The Land

The land in back of our property is split into thin strips.  Starting at our back fence:

101A Channing Rd - owned by Belmont Citizen's Forum aka BCF land.  It is an old B&M  rail bed.  Nitsch pegs it at 25' wide and it consists of a steep embankment and about 15' of level ground.

101B Channing Rd - MBTA owned. It is used by Keolis (MBTA subcontractor) for maintenance of the RR.

Commuter rail - MBTA owned.

101C Channing Rd/167 Alexander Ave - MBTA owned. 

People look at the level ground by the RR tracks and think (as I did) that that is the land to be used for this park. But they don't realize that there needs to be a 20' buffer between the tracks and the edge of the park which means that the park is squeezed towards our backyards.


 

 

 

 







 

 

 

Some years ago, I had a committee member (VS) come visit so that we could talk of the impact to abutters of this park.  In his mind's eye, he saw a ~10-12' retaining wall built right along the edge of my property topped by .... a 6' soil berm backing a soldierly line of 40' arborvitae?! I was flabbergasted! How could a soil berm be stable at the edge of a retaining wall?  Didn't he realize that it must have a WALL holding it up?  Didn't he realize that 40' evergreens meant I would not see the Winter sun EVER?!  Did he really meant to enclose my yard in a 20' wall + 40' evergreens turning it into a sunless, dank canyon? Didn't he realize that building the retaining wall meant destroying my backyard including the mature 50' maple and towering 70' white pine and rows of 35-40' hemlocks, foundation trees on which a plethora of creatures depend on for food and habitat?  That it meant destroying all the trees in the embankment? What manner of madness was this?!!

But mad he must be because he also pointed to a cluster of black cherry trees with their young bark glistening in red-browns and gold and delicate filigree branches and he dismissed them with a sweep of his hand dismissed them as junk tree.   In his deep ignorance, all he acknowledges are worthy are arborvitaes.

Slack jawed by this man's callousness, I stood atop the embankment next to him listening to him prattle on about landscaping and walls.  At one point, his hand made another grand sweeping gesture towards my home and asked in a condescending voice: "What are you complaining about? You have a 50' buffer between you and the path!"  I stared at him in disbelief and asked: "What are you talking about?  What 50'?" And this pathetically thoughtless man triumphantly answered: "Your backyard!"

It was this sa

 


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