Lynnway progress vital going forward

LYNN – Just over 50 years ago, city and state officials cut a ribbon to proudly open traffic along the newly-constructed Lynnway. Perhaps they couldn’t foresee that the busy, multiple-lane roadway would sever the city’s harborfront from the business district, isolating some of the most valuable land in Lynn.A similar act of short-sightedness occurred in the early 1980s when the city, under a federal mandate, constructed a sewage treatment plant on the waterfront. By then, the Lynnway was primarily home to car dealerships and fast-food restaurants and the massive steel towers carrying electrical transmission lines northward along the ocean side of the commercial corridor had sprouted with little notice or consideration.The 1990s construction boom changed how Lynn officials looked at the land along the harbor, as did the completion of a $10-million esplanade along Lynn Shore Drive, extending from the Swampscott line to the Nahant traffic rotary. Construction of hotels and condominiums along Route 1A and Revere Beach Boulevard in Revere also caught the attention of Lynn planners – not without envy.But how to make a similar success story happen in Lynn?A waterfront master plan was drafted. Zoning was changed to allow for taller buildings along the Lynnway, and an effort to relocate the unsightly National Grid power lines got under way.On Wednesday, the city, the Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corp. and National Grid inked a public-private partnership contract that is expected to make relocating the power lines a reality.The project is estimated to cost $5 -7 million. The state is providing a $2.5 million grant to jumpstart the work, while the city assumes bond debt up to $4 million to reach the total.Although city planners had hoped to bury the heavy cables underground, an engineering analysis showed that option as too costly. Instead, the agreed-upon plan was designed to erect new steel towers behind the businesses on the opposite side of the Lynnway, from the General Edwards Bridge at the mouth of the Saugus River to the entrance to the GE aviation plant. At that point, the power lines would again cross over to the harbor side of the Lynnway and continue north to a substation.Once the present towers are dismantled, the contiguous parcels of land along the water are likely to create an attractive development site for hotels, restaurants, retail shops, office space, marinas and perhaps harborfront condos. As part of that plan, the boardwalk along Lynn Shore Drive might be continued south from the Nahant traffic circle to the Saugus River, based on conceptions presented at a series of municipal meetings in recent years.”The next step happens on June 15,” said EDIC Executive Director James Cowdell. “That’s when I go to Boston with National Grid to the DPU (state Department of Public Utilities) to get permitting for the project. We anticipate somewhere between 45 and 60 days for them to issue the permits. Once we have those in hand, we order the steel for the poles. The goal is to have construction begin no later than January.”According to Cowdell, the EDIC will fund the four easements necessary to create a pathway for the new power lines, which involve landowners Kenneth Carpi, Mutual Electric Co., Don Algeni and Garelick Farms.Council President Timothy Phelan has scheduled a Power Lines Committee meeting for Tuesday, June 2 at City Hall and invited several key local officials, including Cowdell, Office of Economic and Community Development Director James Marsh, Assistant City Solicitor James Lamanna, mayoral Chief-of-Staff Michael Conlon, city Inspectional Services Department Director Michael Donovan, Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development Executive Director Charles Gaeta, and attorney Paul Keating.Cowdell said Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. proved the linchpin for the power line project when he met with National Grid three years ago. “Before that meeting, National Grid didn’t even want to discuss it,” he said. “Now we’re