The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Lincolnites invited to submit art for courthouse

The Middlesex Superior Court has invited the Lincoln Council on Aging & Human Services, among others, to participate in its Community Art Program, a courthouse initiative designed to celebrate and showcase local artists. The program is made possible through a $25,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation.

The COA&HS encourages local Lincoln artists to submit artwork centered on the theme “Community.” Past submissions have included murals of local landmarks, paintings of meaningful places, and drawings highlighting the natural beauty of the region. Original artwork and high-quality digital reproductions are both welcome.

Submissions should measure 11″ x 14″ and may be created in pencil, watercolor, or oil on paper or canvas. Each submission should include the artist’s name, location, artwork title, and a brief description to accompany the displayed piece. Artwork is due to the COA&HS by Friday, Sept. 4 with a 100-word maximum explaining how the work represents the town of Lincoln and its community. Submit artwork in person to the Bemis Hall or digitally by emailing Katherine Kmetz at kmetzk@lincolnma.gov. Submissions will be reviewed and a selected piece will be presented to the Middlesex Superior Court.

The selected Lincoln artist will have their art professionally framed and displayed with works throughout the courthouse. Participating artists, their guests, community members, court staff, and judges will be invited to a celebratory event in November recognizing the artists and highlighting the important role that art plays in strengthening community connections.

News acorns

Coming up at the deCordova

deCordova Performance Series: Midtown Horns
Saturday, Aug. 22 from 6:30-8:00pm
The concert will take place outdoors on the front lawn — bring a blanket or lawn chair. Tickets are $32/$40 for adults, $12/$15 for children.

Sip and String: Whimsical Wind Chimes
Saturday, Aug. 22 from 1:00-3:00pm
Use found objects, materials collected from the Sculpture Park grounds and delicate metal chimes, create your own symphonic sculptural creations to hang from a porch or in your back yard. All materials plus tea for sipping included. Cost: $48 for members, $60 for nonmembers.

deCordova Performance Series: Tom DiMenna 
Friday, Sept. 4 from 6:30-8:00pm
Recreating the iconic story songs of Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot, and Harry Chapin. Tickets are $32/$40 for adults, $12/$15 for children.

Did You Know …

That one-time Lincoln residents Bernard and Avis DeVoto incurred the wrath of Edgar Hoover and were investigated by the FBI due to their dogged efforts to uncover corruption and protect wild Western landscapes… and that they earned the trust and friendship of Ansel Adams, Wallace Stegner, and Julia Child among others in the process? Read more on the Lincoln Historical Society website.

Garden Club party

The Lincoln Garden Club invites anyone interested in joining the club to a Prosecco and Tea party on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 3:00pm. Committee chairs will be there to answer questions about the many things club does. To RSVP and get the location, or if you can’t make it but are interested in joining, email Belinda Gingrich at belinda.gingrich@gmail.com to RSVP.

Back-to-school PTO picnic

Local groups will have information tables at the back-to-school PTO picnic on Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 5:30-7:30pm in the Lincoln School back fields behind the Smith gym (in the gym in case of bad weather). If you would like your organization to host a table at the picnic, please respond using this form. The PTO will provide water and pizza (one slice apiece) to students. Families are encouraged to set up picnic blankets, bring additional food, and get together to celebrate the kick-off of the school year.

New state law imposes more zoning changes

(Image by Magnific)

The Planning Board this week heard a summary of sweeping statewide changes to zoning laws signed into law on July 9 aimed at easing the housing crisis. And because the amendments were contained in the FY2027 budget bill that contained an emergency preamble, the changes take effect immediately, overriding any conflicting local community zoning rules.

At the board’s Aug. 11 meeting, KP Law attorney Amy Kwesell outlined changes that will substantially loosen restrictions in Lincoln’s zoning. 

Extension or alteration of preexisting nonconforming structure or residential uses

Such structures may now be altered as of right (i.e., without a special permit) as long as they conform to height, setback, and story regulations. This also means owners of such properties can build accessory dwelling units (ADUs), provided the new ADU construction itself complies with current setback, height, and story requirements.

