With the water main project nearing completion in the coming months, the town discussed several other current and upcoming projects at its Sept. 10 meeting.
Roadways
Lincoln’s engineering consultant is working on a Ballfield Road plan that he expects to present to the Transportation Coalition later in September, Town Administrator Tim Higgins said. Once that group and the School Committee approves of the concept, they’ll present cost estimates to the Select Board. If that board gives the green light, the final plan and funding proposal will be submitted to the Capital Planning Committee and then to an Annual Town Meeting vote in March 2027.
Ballfield Road is in need of repaving and other work, partly because heavy vehicles have degraded it during the school and community center construction projects. The improvements will also include new sidewalks, crosswalks, improved signage, and a redesigned campus entrance, including removal of the eastern “slip lane” entrance from Lincoln Road, Higgins said.
Officials have also gotten data from the townwide roadway study and are preparing cost estimates and priorities for road repair. “We’re probably not going to be able to afford having secondary roads [repaired to] the same standard as primary roads,” Select Board member Jim Hutchinson cautioned.
Lincoln Green Energy Choice
Since its inception in 2021, the Lincoln Green Energy Choice electricity aggregation program has supported regional renewable energy development by purchasing Class I Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) beyond what is required by state law. Now, because of changes in federal and state policy, purchasing additional RECs may no longer be as effective in driving new renewable-energy development, Green Energy Committee Chair Paul Shorb told the Select Board.
As a result, the committee proposes to redirect some or all of the premiums now used to purchase additional RECs into a town-controlled fund that would support local projects intended to mitigate climate change and/or promote climate resiliency. This will require a Town Meeting vote to create the fund and define what sort of projects it could be used for.
The committee will seek public input and make recommendations to the Select Board by early 2027, said Shorb, who explained program developments in more detail in an Aug. 30 piece in the Lincoln Squirrel and also posted to LincolnTalk.
Landfill solar project
The end of September is the latest estimate for bringing the landfill solar array on line, a year after construction began, Higgins told the board. The solar developer has completed steps including securing Eversource’s permission to operate the system, project commissioning, public safety training, and securing a net metering allocation for the financial credits the town will receive from the generation supplied to Eversource, he said.
Higgins and consultant Beth Greenblatt are also discussing options for an educational component or dashboard, such as a website or on-site kiosk that would offer data on the array’s operation once it’s up and running.
Community center
The board also began discussing a building use policy for the community center, which officially broke ground in October 2025 and was originally scheduled for completion later this fall. “The general contractor had challenging weather, and is behind schedule,” said Community Center Building Committee member Alison Taunton-Rigby. The committee will get an update at its next meeting on Sept. 23.
Winter Street in Waltham
A map of southeast Lincoln showing the Waltham parcels that were recently rezoned in dark gray. (Click image t enlarge)
The city of Waltham has approved rezoning the underused Bay Colony office park on Winter Street on the Lincoln town line to allow construction of 1,200 units of housing. Higgins is drafting a letter for the Select Board to send to Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy and the City Council expressing Lincoln’s concerns.
Lincoln plans to hire an independent traffic engineering firm to review the developer’s initial traffic study, which predicted 4,500 additional trips per day compared to the present conditions, Higgins wrote in his draft, which has yet to be edited and approved by the board.
“We are concerned that a meaningful share of this new traffic, together with traffic seeking to avoid Winter Street and Route 128 congestion, will be diverted onto roadways that serve as through-connections toward Lincoln” including Old County Road and Trapelo Road as well as Winter Street,” he wrote. Winter Street is closed to eastbound traffic after the intersection with Old County Road, whose southernmost section dead-ends in Waltham.
