LYNN — The city is inviting the community to help determine what the city’s conservation and recreation land will look like during the next seven years.
According to Associate Planning Director Lauren Drago, two of the main ways the city is seeking feedback for the Open Space and Recreation Plan are through an online survey and a public forum later this month.
“This is a good opportunity to touch base with the community about what they would like to see broadly in their parks,” Drago said.
Drago said the plan is a crucial part of the city’s ability to source grants from the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services, and will also act as a guide for how Lynn can utilize open spaces to best fit the community’s needs.
“What it helps us do is make sure we’re grounding the works that we do on the priorities of the community,” Drago said. “It will give us a foundation as we move forward.”
Drago said that since the last version of the Open Space and Recreation Plan was published by the city in 2016, community needs and requests have changed to include everything from more opportunities for track-and-field activities to a cricket pitch.
“One thing that really came across when we were doing some of our other planning activities is how important parks and open space are for the people of Lynn,” Drago said. “This is an opportunity to kind of collate all those different ideas from over the years into one document.”
Mayor Jared Nicholson said in a statement that community input is crucial to making sure everybody in the city can have a say in how its parks and recreation amenities will serve them in the coming years.
“Residents play a key role in shaping the future of our parks and their participation in the survey and public forum is essential for the growth of our city,” Nicholson said in a statement. “Our objective is to improve green-space equity through the accessibility and quality of our city’s green spaces.”
Nicholson also noted that access to recreational spaces and amenities for all is important for community members’ mental and physical health.
Drago said feedback is crucial for the city to decide how to best use 75 parcels of land including parks, cemetery land, and conservation land, representing more than 2,000 acres.
“(Community members) talk about it time and time again as some of their favorite parts of living in the city,” Drago said. “It feels like a big responsibility to honor that and to make sure that we’re taking care of our parks in a way that honors how much they prioritize it.”
The community-feedback survey became available last month and will be open until the end of the summer at LynninCommon.com. A virtual public forum will be held on Aug. 21 at 5 p.m.
The plan will be finalized in early 2024.
