Construction on the Swampscott Archer Trail is expected to begin as soon as weather conditions allow and the snow melts.

Community and Economic Development Director Marzie Galazka hosted a meeting Wednesday night on the Archer Trail alongside Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta and Greener Group landscape project manager Justin Savickis. The project is expected to be completed by the fall, with work hopefully starting within the next month, pending weather conditions.

“We’re trying to start as early as we can, pending the weather,” Savickis said, joking that with two to three feet of snow on the ground that might not be soon. “I’d like to try to get in there in February. If not February, March, to start doing some of the brush clearing.”

At a June 2022 Special Town Meeting, voters approved the purchase of several properties, including the Archer Street parcel and the former Hawthorne-by-the-Sea restaurant site. The Archer Street land had previously been slated for a large housing redevelopment project.

In 2024, the town submitted a grant application for trail construction. That same year, Town Meeting allocated $225,000 for construction and accepted a $112,500 state grant.

STV Inc. led the design and engineering phase of the project, with public meetings held in February 2025. Greener Group was awarded the construction contract in October.

The trail Savickis is overseeing will span approximately three-quarters of a mile.

Trail entrances will be located at Park Street, Connelly Avenue, Vaughan Place, and Archer Street, with small signs marking each access point, Galazka said. The trail will include an overlook and a loop around the radio tower, though the town is still evaluating whether the tower may be removed in the future.

Because the entrances are located near residential neighborhoods, Cresta said there are no plans to add parking lots or additional on-street parking. He added that he does not “envision a lot of cars coming to park around these trails.”

The trails will remain natural and unpaved. Savickis said bicycles and strollers should be able to navigate the terrain.

Several large boulders along the route will be incorporated into the design and used as resting areas, though there are currently no plans to add benches or other furnishings.

“There are plenty of rocks in there, so we should be able to pick some rocks and we can place some in various places to use as a bench or sitting place,” Savickis said, adding that a trail the Greener Group completed in Brookline used sections of trees as faux benches.

Once brush is cleared from the lower, “messier” sections of the trail, Savickis said crews will begin constructing the higher portions and work their way down. Cut vegetation will remain on-site and be spread throughout the wooded areas.

“Hopefully we should be able to be complete with it by the end of May or June,” Savickis said. 

Galazka said the town hopes to hold another public meeting as the project progresses, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony anticipated in the fall.