LYNN — As the city prepares to enter into a lease agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to begin construction of a long-awaited bike path, one community group that helped get the project off the ground is feeling slighted.
The uproar is surrounding the planned expansion of the Northern Strand Trail into Lynn, with construction slated to begin this spring.
The Community Path of Lynn Coalition, a nonprofit that spent a decade advocating for the revitalization of the former railroad tracks that make up a portion of the trail, along with raising funds for and partnering with the city on the project, said city officials are trying to shut them out of the process, according to the group’s founder and president Lisa Wallace.
When completed, the 11¾ mile-trail will pass through five communities — Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus and Lynn — on the rail bed of the former Saugus railroad. A vision of Bike to the Sea since 1993, the mostly paved path would connect to the beaches in Revere, Lynn and Nahant.
The city expects its agreement with the MBTA to be signed by Christmas, which would be a long-term lease of T property. Every other community included in the trail has already entered into the lease, according to Mayor Thomas M. McGee’s office.
Last year, the state’s Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Gateway Cities Parks Program awarded $1.5 million to design and permit the trail to kickstart the expansion into Lynn. In June, the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EoEEA) kicked in another $14 million for construction.
The majority of state funding will go toward the Lynn portion of the project, but significant work remains in Revere and Saugus as well, according to a flyer that was distributed at the City Summit last Saturday from the city’s project consultant, Brown, Richardson, + Rowe.
In Lynn, the Northern Strand will begin at the Lynn/Saugus line near Boston Street and continue through the marsh via the former railroad right-of-way line to Western Avenue.The route will then continue on-street with a two-way separated bike lane, which will make the regional connection to the ocean at the Lynn Shore Reservation and the Nahant Causeway, according to the flyer. The project will also include a linear park from Spencer to Cottage streets.
The Community Path of Lynn Coalition will work on the creation of the community path with connections down the former railroad spur to Summer Street, the Bennett Street bridge and farther, according to the flyer.
But it’s the first page of the document that was distributed at the City Summit that the Community Path of Lynn Coalition is taking issue with, which excludes the nonprofit from the list of project partners.
The exclusion prompted outraged social media posts from Wallace and another member of the group, Emily Jodoin, who wrote she has “tried to believe the Community Path Coalition wasn’t purposely being left out of this project.” She and Wallace said they considered the action to be a “slap in the face” after all the hard work they’ve put into the project.
“To tell the people in our city that the summit was designed to include them, to hear everything that people want to say and then turn around and not include the community organizations that are part of this project, that’s such a contradiction,” Wallace said. “I’m tired of doing all the work and everyone patting themselves on the back.
“This is part of the reason Lynn continues to be the way it is because of the accessibility, the inability for the community to have a stake in our own economic growth and development, and that’s what this concept did and the city isn’t recognizing us,” she said.
Throughout the process, Wallace said the city has used her plans, designs and concepts for the project, along with submitting a similar grant application that she prepared. The coalition wants to work with the city, she said, but the group only seems to be included when their work is used.
“I am proud of the work I have done behind the scenes for many years, including supporting the Community Path of Lynn Coalition’s vision for this project,” McGee said in a statement. “It has been, and continues to be, a collaborative effort to make the project a reality by working with the MBTA for a long-term lease of the property and EEA for funding for construction of the project.
“I thank the coalition’s tireless advocacy, and with construction set to begin this spring, I look forward to the day in the very near future where we can all enjoy this incredible community asset.”
According to the mayor’s office, when Wallace didn’t receive a grant she applied for, she provided the application for the city to draw from. The dispute is over a $300,000 Mass Trails grant the Baker administration awarded to the city in June, which includes a $75,000 match from Lynn.
Wallace said she started the organization so the group could bring resources into the neighborhood and make the railroad more than just a bike path.
“(The coalition) has been unbelievable for the area,” said Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan, who represents the area where the community path would be located. “They just want to be included or mentioned or recognized for the hard work they’ve done and been part of this partnership. I just want to make sure the community path and the city of Lynn continues to work together on the project and the community path gets treated equally.”
The partners listed on the flyer include EoEEA, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the city of Lynn (mayor’s office, Department of Public Works and Department of Community Development), along with the cities of Revere, Malden, and Everett and the town of Saugus.
