Hospice decision not expected until fall

By Alice Waugh

A consultant for the Zoning Board of Appeals is reviewing revised technical plans submitted by Care Dimensions, which wants to build an inpatient hospice facility on Winter Street, and will most likely report to the ZBA at is July 10 meeting.

After residents and ZBA members protested in March that Care Dimensions’ original 42,400-square-foot plan was too big and would be detrimental to the neighborhood, the company submitted a more modest proposal that calls for 27,600 square feet and 64 parking spots instead of the original 89 (see the Lincoln Squirrel, May 27, 2014). As of earlier this week, the firm had not yet submitted a revised stormwater management plan, but Director of Planning and Land Use Chris Reilly said he expected it any day. Since Lincoln does not have a town engineer on staff, it routinely has an outside consultant perform (at the applicant’s expense) a “peer review” of elements such as stormwater management plans where engineering expertise is required.

The consultant is expected to review the stormwater management plan and report back to the ZBA on July 10 with any recommendations for amending the plan. The ZBA is scheduled to meet in August but is not expected to make a decision on the hospice proposal until at least September, Reilly said.

In a parallel process, the Planning Board will begins a site plan review of the proposal at its July 8 meeting. That review considers elements such as lighting, traffic, noise and other site issues not specific to the structure.