Depot survey shows desire for trailside food

With a March listening session completed and 176 survey responses in hand, the vision for an adaptive reuse of the Weston Depot seems clear: folks want a trailside amenity serving food and other refreshments.

The Friends of the Weston Depot, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that owns the building abutting the Mass Central Rail Trail on Church Street, have spent the last few months gathering community input on what people want to see at the station.

“The emerging consensus – and we heard this in the listening session and we heard this loud and clear in the survey – people would love to see food there. It’s all about the food. It ranges from coffee to pastries, hot dogs, ice cream and more,” Friends member Lori Hess said. “People are really excited to have some kind of amenity that has some sort of food, drink, bathrooms maybe, and a seating area.”

In the recently closed survey, which garnered responses in and around town, more than 80% of responses supported the idea of providing a space for trail users to purchase food and relax. Hess and Alicia Primer, a fellow Friends member, said 90% of respondents were regular Rail Trail users and a quarter of them used the trail more than two times a week.

“This will be to serve people on the Rail Trail, people who can walk there, bike there … some sort of low-impact use,” Primer said. “We don’t want to disturb the neighbors.”

Many of those respondents bucked the trend of municipal participation, according to Hess, a former Planning Board member.

“We really reached a younger audience than we typically do,” Hess said. “Town stuff tends to be the 55-and-over community. In this case, it wasn’t the majority of people [who responded to the survey].”

While the vision is clear, the Friends have hit a bump on the path. The nonprofit – and previous owners before it – only control the building, while the land under the structure is owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The two sides are negotiating an annual lease agreement for the land, but have yet to agree to terms. Negotiations are expected to continue, and the Friends have been working with Rep. Alice Peisch’s and Sen. Michael Barrett’s offices.

“Our tracks are divergent,” Primer said. “They sent us something last week. It’s not what we want, but at least we’re talking.”

Once the lease is sorted out, Primer and Hess said it’s full steam ahead with finalizing a vision that will be presented to the community, potentially later this fall. From there, the Friends will finish up the interior structural engineering work in line with their plan. Rezoning the parcel will also likely be necessary, as the depot lies within Residence District B. Primer said creating a final plan before undertaking building work was a priority.

“We don’t want to be in the position of having to undo work we’ve done,” Primer said.

In the meantime, the Friends stabilized the building over the winter and are undertaking further work to ensure the depot stands. The nonprofit is also pursuing a placement on the National Register of Historic Places. That recognition, while mostly honorary, opens up grant opportunities, which will reduce the amount of private fundraising needed to meet the Friends’ $2 million goal. Other money could come from the Community Preservation Act, which requires Town Meeting approval.

“When we finally have the land, then we’ll feel comfortable doing major fundraising, but we don’t want to fundraise until we have an idea of what the future use is going to be,” Primer said. “We would love to start doing work in the fall, but it’s all dependent. Once we get the lease, we’ll sign it ASAP.”

For more information about the Weston Depot or the Friends, visit westondepotfriends.org.