Marion's Planning Board members are attempting to move forward with making more of the town's streets pedestrian-friendly.

Planning Board member Jennifer Francis and Town Planner Gil Hilario met with the Board of Selectmen on January 16 to seek approval from the board to move forward with the Complete Streets program.

Complete Streets is a state program that helps municipalities pay for improvements to local (not state) roads, Francis explained.

The Planning Board has proposed the Complete Streets program as part of the town's new Master Plan, which states the need for additional streets and roadways to be pedestrian (and bicycle) friendly.

Several public officials, including Marion's Public Health Nurse Kathy Downey, have spoken at previous Planning Board meetings on the importance of having "complete streets."

Now, the Planning Board needs the approval of the Board of Selectmen to officially submit a Complete Streets application to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the body that grants funds for the program.

“The first step is to submit a Complete Streets policy document,” Francis told the selectmen. “It’s a very prescribed document, the state requires it includes certain elements.”

However, Hilario did work to "Marion-ize" the plan, she explained.

“He added some Marion specific plans to it, for example that we’re a coastal community and that some of our improvements might be related to preparing for storms,” she said. “This doesn’t commit us to do anything...to complete and approve this just starts the process.”

Hilario added that the program was created to encourage municipalities to follow pedestrian-friendly designs, in conjunction with the state’s initiative to create more pedestrian-friendly streets.

“This sets Marion up well for future grant decisions, and it is a large a pool of money available annually,” he said.

Because the funds are only for use on local roads and not state roads such as Route 6 or Route 105, Selectman Chair Jody Dickerson asked if local roads that didn’t meet state requirements for roads would still be eligible.

“For example, Delano Road doesn’t meet state road requirements because the lanes are too narrow,” he said.

“I believe we can use the funds on any local roads or sidewalks or bike paths,” Francis said.

Board members didn’t have a copy of the plans prior to the meeting, so they postponed a decision until the following meeting.