LYNN– A third public meeting on the city’s Harbor Walk project, a 33-acre waterfront recreational space on a Lynnway landfill, was held Thursday night via zoom. The meeting was held to share an update on the status of the project and have members of the public weigh in with their thoughts and questions.
In a presentation by project manager David Andrews from Brown Richardson and Rowe, he noted that the project has been broken up into four phases: Phase 1 being the Landfill area; Phase 1A+2 being the east park; Phase 3 being the waterfront and coastal; and Phase 4 being the west park.
This meeting focused specifically on phases 1 and 1A+2 and its amenities. Andrews noted that they are currently preparing a Construction Cost Estimate which will determine what components of the park will fit within the $10.4 million budget for the project. It was also noted that after phase 1, the City and/or State are intending to fund and install elements that are not within the budget.
Hannah Van der Eb, a landscape designer with Brown Richardson and Rowe walked those in attendance through site furnishings that they may see when walking through the completed site. Among these furnishings are overlooks complete with benches and tables, shade structures, bike racks, and granite seating.
Van der Eb said that the coastal conditions were taken into account when deciding what material would be used in these furnishings.
“The granite, the timber, the steel, those were all to withstand the site conditions that we are expecting for this coastal park,” said Van der Eb. “We needed to find durable materials that would also provide comfort and work with the passive park aesthetic as well as we were thinking about how they would weather over time.”
There will also be a number of signs implemented into the park during phase 1 to help direct park goers.
Many residents in attendance had questions and concerns regarding the first few phases of the project regarding parking and toxic hazards.
Tim Potter said that development of the area owned by National Grid, from the old Harbor Hotel to the Garelick Farms was supposedly contaminated, and that a large amount of money was required to remove the contamination. Potter asked if that issue had been addressed.
“There was a portion of this site that did have contamination. Any of the environmental contamination that was on site has been removed,” said Clausen. He also addressed a concern with a liquified natural gas (LNG) tank nearby, stating that “Our expectation is that National Grid will be maintaining that in a safe manner and will be effectively regulated by the appropriate agencies for that purpose.”
City Planner Aaron Clausen said there will be plenty of initial parking during phase 1 and they are looking to make the park accessible in as many ways as possible.
“The first phase does include a temporary parking area that could be expanded with future phases. There is on street parking along Hanson street and there is public parking behind Walmart,” said Clausen. “The big picture is this park is being designed in concert with the Waterfront open space master plan that envisions an interconnected network of pathways for bikes, pedestrians and envisions better connections to the city more broadly. We’re looking to make it a very accessible park in that way.”
Community input was gathered towards the end of the meeting with a poll regarding terrace amenities and if people would like to see the park be used for active or passive recreational use. 63 percent of those in attendance voted for a hybrid approach where both active and passive amenities were installed, and 69 percent of voters wanted to see a performance deck built in regards to active recreation.
Next steps in the first phase of the project include obtaining permission from National Grid to fill in its easement area, updating the permit plans with terrace area active use preferences, and identifying phase 1 vs. phase 1A park components before developing final construction drawings. Phase 1 is expected to be completed at the end of summer 2025.