Variances

Variances may now be issued if failure to do so would cause “practical difficulty” to the property owner, a lower standard than the former “substantial hardship” requirement.

“This sort of puts the [Zoning Board of Appeals] in a corner,” board chair Lynn DeLisi remarked.

“Most definitely,” Zwesell replied.

To determine what constitutes “practical difficulty,” the ZBA must weigh the benefits to the petitioner and the public interest, “including the interest in supporting the production of housing,” according to the amendment, against the potential detriment to the public health, safety and welfare of the neighborhood.

“This is going to be very difficult for ZBAs,” Kwesell said, noting that those boards are trained not to grant variances except in “very unusual circumstances.” ZBAs will need to evaluate the facts of each case and it will probably take some time to get more clarity as the courts interpret this language through variance appeals, she added.

Expansion of lot merger zoning protection

Under the old rules, if someone owned two 1.5-acre adjacent lots in Lincoln (less than Lincoln’s two0acre minimum for building a home), the lots were protected from being “merged” into a single lot for zoning purposes and the owner could therefore still build a single-family house on each adjacent lot. However, if the owner wanted to build small multi-family housing on each lot, the anti-merger protection did not apply; the town could treat them as one parcel to bring the land closer to current dimensional requirements, limiting the developer to only one structure instead of two separate projects.

Because anti-merger protection now covers all residential uses, the two lots maintain their separate “grandfathered” status regardless of whether the proposed homes are single-family, two-family, triplexes, or multi-family townhomes. So a buyer who acquires two adjacent non-conforming lots can now build multifamily housing or townhomes on each lot (assuming they each met septic and other requirements) without the town forcing them to collapse the lot lines into a single, less dense parcel.

“This is a huge change,” Kwesell said.

Earlier zoning freezes and construction windows

Projects are protected from subsequent zoning amendments starting from the moment when a property owner files their application for a building permit or special permit, rather than from when the permit is actually issued. (Also, building permits also now allow owners 24 months to start construction rather than 12 months.) 

Electronic notices

Cities and towns may now use electronic mailing of notices for public hearings for zoning amendments, special permits, and variances.

Abandonment

Towns cannot declare a nonconforming structure abandoned unless it has sat unused for four years (increased from two).

Although the new rules take effect immediately, Lincoln will still have to update its zoning bylaw to conform — probably at Annual Town Meeting in March 2027. This affects sections 4.1(a), (c), (d) and (e)(iii) having to do with nonconforming uses, section 14.4.2 (ADUs), and sections 20(d) and (e) concerning powers of the ZBA over variances.

This is the second major state-mandated zoning change intended to make it easier to build more housing. The 2020 Housing Choice Act encouraging development of multifamily housing near public transportation stations led to months of wrangling and a contentious Town Meeting in 2024 where Lincoln made the required amendments before a state deadline. There’s no deadline for changing local zoning bylaw this time, because the changes immediately override them.

And more changes are coming. Under terms of a pending economic development bill:

  • Duplexes and accessory dwelling units would be allowed in all zoning districts
  • Conversion of commercial uses or structures to multifamily residential uses would be encouraged. Under current law, if a developer wants to convert an underutilized office building, strip mall, or factory into housing, they must apply for local rezoning, a variance, or a special permit. Instead of forcing developers to fight for one-off zoning variances for a single parcel, a municipality can pre-designate entire commercial zones where adaptive reuse into housing or mixed-use development is permitted via streamlined local approvals.
  • Religious institutions could build multifamily housing on their property if it’s already in a residential zone. Under the Dover Amendment, they are currently exempt from certain local zoning laws, but only for strictly religious or educational purposes. 
  • Site plan review procedures would be standardized statewide to provide developers with predictable timelines and objective criteria.

The House and Senate have passed different versions of the bill that must be reconciled before it can be signed and enacted.

“I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you,” Kwesell said.

My Turn: Drumlin days

By Stewart Coffin

With all the talk in the news these days about nuclear weapons, some Lincoln residents might be surprised to learn that nuclear bombs were once deployed right next door. Don’t worry — note my use of the past tense.

