LYNN — The Broadway traffic-improvement project is ready to move forward.
In an 8-3 vote Tuesday, the City Council approved an order of taking for the Broadway project, a decision that allows the city to use the property of residents and businesses in the area of Broadway through temporary and permanent easements for development.
The project, which is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, would reconstruct approximately 0.3 miles of Broadway in the area of Euclid Avenue and Jenness Street to provide safety and operational improvements.
It would be in an area represented by Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi, who spoke in favor of the project during the meeting and pointed to the fact that it provides an opportunity to use state funds for the construction.
“It’s not often that the city gets this money to do these kinds of improvements,” Lozzi said. “I think in the end it’s going to be something that functions very well… It’s much-needed infrastructure money that will come to the city of Lynn.”
Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre was the most outspoken councilor against the project at the meeting. He said that his main objection was not to the project itself, but the process the city and state used to develop it.
He pointed to complaints from constituents he received about the project’s process, which he said did not provide enough opportunities for residents surrounding the project to give input.
At one point, LaPierre listed the addresses of around 30 residents in the area of the project who were opposed to it.
“Councilor Lozzi has been stewarding this for quite a long time,” LaPierre said. “I feel like this project and the lack of public participation has been deeply flawed.”
When the councilors took the vote, LaPierre and fellow Councilors-at-Large Brian Field and Hong Net cast the three votes against the project.
Lozzi said after the meeting that he was happy with the outcome of the vote, but understood the concerns brought up by his fellow councilors.
“I did agree with many of those points. The process could have been better,” he said.
Lozzi, who is not running for reelection in November after serving Ward 1 for 20 years, said that he understands the inconveniences the project may cause for the neighborhood in the short term. In the long term, however, he said that pursuing the project is the right move.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to have a much nicer neighborhood, it’s going to function better, and we’re going to have better public safety,” Lozzi said. “We would have been saying no to over $3.5 million from the state. In spite of inconveniences and disagreement, the amount of money that we would forfeit was just too great.”
LaPierre said after the meeting that he was disappointed with the outcome of the vote. In the future, he added, he hoped that leaders do a better job communicating with constituents about the effects projects will have on them and their properties.
“I was deeply disappointed in the process, not the project itself,” LaPierre said. “Ultimately it may be a very good project down the road. But in the meantime, we have to do a better job listening to the residents in that neighborhood.”
The vote on the project was tabled in August after the council received approval from the state to take more time to work with community members to address questions and concerns related to the project.
According to MassDOT, the intersections of Broadway and Jenness Street, and Broadway and Euclid Avenue are among the 200 most dangerous in the Commonwealth.
The Broadway project has been a contentious issue for months, highlighted by concerns from Salvy Migliaccio, a former City Council president and owner of Salvy the Florist & Steve’s Greenhouse.
Migliaccio objected to a proposed permanent easement for his property at 181 Broadway, which is located on the corner of Broadway and Jenness Street and contains a distinct water fountain visible from the street.
In a revised plan, a proposed permanent easement outlined in late June entailed using 17 square feet on the corner of Migliaccio’s property to round out the sidewalk to make it compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, according to Mayor Jared Nicholson.
“I think it’s an important infrastructure project for the city to address the public-safety issues and traffic issues,” Nicholson said. “We’re certainly committed to moving forward in a way that allows for residents’ questions to be answered.”
