MARION — A project to construct a bike path along Point Road needs an engineer in order to progress properly, Marion officials and residents said Wednesday, Oct. 16. 

Prompted by a memo dated Aug. 30 from Marion Select Board chair Norm Hills outlining recommendations for the project, disagreements regarding the shared-use path planned from Creek Road to Jenna Drive came to a head during a discussion between abutters, the Select Board and Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission Chair John Rockwell.

Hills’ memo recommended work on the Point Road bike path be paused in order to contract an engineer to develop plans and to decide if the path should be paved. 

“I think we need to pause,” Hills said. “We need to get our arms around this with an engineering plan like every other plan that’s in town that we spend town money on town property,” Hills said Oct. 16.

Abutters to the path along Joanne Drive expressed frustration with the timeline of the project, stormwater runoff problems and debris on the road caused by the sandy path, what Rockwell has called a “glorified driveway.”

“This is a driveway on town property with town money and it should be in a condition that when it’s done, we’re not going to have to go back there every damn week to fix it,” Hills said Oct. 16.

In 2019, Town Meeting voters approved $268,000 for the project, based on a Community Preservation Act application, to construct a bike path from Creek Road to Joanne Drive. The project was estimated to be completed in 2020, according to Hills’ memo.

But the project didn’t begin until years later, according to Shaun Walsh, a Joanne Drive resident, which “was a little frustrating.”

“What’s there now I don’t think is in any way shape or form what any townsfolk anticipated,” Walsh said. “It has sort of morphed into this sand path.” 

Meeting minutes of the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission indicated that Walsh expressed frustration in July 2023 with the progress of the project. The idea of seeking an engineer to guide the project was also raised at that meeting. 

Rockwell said the money allocated by the town didn’t include engineering costs, according to the meeting minutes, a point reiterated Oct. 16.

“Are you suggesting that you have some available money to help us on this project?” Rockwell asked the Marion Select Board.

Other Joanne Drive residents said the hazardous conditions had been created due to sand debris coming onto the road. 

The project also worsened drainage and stormwater runoff problems, abutters to the shared-use path said.

“I think it’d be a huge mistake for the town to spend more money on trying to fix a drainage issue that has been exacerbated by this half-built path without a qualified engineer designing it,” Walsh said.

Mary Stanley Smith, a Joanne Drive abutter to the path, said she had spent $11,000 to address the storm water running off onto her property.

But the scope of the project wasn’t to solve a drainage problem on Point Road, according to Rockwell. 

It was an issue that existed prior to the path, he said.

“Things change,” Marion Select Board member Toby Burr said. “That’s the thing. Everything changes, and right now it seems we have an immediate problem that needs to be solved. Then we can concentrate on finishing the bike path.”

Rockwell said he would get a quote for engineering costs and bring it back to the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission.