ANDOVER — The town is defending its proposed Haggetts Pond rail trail project, saying a citizen’s group isn’t justified in its efforts to stop it.
Town lawyer Douglas Heim filed the town’s response on March 14 to a notice from a citizen’s group three weeks earlier outlining its intent to sue the town over the paved trail project in order to “prevent irreparable” environmental harm.
The notice cited Article 97, enacted in 1972 as “An Act Preserving Open Space in the Commonwealth.” The act establishes a citizen’s right to a clean environment including its natural and scenic qualities. The act codified conserving natural resources and open space.
The town argues the Haggetts Pond Rail Trail has been used consistently since it was acquired by the town and long before Article 97 came into being.
The claim that changing the surface of the trail changes the purpose of the property is “a dangerous interpretation for outdoor enthusiasts and accessibility advocates alike,” Heim said in his response letter.
The proposed project looks to redevelop a former railbed that encircles the pond with asphalt instead dirt, in part to facilitate its use by people in wheelchairs.
The 1.6-mile, 8-feet-wide, paved trail would be handicapped-accessible, along with a new boardwalk and planned accessible parking lots. The Conservation Commission approved the project in October.
Opponents of the paved trail have advocated for a crushed-stone path instead of asphalt.
The Citizen’s Group argued the proposed, accessible asphalt trail would change the purpose of the pond and surrounding property’s designated use of protecting public water supply and not comply with Massachusetts environmental laws including Article 97.
Heim stated the proposed improvement project doesn’t warrant a change of use under Article 97. Haggetts Pond has historically been used for passive recreation, like horseback riding and picnicking, and as a trail long before the article was enacted, and is still used for that purpose, Heim cited.
Additionally, he referenced how members of both the Citizen’s Group and Friends of Haggetts Pond have publicly acknowledged that Haggetts Pond has long been used for passive recreation, including a trail.
“Yet the notice transmitted suggests they (Citizen’s Group and Friends of Haggetts Pond) would now prefer the trail be closed for these public uses (rather) than improved as proposed by the project,” Heim said.
If anything, Heim wrote, Article 97 protects “the well documented and regulated passive recreation uses rather than prohibits them.”
“It would protect the very uses the Citizen’s Group now seeks to declare unlawful because they do not like the change in the surface material of the trail,” Heim said in the response.
The Citizen’s Group, he wrote, described the trail as being constructed on an unimproved former railroad bed, suggesting a trail is being created, which is false. The project will resurface an existing trail on site, modifying it, not create a new one, Heim noted in the letter. The trail already has kiosks, gates, signage and benches along the way and he said the Citizen’s Group knows the Haggetts Pond trail is “already a rail trail.”
Haggetts Pond has been used for recreation since the 1800s and used for this purpose after the pond became the town’s water supply in 1889, Heim outlined in the response. He cited how Haggetts Pond and its associated town property were included in Andover’s Open Space and Recreation Plan in 1970 followed by the updated plan in 1976.
The letter also outlined the town’s consistent treatment of the area under the Watershed Protection Overlay District Bylaw established at the 1986 Town Meeting. The bylaw permits outdoor recreation and foot, bicycle and horse paths.
Residents attempted to change the bylaw by petition at a Special Town Meeting in March 2024. Heim said residents opposed to the paved trail, including ones attached to the notice to sue, had stated their support for a rail trail project, but wanted to amend the bylaw to prevent the paving portion of it.
The town is prepared to produce affidavits and testimony from residents who “will testify to the consistent use of the rail trail as well as side trails and offshoots,” for various passive recreation activities, according to the letter.
Heim indicated even opponents of the rail trail and members of the Friends of Haggetts Pond have provided testimony at Town Meeting and Conservation Commission hearings about the different recreational uses along the Haggetts Pond trail.
The town received $500,000 in a grant from the MassTrails grant program for the project, which will expire on June 30. If the project is delayed because of legal action, the town may lose the funding for something designed to help residents with mobility issues and improve the trail and environmental conditions, Heim said in the letter.
“The town will pursue whatever recourse possible to prevent or mitigate such a loss,” he said.