School Committee approves plan for walking trails on Robinson Farms property in Marblehead

MARBLEHEAD-The School Committee has approved a Marblehead Conservancy plan for walking trails in the 3-acre Robinson Farms property, which abuts the Marblehead Village School.The Conservation Commission approved the plan last month. School Committee approval was the last hurdle the Conservancy Trail Committee needed to pass to qualify for a $4,000 grant, which will help defray the cost of the project. Village School Principal Donald LeClerc favors the project.Don Morgan, who chairs the Trail Committee, told the committee, “We feel the proposed plan is earth friendly and disturbs the area minimally.”He added that School Committee approval carried the understanding that the site can be used as conservation land “until the School Department has another use for it.”That day may be a long time coming, however. The site contains several wetland areas, making construction unlikely.School Committee member Patricia Blackmer said it did not appear that the site could be used to expand any Village School athletic fields, and committee Vice Chair Rob Dana assured Morgan, “We will not be developing that.”Morgan said farm property neighbors were contacted by postcard and only two called him to discuss the plan.Existing trails from Byors Road and the vicinity of Abbot Court to the school property have been used as traditional shortcuts to and from the school. There is also a trail connecting those two paths. The plan improves those trails and adds four more, including a trail from Henry?s Way, which leads to Jersey Street, and a looping trail on the upper portion of the property.The volunteers want to remove three telephone poles from the property, along with the footings for a former dairy barn, and install a drainage pipe to make a walkable gully.They also want to remove some so-called invasive plants and replace them with native trees and shrubs.