Water Department seeks $2.2 million in bonding
At Annual Town Meeting on March 23, the Water Department is hoping to begin a multiyear process of replacing an aging and leaky town water main by asking for $2.2 million in bonding to fund the first segment.
Article 26 on page 22 of the Motions list outlines four capital spending requests from the department that will need a total of $2.4 million in borrowing. The department and the Water Commission have commissioned a study of which of five segments of the main running beneath Lincoln Road from Bedford Road to Codman Road should be replaced first.
The entire project is estimated to cost at least $10 million over several years. “This is not the first ask,” commission member Steve Gladstone said on Wednesday.
The project will require a “moderate” water rate hike for four to five years, he added. This will be the first time since 2020 that rates will go up. In April of that year, usage rates went up by 28% and the quarterly base charge rose from $35 to $50.
The Water Department’s capital budget in fiscal 2024 was $315,000 and $142,500 in fiscal 2023. The fiscal 2025 projected operating budget is $2.02 million. In the former year, the department received $1.45 million from the ARPA program that granted federal aid to respond to the public health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. That money paid for a replacement well on Tower Road and several other projects without the need for a customer rate hike.
Groups will get time to present positions
Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden said on March 20 that she will grant the request from a group of 300+ residents who asked for 10 minutes to present the perspective of the Lincoln Residents for Housing Alternatives (LRHA) when Article 3 (the Housing Choice Act rezoning) is discussed.
Proponents of Article 3’s passage will also get 10 minutes of speaking time from the floor if they request it, Holden said. This is in addition to the Planning Board presentation by chair Margaret Olson.
Dozens of residents at the March 19 Select Board meeting asked that a representative get podium time and the ability to show slides, but Cannon demurred.
Two other members of the Planning Board, Ephraim Flint and Lynn DeLisi, voted against endorsing the measure in Feburary, and Flint afterwards had asked for speaking time as well. However, since Olson “will be giving public voice to the minority report, it’s not really necessary for you to repeat your reasons from the podium,” Holden told Flint on Wednesday.
The full text of the proposed zoning bylaw amendment can be found here.
Planning Board endorses Article 28
The Planning Board has endorsed a citizen’s petition that would require the town to notify individual property owners when their property is part of an area being considered for rezoning.
If Article 28 is approved at Town Meeting on March 23, town boards and committees must notify by mail property owners, residents (including renters) and abutters in the area of rezoning 14 days prior to their first public meeting at which the zoning change would be discussed. Similar notice would also be sent for any future meeting at which the decision on rezoning may be made as well as any Town Meeting where a vote on rezoning would be conducted. See details on page 23 of the Motions list.
Article sponsor Barbara Peskin said many people whose properties were marked for possible rezoning weren’t aware of it going into the State of the Town Meeting in September 2023, which offered three options to residents for feedback. “When informed in advance, people can become engaged and included in the process early and invested in the result,” she said.
Though there were some concerns among board members about how to define “first” discussions, Olson said at their March 19 meeting that she agreed with the idea. “For something this significant, we really should not be springing votes on people,” she said.
If the measure is approved, the board will meet with Peskin and others to work out specifics of how the requirement will be implemented.
Rides for seniors
The Council on Aging & Human Services is offering rides to Town Meeting for Lincolnites age 60 and over. Capacity is limited; book now by calling 782-259-8811.
The way that people acted at this meeting and in the parking lot is absolutely disgusting. I worry for the future of this town. Very selfish people.
Clarification on Article 28 – the text in the linked list of Motions only says that notice must be sent to “each affected property owner in the
area of proposed Rezoning”. It does not say whether ‘affected property owners’ includes abutters and, with regards to renters, the text only says that the Town should “use reasonable efforts also to send such notice to all tenants”.
Rachel Drew