Saugus board OKs lease agreement for bike trail

SAUGUS – The Saugus Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to sign a lease agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and the non-profit group Bike to the Sea to turn 2.4 miles of abandoned railways into a bike trail.Bike to the Sea is a non-profit group that has been working for close to 20 years to build a nine-mile bike trail stretching from Everett to Lynn using old MBTA lines.Town Meeting member and Saugus Police Lt. Anthony Lopresti and School Street resident Bill Brown spoke out against the project, citing privacy issues for abutters and increased crime on the path. Resident Laura Toomey along with Joan LeBlanc and Dick Lynch of the Saugus River Watershed Council spoke in favor.?I?d like to see it cleaned up,” said Brown. “But I know it will just make matters worse. It only makes it more accessible to the wrong kind of people.”In the end, however, the board all threw their support behind the project.?I understand some abutters won?t like it, but I have to look at the big picture here,” said selectman Michael Serino. “There is a small risk and some small opposition, but the greater benefit of the community I think outweighs any opposition to this. That?s why I support this.”After the meeting, Bike to the Sea founder Steve Winslow said he felt “fantastic” after so many years of work on the project, and urged the city of Lynn to do the same “due diligence as Saugus.”?I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the selectmen,” said Winslow. “I think they made a very thoughtful and wise decision.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].