LYNN — The city is creating a plan to help downtown businesses recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a virtual meeting hosted by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council on Wednesday, MAPC representatives and the city’s Associate Planner Lauren Drago presented the results of a survey of downtown businesses and discussed existing resources available to local business owners.
Drago explained that the city’s rapid recovery plan will analyze population and business data to ensure an equitable distribution of resources which prioritizes the needs of low-income and minority residents and business owners.
“Although the focus is on the Downtown Lynn Cultural District, we’re hoping what we get out of this plan will be broadly applicable to the city as well,” Drago said.
The downtown Lynn population has a median household income of approximately $16,000, and around 30 percent of residents do not speak English or do not speak it well. However, Ella Wise, senior land use planner at MAPC, noted that the area is looking at a lot of incoming development, with around 1,200 housing units currently in the pipeline — only 45 of which are considered affordable.
“A lot of this new housing will bring higher-income residents and may cause dramatic changes in the real-estate market,” Wise said. “Preparing for this change and ensuring existing businesses benefit from new investment is a key focus of this planning process, as well as welcoming new residents and new businesses.”
According to a survey conducted by the MAPC and Lynn Main Streets, 50 percent of downtown businesses reported temporary or permanent closures during the pandemic, and of those, more than half were still operating at reduced hours or capacity as of Tuesday night. Forty percent of businesses also reported more than 25 percent loss of revenue.
Wise identified several areas where the downtown needs improvement, including improving walkability and bikeability, as well as public transit, activating some of the unused green spaces and storefronts downtown and improving lighting and signage.
“There’s a lot of new development coming to downtown. We need to ensure existing businesses — especially minority-owned businesses — can benefit from that investment,” she said. “Businesses were hard-hit by COVID and are seeking assistance, and there’s an opportunity to improve public spaces to attract more foot traffic.”
Resources and grants are available to local business owners through Lynn Main Streets, the Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development & Industrial Corporation of Lynn, Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), and the North Shore Latino Business Association.
The MAPC will continue to do interviews with local businesses and residents to see which resources are needed as it continues the planning process for the recovery program.
