Move for accessible pathways at Lynn Woods draws support

LYNN – Several community members offered their support for a move to create accessible trails at the Lynn Woods Reservation during a Lynn Disability Commission meeting at City Hall on Tuesday.?People came forward wanting to help,” said School Committee vice chair Patty Capano, whose 25-year-old son, Nicholas, is a member of the commission. “People are all in.”Nicholas Capano was born with spina bifida and has been in a wheelchair since birth. He and his mother visited the woods last fall, and he had difficulty making his way up the trail from the Great Woods Road parking lot.Two people expressed their interest in helping with the project: Ruben Montano, project director of the Re/Start Lynn youth project, and Ryan Braun, a lieutenant with the Lynn Fire Department, who mentioned possible support from mountain biking groups.?I reached out through the Fire Department,” Braun said. “They?re (the biking groups) willing to help.”Disability Commission member Michael Cerulli did say that “I don?t think we are actually able as a body to ask the city for money.”However, he said that Tuesday was “a great start” and added, “I?d like to keep going forward, get it done.”Commission chair Lori Thompson said, “I think it?s going to be a continuation. The board is going to be speaking, in touch with people, with a tour of the woods once the snow clears.”Accessible trails would include several areas, including the Rose Garden and a vernal pool near a scenic rise, all accessible from Pennybrook Road, Cerulli said.As for what kind of surface these trails might feature, Cerulli said, “We talked about materials, very small packable crushed stone. For a better trail, rock dust that packs down and makes the roadway hard enough, accessible in a regular wheelchair or any other type of device that (people) use for mobility – canes, crutches, wheelchairs. It?s firm enough.”Cerulli added that it would be important to work with park ranger Dan Small.?Whatever we do has to be within the parameters or bylaws,” he said. “There are limits on Lynn Woods for development. We could never have used asphalt, concrete or manmade material.”At the end of the meeting, the woods issue was placed on the agenda for next month.?I?d like to keep going,” Cerulli said.