LYNN — The city’s push to create a large waterfront park at a former landfill site moved forward Tuesday evening with the first public meeting about the plan.
The meeting for the project was hosted online via Zoom by the City of Lynn, the Executive Office Of Energy And Environmental Affairs, and the landscape architectural firm Brown, Richardson + Rowe, Inc. (BRR).
The vision is to create a signature vibrant and accessible park on the waterfront on a vacant plot of about 30 acres between Walmart and Marine Boulevard. The project would become a cornerstone of 60 acres of open space along Lynn’s waterfront.
The goal of the meeting was to show the public how the former landfill can become a recreational amenity for the community, garner public engagement, and support and receive feedback.
David Andrews of BRR presented the project at the meeting. He said that the next step would be to create an agreed-upon master plan that will be used for the design and construction.
“We are early in this whole process and we want to get feedback from the public but there are some unknowns,” said Andrews.
Andrews and his colleagues are proposing to make the park useful for walking and exercising, for public recreation and local programming. The park would offer free facilities.
“Western Plaza” on Walmart’s side could offer public parking, a visitor center, a cafe, a natural playground, benches, and other types of seating.
“Eastern Edge,” near Marine Boulevard, would also have parking, ball courts, performance lawns, large-scale playgrounds, and a stage or performance spaces.
The park would include manicured areas and some more wild areas with typical local vegetation. Andrews said that the state will probably encourage the architects to use soft materials such as sand and boulders. There are chances for wooded and open areas along the edge, too.
A waterfront promenade will run all the way through, with maybe some overlooks that guests will be able to walk out on, Andrews said.
The former landfill would be reshaped with additional material, which will create a larger, 80-foot-high mound. The height of the terrain will offer some good views of downtown Lynn. The plan showed access to the mound via trails running up, over, and across.
There isn’t a huge flat area up on top of the mound, but there can be picnic areas and a sculpture park and trails for bike riding. A fantastic sledding hill can be worked into the plan. Large public art could be suitable in some areas, too.
However, there are certain constraints and concerns with the project that need to be taken into account, Andrews said.
The landfill mound is currently owned by Lynn Harbor Park LLC (LHP), which was set up by Charter Environmental Inc., an environmental redevelopment and cleanup company. They purchased it from the National Grid because the cap of the mound was breaking. LHP needs to implement a conservation restriction and put a permanent cap on the mound. Once it is done, the land can only be used for a public park. This process will play out in the next six months, Andrews said, and BRR will have to adjust its planning process.
Additionally, the coastal edge of the property is eroding and it will need to be fixed. The sea wall that was put in the 1930s has eroded as well.
“We might consider raising the coastal edge and elevation to prevent flooding but that will need to go through the approval process,” said Andrews.
Members of the public and some city and state officials raised a few concerns of their own at the meeting, with accessibility being the main issue. The park would be separated from the city by the Lynnway and many saw it as a big hurdle to get residents to enjoy the park.
Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan, for example, said that a bike overpass would be a great addition. State Rep. Peter Capano (D-Lynn) suggested a footbridge.
Andrews responded that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation oversees the Lynnway, but he has heard of a study being conducted that is looking into safe ways to cross the road and reconfiguration of lanes. Andrews said that wide sidewalks on access roads, which BRR was considering in the plan, would make people feel more welcome.
To answer a question about funding and chances of this project to be completed, Andrews said that although funding is not fully at hand at these early stages, there is an intention to fully progress the project.
“(The) original concept was developed in 2007 so it was long planned to make it an open or public space,” said Aaron Clausen, Lynn’s principal planning director, emphasizing that both the state and the city want to see the project through.
Kurt Gaertner, a representative from the Executive Office Of Energy And Environmental Affairs, said that the state has been working on the project with Mayor Thomas M. McGee, his predecessor, Judith Flanagan Kennedy, and will continue working with the new mayor as well.
BRR has planned two site walks through the area for any members of the public who would like to see it on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 2:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 2:30 p.m. To sign up for site walks, go to shorturl.at/beswF.
The next public meeting will be scheduled for November. More information can be found at www.lynnincommon.com/Harborpark.