Owners postpone move to expand The Commons

Faced with resident objections and a tight timeline, New England Life Plan Communities, which owns The Commons in Lincoln, has postponed their push for an expansion proposal that was slated for a February 28 Planning Board public hearing.

Owner’s representative OnePoint Partners submitted a proposal to the Planning Board on February 6 that called for 32 new apartments in the existing Flint and Russell buildings and eight freestanding and attached cottages at various locations on the campus. This gave residents and others about three weeks to prepare for the public hearing, which would have preceded a vote at the March 25 Annual Town Meeting. Because The Commons resides in a zoning overlay district with specific conditions, a two-thirds majority approval would have been required at that time.

“We have engaged in several conversations with current Commons residents and it has become clear that more collaboration is required to address certain elements of the project. In order to ensure these critical stakeholders are given multiple opportunities to provide input, we need more time than the few weeks before the March Town Meeting allows,” said Larry Bradshaw, chairman of the board of New England Life Plan Communities, in a February 23 letter to the Planning Board.

David Levington, a Commons resident who has been active in organizing opposition to the proposal, said he was “pleased and relieved” by the postponement. “Everyone will have to work together in an open manner so that The Commons can grow in a manner that is healthy for all. The upset has been corrected and we’re moving forward — residents, management, ownership.”

He didn’t specify whether some aspects of the proposal were more objectionable than others but added, “Eventually a new plan will be developed… and I do look forward to a collaboration in which the residents have a voice.”

“Thanks to the efforts of the executive director of The Commons, Reynaldo LeBlanc, and the Resident Council, a number of formats were provided for residents to present their questions and concerns about the proposed expansion of The Commons to the new owners and their consultant and management teams,” said council president Judith Foster. “As a result of these meetings, the owners have withdrawn the proposed plan in order to allow more time to address the concerns of residents. We are looking forward to a productive partnership between residents and the ownership team.”