By John Lynds

The Lynn City Council voted on several measures at Tuesday night’s meeting.

First the Council voted in favor of a petition by D and P Realty Trust for a sign permit at 50-54 State St. The proponent recently rehabbed the building with facade improvements and requested the sign permit for the building. After looking at renderings of the new sign request the council voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

Next, the Council voted in favor of Zachary Andrews’s request to withdraw his proposal to construct a six-unit apartment building in the Central Business District at 38-44 Andrews St. Andrews would need special zoning to construct residential units in the business district. The request was done without prejudice so Andrews will have the opportunity to resubmit the same or a revised proposal at a later date

Council President Darren Cyr made a motion that was approved by the Council to hold off a vote regarding the Fiscal Year 2018 Tax Levy. The Council was to make a determination on the percentage of the FY2018 Tax Levy to be borne by each class of real estate and personal property. The City’s tax authority sets a percentage rate for imposing taxes, called a levy rate, which is then calculated against the assessed value of each homeowner’s property. The final determination is the individual property tax levy for that resident. Collectively, every resident’s tax levy determines the total revenue of the municipality’s property tax levy.

The Council also voted on the Ways and Means Committee recommendation to move $100,000 from the City’s Reserve Fund to the Lynn Fire Department to cover a shortfall in funding the department’s overtime.

The Council then voted to authorize the Mayor of Lynn to begin the process of moving forward in securing grant funding to complete the Lynn Common Restoration Project. With $580,000 needed for Phase III of the project the Mayor can now solicit grant money from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs who is offering reimbursable grants to cities and towns looking to enhance and preserve public open spaces.

The ultimate goal of the Lynn Common Restoration Project is to improve infrastructure, greenspace and pathways with the main focus on enhancing available space to adequately host major events and activities on the Common.