South Down resolution: no WOW Trail in their backyard

Residents of the South Down Shores community on Paugus Bay voted for a resolution at their annual meeting on Friday night that constitutes a major hurdle for the third phase of the planned Winnisquam-Opechee-Winnipesaukee (WOW) Recreation Trail.

Warren Murphy, a resident of South Down as well as serving as vice president on the property owner association's executive committee, said the residents voted to "oppose the trail coming through anywhere on South Down property."

The third phase of the trail, which has been envisioned starting at Lakeport Square and proceeding north through The Weirs and on to Meredith, was originally planned to follow the Boston and Maine railroad bed that crosses Shown Down and the adjacent Long Bay development, very near the shoreline. Although the state owns the railroad right-of-way, South Down residents have a right-of-way to cross to get the waterfront, some of which they own in common and some of which they lease from the Department of Transportation (DOT). The Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad leases the tracks themselves to run occasional sightseeing trains on.

Diane Hanley, president of Lakes Region Rails-with-Tails Exploratory Committee (LTREC), which is planning the WOW Trail, said her group has been trying for years to work with South Down residents to find a route through the community that can make everyone happy. "We're pretty disappointed," she said of the resolution. "It's a big blow to Phase III. I just don't know what we're going to do."

Murphy said the resolution was approved out of concern for issues of privacy, security and aesthetics. "We're a gated community. There is a concern of people coming through, crime, vandalism and trash, that sort of thing."

Because the WOW Trail has been required by the DOT to erect 5-foot-high chain-link fencing between the railroad and the path, there is concern among the residents that their view will be adversely affected and their access to the waterfront will be hindered if not cut off by the fence.

LTREC has been open to any alternative route through South Down, said Hanley. However, the only alternative route suggested at Friday's meeting was to follow, and cross, Parade Road, a busy and hilly state highway. Hanley said "The suggestion for us to go across Parade Road is pretty shocking. The only option they suggested was going to someone else's land."

This suggestion is untenable to Hanley because crossing Parade Road, where speed limits are as high as 50 miles per hour in some places, to avoid any South Down property would be daunting to the most agile adults and downright dangerous for children or those in wheelchairs.

Murphy acknowledged that the development does not have the legal authority to prevent the WOW trail from continuing to follow along the state-owned railroad corridor, although Hanley said that would amount to "jamming it down their throats... we do not want to do that."

"I'd still rather work with them, but they've precluded that at this point," said Hanley.

Although the two sides seem at loggerheads in the wake of the resolution, Murphy said the formal stance of South Down is to not oppose the first two phases of the trail. Construction on Phase I, which runs from Veterans Square to Lakeport Square could start by the end of this summer.

Phase II of the project — Veterans Square to the Belmont town line — is still on the drawing boards and has not yet been funded.

Much of $550,000 that will be used to pay for the one-mile-long stretch that is Phase I comes from federal transportation enhancement grant money that is administered by DOT. LTREC has also privately raised about $100,000 in the past five years.

The federal money is granted to the city, which will own and maintain the trail. There has been some controversy on that front as of late and CIty Council is expected to take up the matter when it meets again on Monday, August 11.