By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield Public Library will be getting a new roof next year after Fall Town Meeting approved three warrant articles associated with the project on Monday.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan gave an overview of Articles 9, 10 and 12 to Fall Town Meeting. He said Articles 9 and 10 pertained to rezoning and selling the old South Lynnfield Branch Library, 630 Salem St. He said Article 9 requested Fall Town Meeting to approve rezoning the property from a Residence A Zoning District to Limited Business.
Dolan said Article 10 requested Fall Town Meeting to approve transferring the South Lynnfield Branch Library building to the Select Board for the purpose of selling the property. While the South Lynnfield Branch Library has not been used as a library since the 1980s, Dolan said the Fire Department had been using the building for administrative offices until Fire Headquarters recently opened.
In order to sell the old South Lynnfield Branch Library property, Dolan said the town went through a bid process.
“We asked for a bid for commercial and a bid for residential,” said Dolan. “Currently, it is only a residential lot. We felt that a commercial option would provide more tax dollars for the town and probably a less impactful use. The appraised value of the property was $425,000. We are very happy to report that the bid for both residential and commercial came in at $475,000.”
Dolan said the funds from the South Lynnfield Branch Library sale will be used to replace the Lynnfield Public Library’s roof.
“The library roof has been identified in the capital improvement plan as the number one need for the community,” said Dolan.
Pillings Pond Road resident Dick Shafner recalled that Town Meeting approved selling the South Lynnfield Branch Library building to American Legion Post 131 several years ago.
Retired Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin, who is still working as a part-time consultant for the town, said Shafner was correct that Town Meeting previously authorized the sale of the building to the American Legion.
“They later got back to us and said they weren’t able to come up with the necessary funds to go forward,” said Curtin.
Voters approved Article 9 by a vote of 197-25.
Fall Town Meeting also approved Article 10 by a vote of 193-21.
Dolan said Article 12 requested Fall Town Meeting to appropriate $525,000 from the Sale of Real Estate Fund in order to replace the library’s roof. He said the $475,000 from the South Lynnfield Branch Library sale would offset the cost of replacing the roof.
“That should be a wash,” said Dolan.
Huntingdon Road resident Susan Arseneault asked what the cost estimate is for replacing the library’s roof.
Dolan said the town did not have a cost estimate.
“Massachusetts law states that you cannot go out to bid on a project unless it is fully funded,” said Dolan. “We have talked to commercial contractors, and assume the number will be around what we will sell the building for. The range we are looking at is between $450,000 and $525,000. That is an estimate from professional contractors. Once we get fully funded, then we can go for a formal bid process that we will probably do this spring.”
Board of Library Trustees Chair Anne Malenfant urged Fall Town Meeting to approve Article 12.
“The town voted down the new library and voted down the renovation,” said Malenfant. “At the heart of those projects is the condition of the existing building. The roof is the number one most critical thing that needs to be addressed. It is over 30-years-old. It needed to be replaced 10 years ago, but it was put off to allow for the discussion of the new library and the renovation. It causes leaks and ice dams, and is causing ongoing damage to the building and everything within it. We are simply asking that the roof get replaced.”
Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) member Andy Youngren asked if an engineering firm has inspected the library’s roof.
“Frequently when roofs leak for an extended period of time, there can be structural damage that can greatly increase the cost of the work,” said Youngren.
Dolan said Tappé Architects examined the library’s roof while working on the library renovation project that was rejected earlier this year.
“We don’t fully know what the damage may be, but they put in a cost contingency in the plan to cover any potential damage,” said Dolan. “Obviously the longer we wait, the more damage there will be.”
Voters approved Article 12 by a vote of 213-12.
PSB/Town Hall funds OK’d
Fall Town Meeting approved Article 11, which transferred $350,000 from the Capital Improvement Fund in order to complete the public safety/Town Hall project.
“The use of this money will go to closeout costs for the project, with the focus on the demolition of the South Fire Station property to create 40 additional parking spaces,” said Dolan. “This will have absolutely no impact on the debt exclusion approved three years ago. We would like to finish this project in the month of January and move in. If we do not receive these dollars and there are other closeout costs that are unpredicted, we will not be able to move into the building until May. The goal is to use what we need and return any money that is leftover back to the stabilization fund in May.”
