LYNN — Barry Park could soon be getting a $580,000 facelift.
The improvements at the Boston Street park would be paid for with a $400,000 state grant that the city has applied for and $180,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds that have been allowed by city officials.
The funds would be for Phase 1 of the Barry Park rehabilitation project, which includes installing a splash pad, athletic court improvements and providing additional parking.
Other area parks have splash pads, but if one is installed at Barry Park it would be the only one in West Lynn, according to Ward 7 Councilor Jay Walsh, who represents the area where the park is located.
Walsh said some of the funds would be targeted toward reconfiguring parking in order to utilize the park’s full capacity. Parking for Barry Park often spills into other nearby neighborhoods, he said.
“It needs a lot of love down there,” said Walsh. “The place is pretty old. That park in truth needs probably about $1.5 million of work to really make it the right thing. We’re glad to apply for this.”
Walsh said the city’s efforts to rehabilitate Barry Park are similar to the multi-year park improvement project that has been executed at the Lynn Commons, which was also paid for with a grant from the state’s Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) funds and Community Development Block Grant funds allowed by the city.
Last week, the city council authorized Mayor Thomas M. McGee to apply for a $400,000 PARC, which is administered through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
But Walsh said there’s additional improvements needed that this round of state and community development block grant funds won’t cover.
For example, Walsh would like to see improvements made that would transition the park’s baseball fields to multi-use athletic fields. The baseball fields are underutilized in Barry Park, and the improvements would be aimed at attracting people who play other sports, such as soccer and football, he said.
“It’s not totally set up for it,” said Walsh. “We would like to improve that down the road.”
In addition, Walsh said state Sen. Brendan Crighton has applied for funding in the past to tear down the park’s bleachers, which is expected to cost about $400,000. It would be a vast improvement, he said, as the bleachers are old and have become an eyesore.
City officials have also been working with KABOOM!, a national nonprofit that works with communities to build kid-designed playspaces, to replace much of the park’s playground equipment, Walsh said.
That collaboration has been put on the backburner, Walsh said, but he still hopes the city will choose to restart that work with the nonprofit, which can help crowdsource the funds needed for the playground equipment.
Walsh said it’s not clear when the rehab at Barry Park would begin, but he believes there’s a need for the project, especially as more people are choosing to recreate outdoors while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to restrict many indoor activities.
Citing data from a June 23 COVID-19 Community Mobility Report from Google, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said in a virtual meeting last week that Massachusetts state parks and beaches were seeing record numbers of people, according to a report from the State House News Service.
In Essex County, the report shows there’s been a 207 percent increase in activity, based on mobility data.
Walsh said that data shows why it’s important to improve and create more recreational space for people.
“As more development happens in the city, we’re going to have to fix up what we have, (in terms of) open space for people to recreate,” said Walsh. “It’s time to do that — to make (Barry Park) better for people in the neighborhood and the people who use it.”
