LYNN — The city is moving forward on a multi-million dollar renovation project replacing the windows and doors on Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, which will be funded largely by reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
“That school does need a lot of work,” said Ward 2 City Councilor Rick Starbard, who is a Lynn Tech graduate and former auto collision teacher at the school. “It’s definitely time to do the windows. They’re 50 years old, some you can’t open and they’re not the most heat-efficient.”
The first step in the process is a feasibility and schematic design study, for which the City Council allocated $120,000 from the city budget at its meeting Tuesday night.
The $120,000 allocation is a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost of the project, which the city’s Chief of Inspectional Services and Building Commissioner Michael Donovan estimated would be approximately $4 million.
The city will be reimbursed for approximately 80 percent of the spending on the project by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), said City Council President Darren Cyr, which sparked his interest in funding the project.
“The city gets 80 percent of what we spend on that project so it makes sense,” said Cyr. “It’s like, if you own your house and you need a new roof and new windows, and you knew that you would get 80 percent back, it would make sense that you would spend away.”
The MSBA, a quasi-independent government authority, assists communities with supporting the design and construction of educationally-appropriate, flexible, sustainable, and cost-effective public school facilities, according to its website.
The Lynn Tech building on Neptune Boulevard was built in 1971, making it relatively new compared to many Lynn school buildings, 11 of which are more than 100 years old.
The roof of the Lynn Tech annex was recently renovated, also with MSBA reimbursement, for about $3.8 million, according to Donovan.
Donovan expected that construction would begin in the late summer or early fall, depending on how long the design process lasts.
The funding for the feasibility study will go before the School Committee for approval Thursday night.
Any school spending higher than $100,000 comes out of the city budget, Cyr said, which is why the council’s approved allocation this week was necessary.
Cyr hopes to continue the focus on improving public school infrastructure.
“Eighty percent of our buildings are over 100 years old,” said Cyr. “What we need to do is come up with innovative ways to maintain our buildings and build new buildings.”
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
