Land takings off Lynnway will proceed

LYNN – A row of electricity transmission towers is slated for construction in late January along Harding Street off the Lynnway, the pathway cleared by the city’s eminent domain land takings in an effort to make the 100-acre vacant waterfront a prime development site.The Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corp. (EDIC) board of directors this week voted unanimously to proceed with acquiring property easements necessary for the path of the power lines.”We have already sent the affected property owners letters of intent, which puts them on notice that we are moving forward with the eminent domain,” EDIC Executive Director James Cowdell said Thursday. “We don’t need to go before a judge. It’s happening.”The city will acquire an easement through the following properties, the cost of taking based on the assessed value determined by an EDIC-hired appraiser: Electric Mutual Insurance Co., 751 Lynnway, $62,000; Irwin Nebelkopf, Lot 7 off Lynnway, $6,500; Dean Northeast LLC (Garelick Farms), 626 Lynnway, $98,000; Donald Algeni, 847-853 Lynnway, $18,000; and Car Realty, LLC, 4720 Lynnway, $8,000.”The City Council recommended that the EDIC go forward, so the next step will happen before Jan. 15, when EDIC attorney Paul Keating will record the eminent domain at the Registry of Deeds,” said Cowdell. “At that point, the eminent domain will be in effect.”Cowdell explained that the city is not taking the land on any of the affected properties. “We are taking only what we need to get the transmission towers up and 20 feet to each side of them for maintenance room,” he said. “We are not taking entire parcels of land or buildings.”The master plan for the waterfront entails removing the present power lines and relocating them to the opposite or southbound side of the Lynnway, then crossing back over the roadway near Lynnway Liquors and Sonny’s Car Wash to reconnect to a power substation. The eminent domain takings are clustered between where the power lines cross over and the substation.Once completed, the open land between the harbor’s edge and businesses such as Wal-Mart will be unencumbered. “We will have 100 acres of prime, vacant waterfront land for development,” Cowdell said. “We have already signed agreements with most of the affected property owners who are not going to contest the eminent domain. And the permits we need are already in hand.”Rep. Steve Walsh, a Lynn Democrat, along with City Council President Timothy Phelan, have been negotiating with the land owners in recent months. “First came the grants and then the funding and now the project is moving forward. We have been sitting around the table with the owners, the developers and city officials, and we’re going to do what people have been talking about for 50 years,” said Walsh. “It’s no longer an adversarial process. It’s beneficial to everybody and we are working closely with Ken Carpi, with Garelick Farms and others.”Phelan noted that Carpi was initially opposed but has since cooperated. “Ken Carpi has expressed a willingness to work with the city and we have come to some meeting of the minds so that this doesn’t drag out in court,” he said. “The city is going to have to pay the value of the easement. Ken Carpi did not appeal our permits. He wants to work with the city and come to a fair settlement.”The power line easements on Carpi’s land and that owned by Garelick Farms will not impede business operation. “We placed these power lines specifically to reduce the financial impact on the city,” Phelan said.According to Cowdell, construction of the new towers will begin in late January or early February. “This project will change the face of Lynn,” he said. “It will bring millions of much-needed tax dollars into city coffers.”