This story begins when my wife and I, together with our three children, move to Lincoln in the summer of 1964. Right away we noticed that our little transistor radio periodically made a strange hissing sound a couple times a minute. It wasn’t long before we associated this with a radar antenna merrily revolving on top of the nearby Drumlin Hill. Back then the top of the hill was clearly visible from our farmyard on Old Sudbury Road, although hard to believe now with so many more trees everywhere.

We were told by neighbors that it was a Nike site of nuclear-armed missiles for defense against Soviet bombers. My later research revealed, to my relief, that this site was only for tracking, and that the actual nuclear-armed missiles were housed deep underground a mile away off of Oxbow Road. Since a few years earlier I had been employed at Lincoln Laboratory working on, of all things, the Sage System of continental air defense, you might think I would have known all about this. But my division worked only on computers. The site was opened in 1959 and decommissioned in 1974. All that remains now, thankfully, is the once bare hilltop now partly covered with trees.

I actually have many fond memories of that hilltop. We had a family tradition of taking the children for a stroll up there on one special evening during the summer to gaze at the full moon rising far to the east. We called it our Moon Walk. The view back then was spectacular. It is less so now with so many more trees, but the large fields that were once Boyce and Van Leer farms are now still open and cultivated as part of Drumlin Farm, thus still affording at least a partial view. Even our own nine-acre plot remains the same, as does so much along our rustic road. Ah yes, so many memories.

Editor’s note: Learn more about the Nike missile sites in Lincoln and Wayland here and here. Stewart Coffin was profiled in the Lincoln Squirrel on April 1, 2026. 

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnians. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Legal notice: Conservation Commission public hearing (Farrington trail)

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING — CONSERVATION COMMISSION

The Lincoln Conservation Commission (LCC) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 7:05PM in accordance with the Town of Lincoln Wetlands Protection Bylaw. This is in response to the duly filed Request for Determination of Applicability by the Town of Lincoln Conservation Department for creation of a trail within the 100-ft Buffer Zone at 59 Page Road and 295 Cambridge Turnpike (Parcel 132-25-0). Information on how to log onto the virtual public meeting will be included in the LCC Agenda posted on the town’s website at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. More information can be reviewed here.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

My Turn: SPJE coalition launches weekly protest at Hanscom Field

By Alex Chatfield

Editor’s note: Area residents are also gathering every Friday at the Hanscom traffic circle to protest the use of Massport-owned Hanscom Field civil airport to transfer people arrested by ICE as suspected illegal immigrants (Lincoln Squirrel, March 9, 2026).

On Wednesday morning, Aug. 5, nearly 40 people gathered around the traffic rotary at the entrance to Hanscom Field Civil Terminal in Lincoln to demonstrate their opposition to a proposed controversial private jet hangar expansion at Hanscom Field (not the adjacent Hanscom Air Force Base), which would double the private jet hangar capacity of the airport.

The proposal has been undergoing a state environmental review since 2023. Standout participants traveled from Acton, Arlington, Bedford, Cambridge, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Newton, Roslindale, Somerville, Sudbury, and Watertown. The event was held by the Coalition to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere (SPJE.org). Candidates Ravi Simon and Alison Leary who are running for state representative in 13th Middlesex and 10th Middlesex districts respectively, also attended.

Photo by Andy Platt.

Participants held signs and banners with hard-hitting messages directed toward morning commuters entering the Hanscom Civil Terminal parking lot, among them: “Welcome to Massport — Enjoy Your View of the Dying Earth from Your Private Jet” and “CO2 Super-emitter Private Jets: a Luxury Our Climate Can’t Afford.”

According to a 2024 independent analysis, the proposed private jet hangar expansion would add 66 to 79 additional private jets to Hanscom, generating 6,000 additional flights annually and 150,000 new tons of CO2 each year.

