Panel passes Big Box plan unanimously

SALEM – The proposed new Lowe’s Home Improvement store, expanded Walmart and expanded Meineke auto shop on Highland Avenue near the Lynn-Salem line cleared its biggest local hurdle Thursday night when the Planning Board unanimously endorsed the project over objections of many Lynn residents and officials who attended the board’s final public hearing on the plan.The board voted unanimously (9-0) to support the project, which must also receive approval from the city’s Conservation Commission and, more importantly, the state Department of Environmental Protection and state Highway Department.Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, who attended last night’s hearing in Salem and most previous hearings on the matter, said she was not surprised by the board’s action.”The Salem Planning Board’s responsibility is to look out for the best interest of Salem. I do think they were extremely courteous and accommodating to all of us Lynn residents,” said Kennedy, who earlier in the day met with Salem Mayor Kimberly Driscoll on the big box development. “Mayor Driscoll explained the Panning Board would make no recommendations on traffic patterns (to the state), and that in some ways was out of deference to the City of Lynn.”Kennedy said she plans to request a meeting with the state Highway Department that will include city officials and Lynn’s legislative delegation to ensure Lynn has a voice in the traffic patterns related to the project. She said Lynn’s concern about the project is “80 percent” focused on traffic.City Councilor At Large Daniel Cahill addressed the Salem panel prior to its vote, submitting a petition with 875 signatures of Lynn, Swampscott and Salem residents opposed to the project. Cahill said property values in abutting Lynn neighborhoods would decline and the tax ramifications because of that will affect the entire city. He cited blasting during construction as another major concern of abutters.Lynn Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant Jr., also speaking in opposition, said, “We have neighbors in that area now, on Coolidge Road, who never had water problems in the past but because of development now have sump pumps in their finished basements. People are really afraid of what’s going to happen once you start blasting all that bedrock. Where’s the water going to go?”Katerina Panagiotakis, a Lynn resident who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the project, submitted another petition, of more than 1,200 people against destruction of the natural habitat the big box project will replace.Another Lynn resident, Leslie Courtemanche, spoke on that same point, “We have a vast and rich sanctuary for animal life and for people who have been going up there for decades, since 1945 when it was made into a camp, and even before then when it was an arboretum. It functions as an open-space park and to destroy that is just appalling.”Most, though not all, Salem residents who addressed the board voiced their support.Patricia Liberti, of 3 Lions Lane, Salem, said she is a direct abutter of the property and that “the developer as addressed all my concerns.”James Rose, of 25 Linden St., Salem, said “If we look at what we have over there right now it’s hideous. Lowe’s and Walmart together have made this a great plan for the entire region. It’s the bottom of the 9th inning and we have to move forward with this thing? People from Lynn should focus on economic development in their own city.”Prior to their unanimous vote, Planning Board members also weighed in.Board member Mary Sullivan promoted the only applause from the audience during the meeting when she said, “This is about jobs in a bad economy, and these jobs will be permanent, construction and thereafter.”Board members Helen Sides said, “Salem needs this tax revenue. We’re looking forward to the power plant being gone someday, so this project helps to begin that process. I’m not a fan of blasting on that hillside or anywhere, but blasting has been necessary for every development on Highland