Lynn eyes Floating Bridge Pond cleanup

LYNN – Much attention has been paid to Flax and Sluice ponds when it comes to aquatic weed control, but city officials are now turning their attention to Floating Bridge/Buchanan Pond.”We had a company, Aquatic Control Technologies out of Sutton, do a survey because you never know what’s in there,” explained Community Development’s John Kasian.Kasian has overseen the work done at Flax and Sluice and said residents who live near and around the Route 107 pond began worrying that it was shrinking due to overgrowth.Floating Bridge Pond is about 12 acres bordered by Victory, Linton and Kevill roads and Bickford Street. According to paperwork, last Tuesday the Conservation Commission reviewed its application to “provide control of dense invasive growth,” where the likely culprits are coontail and fanwort.Kasian said he expects the project will cost $16,000 but upkeep will be less. A notice of intent filed with the Department of Environmental Protection, which is a must, and the survey cost the city $5,000, but they are one-time, non-recurring costs, Kasian said. Yearly maintenance cost for the pond will average around $11,000, he added.According to Kasian, it cost about $15,000 to treat both Flax and Sluice ponds in 2013.Kasian said Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy has been supportive when it comes to funding such projects. When work battling aquatic overgrowth first began, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation provided grants to help fund the projects, he said. As the economy lagged, many of what Kasian called specialized grants dried up.”And that’s when the mayor’s office really jumped in,” he said. “It’s important.”Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi said he began to work with the city’s legislative delegation nine years ago to get funding for Flax and Sluice. He said invasive vegetation is more of a concern in those ponds where there is swimming and boating.”Buchanan is mostly fishing in my opinion,” he said.Kasian said he took a look at Floating Bridge/Buchanan after Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant began to receive calls from abutters worried that the pond would one day disappear if the situation was not addressed.Lozzi said the chemicals used are proven safe and permitted, and he agreed the follow-up treatment is less expensive. Sluice and Flax receive follow-up treatments and the anti-vegetation efforts have allowed the ponds to retain recreational use and preserved healthy fish population, he said.”Floating mats of vegetation can cause conditions leading to fish kills,” Lozzi said.Kasian said work on Floating Bridge Pond will begin in the spring, late May at the earliest.”The pond is a gateway,” he said. “It has antique lighting and a vista effect not only for residents but for everyone coming into or out of the city. I think that’s important.”