If the expansion goes ahead, private jet emissions at Hanscom alone are expected to cancel approximately 70% of the climate gains from all solar PV ever installed in Massachusetts, which opponents say is a direct and immediate threat to hard-won efforts by towns and cities across Massachusetts to reduce their carbon footprint and combat a worsening climate crisis. For this reason, the fight to stop the immense 50-acre, nearly 500,000-square-foot expansion has transcended to statewide opposition with the engagement of 120 organizations across Massachusetts and, over 15,000 individuals who have signed a petition to Gov. Healey urging her to stop what they consider to be an indefensible expansion in the middle of a worsening climate emergency.

Photo by Will Winchell.

“This proposed expansion must be stopped,” said Andy Platt of Acton, who participated in the standout.

Though work on the old Navy hangar on the eastern portion of the proposed project site began last month, this is by special waiver from MEPA (Mass. Office of Environmental Policy) specific to that one hangar only. Regarding the remaining proposed 17 new hangars and five new underground fuel tanks, MEPA is waiting for a re-do report from the developers which would replace a previous report that MEPA rejected in 2024 (see this Boston Globe article). The new report is now expected no sooner than this fall. Meanwhile, the fight to stop the expansion continues to grow and protests are in full swing, say activists at the Aug. 5 standout.

More photos and video from the event can be found here. More information about this issue can be found at www.spje.org, or contact info@spje.org.

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnians. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

My Turn: Befriending our landscapes and rethinking summer health

By Annamaria San Antonio (Jai Kaur)

August is National Wellness Month, but what is the point of celebrating wellness nationally if we ignore the root of the word “national”? A nation is fundamentally the land — our shared outer terrain, which directly mirrors our inner bodily terrain. True wellness requires us to care for both, yet a growing cultural paranoia is driving us to treat our environments as battlegrounds to be sterilized rather than ecosystems to be befriended. When we recognize that our internal vitality is deeply interconnected with the health of the earth, we shift our mindset from knee-jerk panic to mindful, proactive stewardship.

To underscore why it is critical to become aware of what is moving in and around this shared land, we can look at two events that recently occurred right outside my door at our historic Codman Estate in Lincoln.

Last month, I witnessed a contractor spraying pure glyphosate to kill poison ivy along our stone walls. It was a windy morning, setting up the perfect condition for chemical mist to drift toward our community organic farm, where local children play and neighbors walk their dogs. Pesticide and herbicide drift accounts for up to 25% of an applied chemical becoming airborne. Because I advocate for reducing our reliance on synthetic chemicals, I wrote a firm, fact-based email to management laying out the science of chemical drift, gut microbiome destruction, and soil biology. The very next day, management permanently banned chemical herbicide applications across the entire property.

Two days later, during a summer gathering, a bumblebee stung an elderly guest twice. Instead of panicking or running for a chemical spray can, I used ice packs to handle the external heat and an internal homeopathic remedy to soothe the swelling. By the end of the evening, she experienced no pain (or hard feelings!).

These two events highlight a major cultural dilemma: how proactive are you when it comes to reducing the hidden disruptors in your own environment? The hard truth is that man-made toxicants are monumentally harder to get out of our bodies than they are to get into them. While biological toxins like a bee sting can be mobilized out of your tissues through standard circulation, exercise, and massage, clearing synthetic toxicants out of your cells is a far more complex process.

Reacting in blind fear to nature leads to a broader, systemic poisoning of our soils, plant life, and waterways.

When towns panic and order widespread aerial spraying for non-endemic risks, those chemicals settle into the food we eat and the water we drink. Heavy metals and lipophilic — or fat-loving — chemical compounds cross the blood-brain barrier over time, triggering mitochondrial damage and chronic inflammation. We must look past what chemical corporations or regulating boards deem as baseline “safe” and consult independent advocacy groups like the Environmental Working Group  to research what we allow into our homes.

The answer to environmental risk is absolutely not to retreat indoors, lock our windows, and hide from the world. In my practice, I notice a concerning trend of people pulling away from the natural world out of sheer anxiety. This hypervigilance has evolved past bugs into an avoidant fear of sweat, exercise, and even the sun. Complete sun avoidance leaves us severely Vitamin D-deprived, yet this vital hormone is monumentally beneficial for our immune systems.

