Derelict street a riddle for Lynners

LYNN – A dead-end street off the Lynnway is the focus of a City Council rift.On most days, Harding Street is a graveyard for abandoned cars, towed to the location under city order. Once a year, the vehicles with some road life remaining are auctioned. The others are crushed.The city pays a full-time Parking Department employee to watch over the vehicles, a situation Councilor-at-large Daniel Cahill wants to change. Cahill also supports selling or abandoning Harding Street, describing it as an unnecessary drain on local taxpayers.Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr disagrees, saying no city-owned property on the Lynnway should be sold while the real estate market is sagging and the waterfront about ready for development.”I feel uncomfortable selling that property right now. I think we should take it a little slower,” said Cyr.When the electrical transmission lines along the waterfront are relocated to the opposite side of the Lynnway later this year, the newly unobstructed properties will increase in value. The electrical wires will recross the Lynnway at Harding Street and run its length toward a power substation. With wires overhead, the future uses for the land on which Harding Street sits will be limited, most likely to parking. The lot has 90 spaces.”The lot doesn’t make any money. In fact, it loses money,” said Cahill, noting that the city employee assigned to the lot earns a $28,912 annual salary plus an estimated $6,000 in health insurance benefits.If the city sells the land, the abutters would get first option to buy. The abutters are the Garelick Farms dairy and an automotive business owned by Kenneth Carpi.”If the property was privately owned, it would generate tax revenue, which is another reason to get rid of Harding Street,” Cahill said. “It doesn’t hurt to put out an RFP (request for proposals).”During a meeting of the Public Property Committee, Cyr cautioned that the land beneath Harding Street could be environmentally contaminated, leaving the city liable for its cleanup after it’s sold. Assistant City Solicitor Richard Vitali acknowledged that Cyr’s concerns are a possibility.Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi suggested the city take test borings to learn more about the soil composition. Inspectional Services Department Director Michael Donovan said no city records indicate the land is contaminated. However, he noted that it abuts an unlined landfill.The City Council voted to table any action on Harding Street, which was also the subject of discussion at a public hearing Tuesday for National Grid.Andrew Schneller, National Grid project manager for the Lynn Harbor transmission line relocation, told councilors the steel for the new electrical line towers was ordered last May and will be shipped to the site next month.Schneller said only one permit is still outstanding – from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation – and needed before the wires can recross the Lynnway at Harding Street.The overall relocation project should take 4-6 months, he said, adding that a groundbreaking is scheduled for April 1.