Document shared with you: "Community path enhancement proposal"

[Alyssa W (via Google Docs)]

Alyssa W shared a document Alyssa W (sha...@gmail.com) has invited you to comment on the following document: Good news - I heard back from my DPW point of contact today about the bikeway project and he's at least game to review a proposal and (if he approves) see about getting the required approvals. I drew up a bit more detail than was on the site here - you all should have comment/suggestion rights so please chime in if you have any further suggestions! best, Alyssa Community path enhancement proposal Open Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA You have received this email because sha...@gmail.com shared a document with you from Google Docs.

[Irene R Heim]

Hi Alyssa,

This is a very ambitious plan.  I'll be thrilled if it comes to fruition, or even a part of it. 

If there is any consistency in the City's policies, however, this may turn out to be a much more expensive and laborious project than we might imagine.  The most recent relevant precedent is the (comparatively tiny) pollinator garden on the community path at Lowell St. This was planted in spring 2024 by volunteers from Green & Open, Smvl Garden Club, and other community groups, and paid for by the MBTA Employee Sustainability Group.  The City gave us a conditional permit which specified (among other things) that we could ONLY plant in raised beds, filled with all new soil, and lined with a rodent-proof geotextile barrier separating the new soil from the ground below.  We ignored this directive and instead just scraped away the grass, put down 3 inches of woodchips, and planted through them into the existing soil.  We were then told by the City that the garden would be removed unless we re-did it in compliance with their directions.  We did not comply.  As of today, the garden has not been removed, but it also has not been approved.

--Irene

---

From: greenin...@googlegroups.com <greenin...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Alyssa W (via Google Docs) <sha...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 8:39 PM
To: greenin...@googlegroups.com <greenin...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Document shared with you: "Community path enhancement proposal"

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Greening Davis" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greening-davi...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greening-davis/autogen-java-28dec2b1-050f-4561-bd4b-492dbede5d1e%40google.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Alyssa W]

Hey Irene

I agree this is ambitious and of the projects we've currently got up on the page it's probably the longest shot.  I've heard a bit about the Lowell St garden from Renee, and I very much appreciate the context you added.  I'm hoping to learn from that project and hopefully (if possible) do better but realistically if we can't get approval I'll probably just keep trying to remove knotweed on my own and grumble about my frustration with local politics :-)

best,

Alyssa

[Zachary Yaro]

Irene,

Did the city elaborate on the reasons for those requests?  I know the soil around here is very contaminated, so you need separate, clean soil for growing many types of food, but I hadn't heard those sorts of restrictions for growing plants in general?

Zachary Yaro

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greening-davis/BN8PR01MB5684AA36A8931520887CB083D9202%40BN8PR01MB5684.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Irene R Heim]

Hi Zachary,

No, they did not elaborate.  We were left to our own devices trying to understand what general policy they might be following.  So I took it upon myself to look at the lease agreement between the city and the MBTA.  There I read that the city has to "follow the provisions of BMPs for Controlling Exposure to Soil during the Development of Rail Trails promulgated by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection ...".  This apparently refers to a document which you can find here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/soil-along-proposed-rail-trails?_gl=1*1qnk6mq*_ga*MTg1NDE0NjQ2Ny4xNzc0ODczMjU4*_ga_MCLPEGW7WM*czE3NzY1NDk0MTEkbzIkZzEkdDE3NzY1NDk0MzckajM0JGwwJGgw.  I also attach a copy in which  I highlighted the passages that looked relevant to me.  See particularly p.8.  

Best,

Irene

---

From: greenin...@googlegroups.com <greenin...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Zachary Yaro <zmy...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2026 7:15 PM
To: Irene R Heim <he...@mit.edu>
Cc: greenin...@googlegroups.com <greenin...@googlegroups.com>; sha...@gmail.com <sha...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Document shared with you: "Community path enhancement proposal"

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greening-davis/CANFzyv%2Bzyegsf%3DXcrJQqm2Q_dDZN8LbX0ogUfwS5g54wc1fFfg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Rachel Grey]

Wow, thank you. That was really interesting reading, and it feels like Greening Davis could gain a significant edge by referring to it directly -- that shows we read it and that we expect whoever approves the project to also have read it. There are also some other clues to the motivations behind all this. From Page 6, emphasis mine:  

"Note that the focus of these BMPs is the potentially contaminated soil along the right-of-way and the human exposures and environmental exposures that may result from improperly managing that soil at or near the surface."

The stuff on page 8 is specifically for "areas designated for residential use along the trail", which does seem to apply to what we want to do here. And from page 7, as highlighted by Irene, "Absent analytical evidence to the contrary, all soil along the right-of-way should be presumed to have at least residual levels of lead, arsenic and PAHs". 

So, some ways forward from here, if Alyssa hasn't already submitted the proposal for review, could include:

1) Refer to this document in the application , make it clear that we've read it and expect any response to make sense in that context

2) Possibly try to pitch this as something other than development?? It is, after all, just plants, some of which are already growing. It's not buildings or playgrounds. We could pitch it more primarily as removal of existing invasives, with the other plants added simply to keep the invasives gone. 

3) Possibly try to test the soil to provide that "analytical evidence to the contrary". A test that includes PAH is around $350 (https://alluvialsoillab.com/products/petroleum-voc-screening-testing-kit), but lead/arsenic testing alone is half that (https://gosimplelab.com/shop/products/heavy-metals-soil-test). 

All thoughts welcome,

Rachel

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greening-davis/BN8PR01MB5684B858C85FB179A779F8D0D92E2%40BN8PR01MB5684.prod.exchangelabs.com.