Hospice proposal goes before ZBA on Thursday

Property in Lincoln and Waltham being proposed for a hospice facility is outlined in red.

A proposal for a two-story hospice facility on Winter Street property in Lincoln and Waltham, which calls for a 42,000-square-foot building and parking for 87 cars, will be the subject of a Lincoln Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) hearing on Thursday, March 6.

In 2013, the nonprofit Care Dimensions (formerly Hospice of the North Shore & Greater Boston) purchased 12 acres of land—nine in Lincoln and three in Waltham—in hopes of building an inpatient hospice unit similar to its 20-bed Kaplan House facility in Danvers (see the Lincoln Squirrel, Sept. 11, 2013). The company, which has offices in Danvers and Wellesley and serves 90 communities in eastern Massachusetts, employs 390 staff and over 400 trained volunteers to provide physical, emotional, social and spiritual support to more than 500 terminally ill patients and their families on any given day. Those patients may be in their homes, in assisted living or long-term care facilities, or in Kaplan House.

Access to the facility would be from a new driveway on the Waltham side of the property where Winter Street is two-way. The Lincoln side of the property, where Winter Street becomes one-way heading into Lincoln, would have a gated emergency entrance that be opened only by Lincoln emergency vehicles.

The 322-page application, which is available in sections on the Town of Lincoln website, Care also proposes landscaping elements including a promenade, formal gardens, and screening plantings. “The applicant has focused greatly on the landscape architecture to ensure that the project aesthetically blends with the character of the neighborhood,” the application says.

Architect’s drawing of the proposed hospice building and parking (click to enlarge).

After the conclusion of the hearing (which may extend to a second session), the ZBA has 90 days to decide whether Care Dimensions may have a special permit for its proposed use of the Lincoln property based on whether that use would be “detrimental to the neighborhood,” said Director of Planning and Land Use Chris Reilly.

“It’s a very big facility, so the impact on the neighborhood is a concern,” Reilly said, citing issues such as the number of employees, lighting, and traffic from patients, guests and deliveries.

The Planning Board will meet on March 11 to consider the proposal and schedule a public hearing in April, Reilly said.

Care Dimensions has already received permission from the Lincoln Historical Commission to demolish the existing house on the property, contingent on getting the other permits it needs. Those include an access permit for the new driveway from the city of Waltham and various environmental permits as well as Lincoln ZBA and Planning Board approvals.

The Winter Street parcel, which is one of six “at-risk properties” identified in a 2005 town study, has been the focus of several previous development proposals, including an office building, affordable housing and a housing subdivision. Each of those ideas has “raised hackles” among neighbors in Lincoln who are concerned about more intensive use of the land and the possibility of losing the street’s one-way access, Reilly noted.