Parcel gain to help Wyoma parking woes

LYNN – Like a missing puzzle piece, a 6,300-square-foot parcel bordering Charles Reinfuss Field plays a key role, city officials said, in expanding Wyoma Square?s city parking lot from 40 to more than 100 spaces.The parcel borders the lot and roughly the centerfield area on the edge of the popular youth sports field wedged between the square and Pickering Middle School. Adding it to the parking lot plan is important, said city Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan.?It adds a lot of value to the project by providing much better circulation through the lot,” he said.City Councilors last week voted to acquire the parcel from Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development and gave Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy authority to seek approval from state housing officials to allow local housing officials to hand the parcel over to the city.The parcel borders the authority?s Meadow Court housing complex off Magnolia Avenue.The existing lot, located between Broadway and Reinfuss Field, has 40 parking spaces. Expansion plans to date add 28 more space, but Donovan said the 6,300-square-foot parcel adds an additional 35 bringing the total number of spaces in the expanded lot to more than 100. Wyoma Square merchants have pushed for increased and improved off-street parking in the square and received elected officials? support for the lot?s expansion. The city acquired the lot this year from the Off Street Parking Commission and placed its maintenance under Inspectional Services.Once housing officials give permission to add the parcel to the lot, Donovan said the lot expansion work will go out to bid and probably be done in spring, 2014.?This will be a big boon for the businesses in Wyoma Square,” he said.Lot designs call for drivers to enter the lot through the existing entrance off Broadway. The new exit will be next to the Walgreens store and the First Lutheran Church on Broadway. Donovan said designs call for expanding the lot onto the hillside currently used as overflow seating in the field.He said the lot plans will not eliminate Reinfuss? bleacher seating or play field space.Field improvements this year included new lighting, but Donovan said the parking lot expansion does more for Wyoma Square than simply adding off street parking spaces.?It?s really an economic development project – it brings people there,” he said.