Oriole Landing approved at Town Meeting

Residents approved a zoning change and preliminary plan for the Oriole Landing mixed-income housing project, despite impassioned pleas not to subject the neighborhood to yet another major construction project that will increase traffic.

Town officials urged passage of the measure so Lincoln can avoid a much larger 40B affordable housing project. Developers can circumvent town zoning restrictions for a project of that type if less than 10 percent of the town’s housing stock is affordable according to the 2020 census, and Lincoln was projected to be about nine units short. Lincoln Woods, which has both affordable and market-rate units, has a waiting list of 60 families, according to housing consultant Pamela Gallup.

“This provides the diversity of housing that Lincoln currently lacks” for young professionals or retirees looking to downsize but stay in town, Selectman James Craig said.

Residents including Cathy O’Brien of 3 Mary’s Way objected to the development before the Planning Board earlier this month, saying it was too large and would create traffic and road safety issues. At Town Meeting, she also repeated her earlier claim that the project was being rushed through.

“Public meetings on this started in January. What has ever happened in this town of this magnitude in a matter of three months? Nothing,” O’Brien said. “This process has been steamrolled through with no commitment or thought process about the impact on the neighborhood.”

“We don’t get a chance to pick the properties. This one came up very fast, and the accelerated pace is not due to anything other than a need to react to market conditions when things become available,” Selectman Jonathan Dwyer responded.

The property was on the market for some time and the town looked into purchasing it, but the price was “well out of reach,” Craig said. Several developers inquired about putting a project on the site with anywhere from 125 to 250 units, “but we were able to turn them away,” Gallup said.

The Planning Board and Board of Selectmen endorsed the project last week with several conditions. Among them: a left-turn-only restriction out of the Oriole Landing driveway onto Mary’s Way on weekday mornings and a $25,000 contribution by Civico to the town’s Complete Streets program earmarked for a roadside path on Mary’s Way. The company will also offer a shuttle bus service for Oriole Landing residents to Alewife and South Lincoln.

Neighbors not satisfied

But neighbors on Saturday said these steps were not enough. “A no-right-turn sign without a policeman standing there every day is virtually useless,” said Andrew Cole of Sandy Pond Road, adding that a similar restriction on his road is “routinely flouted.” The promised $25,000 is also inadequate, he added.

“Who is going to fund the rest of what needs to be done? These answers need to be in writing before we change the zoning,” O’Brien said.

Other area towns including Sudbury and Wayland are grappling with looming 40B projects, but O’Brien rejected the comparison. “They’re trying to convince you through fear. We need nine units in next two years. We have brilliant people in this community who can find a solution for nine units,” she said.

But a Concord Road resident disagreed. “To think you’re going to have someone come in with nine units in the next year and a half is unrealistic,” he said. “If we miss this opportunity, a 40B [developer] can slam down anything they want. If you’re worried about the impact on schools or traffic now.”

Residents including David Levington argued that the town is unfairly isolating affordable housing in North Lincoln, which is not within walking distance to public transportation for Oriole Landing residents who might not own a car. Others expressed concern about the roadways and lack of sidewalks in the area.

“That’s life in Lincoln — we have narrow roads,” resident Sharon Antia said. She also alluded to earlier fears about the location of Lincoln Woods, then the town’s first affordable housing development. “There were major objections being that close to the train station that they might get a lot of undesirable people from Boston,” she said.

Levington moved to postpone the decision until the special Town Meeting in June, but Andrew Consigli of Civico Development said that would not be financially feasible for him. “There’s a certain amount of money we pay a month to hold the land. We don’t have the ability to do that past this time of year,” he said. “We won’t be here in June, and I mean that with all due respect.”

This possibility caused outgoing Finance Committee member Eric Harris to say he was “experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from 2012,” when the town voted down a school project that would have been partially paid for by a $20 million state grant (the state subsequently denied repeated reapplications).

“For $29 million [the town’s share in 2012], we could have had a school. Now we’re talking about maybe $120 million. Sometimes the ‘Lincoln way’ way isn’t the best way,” Harris said..

Civico has “bent over backwards like no developer I’ve ever seen,” said resident Noah Eckhouse. “Change is tough, but Lincoln is changing, and either we change it or somebody else does. We’re going to be paying for this one way or another. We have got to vote for this.”.

After the motion to postpone the vote was soundly defeated, the standing-room-only crowd approved the measure in a voice vote by the required two-thirds majority. Civico must come back to the Planning Board within two years to obtain a special permit and site plan review.

This is the sixth overlay-district development that the town has approved since 1986. The others are Lincoln Woods, Battle Road Farm, Lincoln North, the Minuteman Inn (which was never built), Minuteman Commons, and The Commons.