Locksley Road resident MaryLu Mendonca asked why the $350,000 was not included in the warrant.
“It makes it sound like we are authorizing a blank check,” said Mendonca.
Dolan said the $350,000 was not included in the Fall Town Meeting warrant because the South Fire Station razing project has not gone out to bid.
“We feel that this is a responsible amount that should cover the cost,” said Dolan. “We can’t give an actual cost until it goes out to bid.”
In response to a question from Sylvan Circle Richard Regitano, Dolan said the $350,000 was originally included in the $63.5 million public safety/Town Hall project. He said PFAS, which he noted are “forever chemicals,” were discovered at the South Fire Station site while the new Fire Headquarters was being constructed. He said removing PFAS is very expense due to a law change.
“We found upwards of $1 million to $2 million worth of PFAS,” said Dolan. “We had to reduce the scope of the project to meet that new law. We decided to take this part of the project out, understanding that we can make up additional money at the end. We still have a contingency, but we feel that we will need a little bit of extra money just in case. We thought that was the best thing to remove. We are now hoping to finish the project without that, but if we don’t get the money tonight, we won’t be able to finish the job until May and we want to move in this January.”
Arseneault asked why the town “wasn’t waiting until the bid comes in so we know what we need.”
“The reason for that is we only get money twice a year,” said Dolan. “Once is in October and once is in May. We are trying to open up these facilities in January. We thought $350,000 was the right number to do this work and not have to wait to May. In the end, we will turn over any money that we are not using.”
An Essex Village man asked if the $350,000 was needed in order to repair the damage to Fire Headquarters after a 2019 Porsche Macan SUV crashed into the rear of the building earlier this month.
Dolan said no.
“The cost to repair the building is 100 percent paid for by the insurance of the person who was involved in the accident,” said Dolan. “The building is fine.”
Voters approved Article 11 by a vote of 184-40.
Citizens’ petitions withdrawn
Traffic Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) Vice Chair Tom Manning withdrew Articles 13 and 14 that he submitted as citizens’ petitions.
After Manning read Article 13 and a woman seconded it, Select Board Chair Phil Crawford and Finance Committee Chair Tom Kayola both said their respective boards voted not to recommend Article 13.
“Town counsel has ruled that under our Charter and state law, Town Meeting cannot create rules on how elected boards can conduct their business, what topics they take up and how often,” said Crawford. “Our system of government is appropriately divided between Town Meeting and elected boards and appointed boards. While passage of these articles will not be binding, we believe that voters should defeat this attempt to require the boards to give preferential treatment to one category of the myriad issues brought before it simply because it falls into a certain category, in this case traffic. It begs the question why we have the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee? It’s not the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee who wants to do this. It is the petitioner who is part of the committee, but it is not the committee asking for it. This will set a very poor precedent for the town and we believe that future articles will try to dictate how various collective boards act.”
While Town Moderator Steve Walsh said Town Counsel Tom Mullen ruled that Articles 13 and 14 would be nonbinding, he said he was going to allow Fall Town Meeting to debate both articles.
“Mr. Manning deserves an opportunity to be heard and you have an opportunity to express your opinion even if that opinion is nonbinding,” said Walsh.
Manning agreed to withdraw Articles 13 and 14.
Remaining articles approved
Fall Town Meeting unanimously approved Article 1 on a voice vote, which accepted provisions of a state law in order to establish an Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability (OPEB) Trust Fund.
Voters approved Article 2 unanimously on a voice vote, which amended the Building Department’s fee schedule for inspectional services.
Fall Town Meeting unanimously approved Article 3 on a voice vote, which amended the Town Clerk’s Office’s fee schedule.
Voters approved Article 4 unanimously on a voice vote, which amended the Select Board’s fee schedule.
Fall Town Meeting unanimously approved Article 5, which amended the Board of Health’s fee schedule.
Voters approved Article 6 unanimously, which appropriated $47,000 to the town’s Medicare line item in the fiscal year 2026 operating budget.