Yes, being outside carries some risk. But the responsibility is on us to be educated and prepared, not to demand that nature be tamed so we feel secure. When we rush to use harsh chemical barriers in our yards, we try to kill a fly with a blowtorch, knocking out entire ecosystems in the process.

Mindful prevention is necessary, but sheer panic cuts us off from the exact nature medicine our nervous systems need. Step outside with confidence, arm yourself with a little natural education, and go enjoy the expansive peace that is waiting for you right outside your door.

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnians. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Eoin Trevelyan, 1939–2026

Eoin W. Trevelyan

Eoin William Trevelyan, age 87, died in Concord on August 5, 2026. A long-time resident of Lincoln, he was predeceased by his devoted wife, J. Ann Devitt Trevelyan, and is survived by his children, Fiona S. Trevelyan and Stuart E.D. Trevelyan and their families, as well as his sister, Anna Trevelyan Stoker and her family.

Born in Yorkshire, England, on July 23, 1939, to Margaret Mary Edith Gardiner Montgomery Trevelyan and Percy Trevelyan, Eoin was educated at St. Peter’s School (York) and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Leeds before joining Ford Motor Co.(U.K.). He and his new bride then crossed the Atlantic so both could attend graduate school at Harvard University; he received his MBA in 1967 and his doctorate in 1972 from the Harvard School of Business. Eoin then joined the faculty of Harvard Business School before moving to the Harvard School of Public Health, where he remained for the rest of his career. 

Having served as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Spelman College in Atlanta between his MBA and doctoral programs, Eoin maintained a close affiliation with the college, including serving as a trustee for many years. He and his wife were also active members of Trinity Copley Square.

A private service will be held at a later date. Donations may be made in Eoin’s honor to Trinity Boston Connects, 206 Clarendon St., Boston MA 02115. Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary.

Group releases first set of Dark Skies survey results

A Planning Board subcommittee has released the first batch of results from a townwide survey on outdoor lighting.

Around the time of the Town Meeting vote in March 2026 in which residents approved new restrictions on outdoor lighting to protect wildlife, the Lincoln Dark Skies Committee sent out the survey to better understand residents’ experiences with nighttime lighting and their preferences for future lighting practices in Lincoln.

The amended zoning bylaw establishes Dark Skies lighting standards for new construction and major renovations as well as new fixtures on existing buildings. It requires:

  • Shielding to direct all light toward the ground
  • A maximum light color temperature of 2700K (down from the current 3000K)
  • Limits on brightness (900 lumens)
  • New rules on hours of operation for lighting not associated with active use

The measured passed with a 195-48 vote, clearing the required two-thirds majority hurdle. Earlier in March, the Planning Board endorsed the proposed zoning amendment by a 3–1 vote, with board member Gary Taylor casting the only “nay” vote.

The first of three installments of the results of the survey, which garnered 268 responses, focuses on demographic information and opinions about outdoor lighting. Future installments will look at safety and technology.

The first batch of results indicates that respondents share the concerns of the committee. Almost 80% of respondents thought that having light on all night is not helpful, 90% thought having lights on all night impacts wildlife, and 71% thought having lights on all night does not make residents safer.

The majority also said from a neighbor’s property bothered them. Eighty precent or respondents said lights from neighbors were visible from their homes and 64% said they experienced “light trespass,” where artificial light spills beyond the intended property and into neighboring properties or natural areas. Additionally, respondents frequently identified institutional properties as sources of excessive lighting.

However, many who took the survey stressed that some outdoor lighting remains important to help prevent falls on uneven or icy surfaces, navigating long driveways, personal security when arriving home, and visibility around parking lots and transit areas.

The survey discussion also acknowledged that the study had several limitations. Participation was voluntary, meaning self-selection bias is possible, the report noted. Also, the findings were based on participants’ self-reported perceptions rather than objective measurements. “Consequently, the results should be interpreted as reflecting residents’ experiences and perceptions rather than direct assessments of lighting levels or environmental conditions,” the report said.