Worries persist about HCA rezoning

The Planning Board will vote on the revised zoning bylaw on February 26, but residents still have questions, and its fate at the March 23 Town Meeting is far from certain.

Echoing a frequent thread in discussions about the HCA rezoning, attendees at the February 20 public hearing worried that a site plan review won’t be enough to control what gets built when multifamily and mixed-use developments are allowed by right in parts of South Lincoln under the new state-mandated rules. 

“Site plan review has teeth in that we can insist the development be done in a manner that is consistent with the neighborhood and the design guidelines, but you can’t use it to make it impossible for the developer to do something by right,” Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson said. Developers can be fined and/or denied an occupancy permit if they don’t comply, she added.

Traffic from commercial and residential units is also a concern that the board can’t control ahead of time. “We will look at traffic as there are projects,” Olson said. A traffic study and any resulting mitigation requirements “are a negotiation with the developer.”

“Then what can you say no to?” resident Barbara Peskin asked. The answer: essentially nothing. As an example, for a single-family home, “the town and board cannot deny your right to build a house on your property,” Olson said. Screening, lighting and other aspects can be controlled, “but we can’t tell you we don’t like your house… we cannot refuse a by-right use.”

Resident Susan Hall Mygatt urged the board to pass over the measure at Town Meeting and schedule a Special Town Meeting in June or the fall to give more time to come up with a better bylaw while still meeting the December 2024 state deadline. 

The board’s alleged failure to respond to resident comments “makes the public forums look like a sham, and will exacerbate the unhealthy tensions that are now evident between the board and the Selects on the one hand, and many residents who do not feel they have been heard,” said Mygatt, reading from a statement. “I and others are concerned that if the proposed amendment receives barely a 50% vote, there will continue to be significant ill will within the town and it will fester for years. This can be avoided.”

Along the same lines, board member Lynn DeLisi asked if there was any way to delay the board’s February 26 vote, but Olson said there wasn’t, since the board also has to approve design guidelines before Town Meeting.

“For better or for worse, we have to follow the direction given to us by Town Meeting” in December, when residents voted to go ahead with Option C to allow all of the new multifamily development within South Lincoln, Olson said. “If the town has changed its mind, the town will tell us no by voting no. I don’t think any of us should be upset by that prospect. If it’s not approved, that’s OK — that’s part of the process… absent considerably more public engagement that we have time for before March, we have what we have… we are in this bind.”

But resident Louis Zipes urged the board to go ahead with the March vote despite the controversy. “You’ve done an excellent job of adjusting to the town’s needs,” he said. “We recognize that not everyone will be satisfied. You have the support of a silent majority in the town.”