LYNN — Although the city did not implement a parking ban amid Tuesday’s snowfall, Lynn drivers will now have access to dozens of additional emergency parking options.
City Council approved an agreement between the city, North Shore Community College (NSCC), and Leading Through Empowering Opportunities (LEO) Inc., that would allow Lynn residents to use both facilities’ parking lots during snow emergencies.
The MBTA garage will be demolished in the spring, removing the current 500 emergency parking spots left open for the winter. With the demolition looming, the city is working to establish parking areas.
In a Public Parks and Property Committee meeting, city attorney Jim Lamanna said that while Lynn would likely be in the clear for snow emergencies in 2023, there remains a need to establish emergency parking for any future snow-related parking bans.
“Hopefully we’ve dodged a bullet, so we won’t have to worry about this in 2023,” Lamanna said. “The administration and city officials have been looking for alternative sites in the event that we do have to declare a snow emergency.”
City Council voted unanimously to pass the motion executing the agreement, which Lamanna said the mayor already made with NSCC and LEO.
Policy Director for the Mayor’s Office Danya Smith said in an interview earlier this month that the city intends to commission a parking study later in the year to thoroughly address the area’s needs.
“We’re trying to think about other ways that we can kind of better understand the supply and demand of parking in the downtown,” Smith said.
Additionally, the city is currently examining ways to re-stripe the Ellis Street parking lot in order to maintain valuable parking space at the site of a temporary MBTA platform. This will likely make use of the site, adding 200 public parking spaces.
