City buys land for Marshall

LYNN – The city is paying two Brookline Street homeowners $175,000 and $185,000 to take their property for the Marshall School project, but the owners? attorney said the city?s help will not stop once the checks are cut.Peter Flynn said city assistance to find new residences and to help with relocation will be provided.?The landowners are entitled to relocation and replacement benefits. There are a bunch of things that have to be done,” Flynn said.The City Council voted 11-0 Tuesday to take 112 Brookline St., owned by Jeffrey and Nadine Donovan, and “award damages” totaling $175,000 to the couple. Councilors also voted to take 114 Brookline St., owned by Carlos and Carmen Hernandez of Lynn, for $185,000. The couple rent 114 Brookline to Janet Rosario, who will have to find a new place to live as a result of the taking.City assessing records for 2012 placed the value of the Donovans home at $165,000 and 114 Brookline?s value at $141,600.Flynn, a Saugus attorney, represents the homeowners, as well as Cricket Realty Holdings, current owner of the vacant lot on Brookline next to the commuter rail tracks, where the city plans to build a new school.The council voted in May to pay Cricket $1.3 million, and Flynn is handling the firm?s court claim arguing the land is worth $6 million.Lynn voters in September gave city officials permission to borrow money to build the $92 million school, subject to an 80 percent state reimbursement. The school won?t be built for three more years, with planning currently under way.Designs developed to date call for the school to be built with two wings and a central entrance facing Brookline Street. Four stories of classrooms and other teaching areas will occupy the wing bordering Empire Street, where off-street parking will also be located.A gymnasium and cafeteria will be in the other wing with a rooftop outdoor play area. City officials on Thursday discussed modifying part of the designs to improve building security.City Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan warned during a Thursday design meeting that current Marshall designs include a roof low enough to be reached by ladder. Someone climbing onto the roof could enter the building through the rooftop play area.?I?ve seen it happen before,” Donovan warned.The new Marshall will be built with a 1,100 student capacity – larger than the existing Marshall off Essex Street. Donovan, who said he is not related to Jeffrey and Nadine Donovan, said ground breaking on the new school is tentatively scheduled for next April.?By January we will know what the building is going to look like,” he said.