities Siting Board's decision to approve Eversource's proposal to build a 9-mile long voltage transmission line buried under the inactive Mass Central Railroad right of way between Sudbury and Hudson. Neighbors and town officials say the project will harm the environment and hurt property values.

This article has been edited to clarify the amendment suggested at Town Meeting.

Zane Razzaq can be reached at 508-626-3919 or zrazzaq@wickedlocal.com and on Twitter at @zanerazz.