SWAMPSCOTT – Members of the Rail Trail Implementation Committee voted last week for town attorneys to draft an eminent domain claim for a section of a long-planned recreational trail on the former railroad bed, according to Town Planner Pete Kane.The proposed rail trail runs from Stetson Avenue to Marblehead on the former Boston and Maine Railroad bed. The section of the trail affected by the claim extends from the middle school to where the former tracks crossed Humphrey Street. The property is owned by National Grid, whose predecessor purchased the land after the trains stopped running, Kane said recently.”It sounds scary because the government is taking it for the public good,” Kane acknowledged. “But we’re not the property in entirety, we’re taking a usage right.”The idea to turn the railroad bed into a trail has been discussed since at least the early 1980s when the idea was mentioned in the Open Space Master Plan, according to Kane. If completed, the roughly two-mile trail would link into – and look similar to – the approximately five-mile network of trails on the old railroad tracks in Marblehead, according to the plans.A citizen’s group called The Swampscott Partnership Initiative Rails Into Trails (SPIRIT) formed in 1999, seeking to restart the project and raising money to build the trail, according to co-founder Marc Barden. The Rail Trail Implementation Committee has been meeting to try and negotiate with National Grid to gain permission to use the property.But the utility has a longstanding policy that 100 percent of all abutting land owners to the railroad bed must approve any rail trail plans before they will grant a recreation easement to the utility’s property.”We basically consider it a good neighbor policy,” said National Grid Spokesperson Charlotte McCormack. “It is a policy that has existed for years. We don’t want to be the mediator in these situations – we strongly prefer the trail proponents work out with the trail opponents to find a resolution.”But while McCormack said this policy has worked in other communities, rail trail supporters say that 100 percent acceptance is unrealistic.”Getting 100 percent buy-in is not going to happen on any project,” said Selectman David Van Dam. “I think it’s a worthy project but we’ll never get 100 percent participation. I think that’s an unrealistic goal.”Moreover, Kane and Van Dam said some abutting property has encroached on sections of the railroad bed.Abutter Martin Goldman said that some neighbors believe they own part of the railroad bed property as the property reverted to them when the trains stopped running. If the town takes use of their land, these neighbors would have to be compensated, Goldman said.”They have to come up with appraisals (for the affected properties) that will persuade Town Meeting that it’s a cost Town Meeting is willing to spend,” Goldman said Tuesday. “If they want to do that and the town wants to vote the money, okay, but the problem is the amount of money is going to be determined by a jury.”Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].