By Ken Hurd
With apologies to all those who have worked to bring a new community center to Lincoln, I once again feel compelled to voice my strongly held opinion as an architect concerned with what we build in Lincoln, and I want to remind everyone why I and so many others believe we should not build a community center on the school campus. I still believe the Council on Aging component should be located in Lincoln Station and let the LEAP and the Recreation Department be located at the school.
First and foremost, I believe that a $25 million investment by the town should be deployed where it would have the greatest positive impact — namely in the Lincoln Station area. For nearly 14 years since Town Meeting approved the Comprehensive Long-Range Plan, in which the revitalization of Lincoln Station was overwhelmingly one of the highest priorities, the area has lain dormant and in serious need of a catalyst to jumpstart its transformation into the compact, vital, walkable village center that was a stated goal at the time. Unless Lincoln is proactive in embracing change, the area will continue to decline.
Equally important, I believe that many of the decisions and commitments that led to the current community center proposal were well-intended but somewhat myopic, and to make matters worse, they now predate the new realities of post-pandemic life in the 21st century. Chief among these is our increased awareness of the effects of climate change as warmer winters, hotter summers, and earlier springs dominate our lived experience, suggesting that anything we can do to minimize our dependence on the automobile should be a very high priority.
I also never bought into the idea that mixing octogenarian driving skills with children on a playing field was anything but an accident waiting to happen. And in the new age of the AR-15, I would remind everyone that school shooting incidents in the U.S. have skyrocketed since 2015. In 2023 alone, there were 198 shooting incidents at K-12 schools, six of which involved active shooters. Of course, everyone believes it won’t happen here, just as everyone believed it wouldn’t happen when and where the shootings did occur. Why we would even consider locating an adult facility on a school campus in such an era of random and unpredictable violence is beyond me.
From a planning standpoint, the economic disruption caused by the pandemic combined with the dramatic increase in wealth inequality over the last decade has put increased pressure on the need for more housing in the region. For economic reasons, many seniors who might want to downsize are somewhat locked into staying in their larger homes until there are reasonable housing alternatives from which to choose. Thanks to the HCA, we are bound to see at least some increase in housing in the Lincoln Station area, and most professional planners I know would consider this a golden opportunity to locate the COA in the middle of such a potential concentration of housing. Doing so would not only create a symbiotic relationship among the multiple uses desired, but also between the primary users and the facility should the right mix and size of units be offered.
Lastly, we learned at the recent informational session on March 7 that the current proposed zoning regulations for the HCA overlay district contain no language that would prohibit such a use. We also learned that the RLF has never been asked by the town if they would be amenable to incorporating the needed COA spaces into any development they do.
Frankly, if the COA component of the community center were incorporated in the RLF’s plan for redevelopment, it would represent a plus to any potential developer’s pro forma — namely, to have a confirmed tenant for an active community use in a purposely designed ground-level space. This strategy would minimize the cost to Lincoln in upfront financing for design and construction, and it would replace public project inefficiencies with professional development expertise. Doing so may make the new community center facility far more affordable to the town’s already stressed taxpayers.
So, my hope is that voters will vote YES for Article 3 and vote NO on Article 4.That way, I believe it opens a door for the RLF and the town to work together on an overall masterplan that addresses many of these larger issues in a much more holistic fashion, ultimately helping to transform Lincoln Station to its full potential as a truly vital, walkable village center. Remember, we humans shape our environments at a moment in time, and then they shape us for decades to come.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Early on in developing the community center concepts, one of the stated benefits of co-locating our town’s elders and youth all in one location was promoting opportunities for intergenerational co-mingling that are rare in our age-segregated world. I was a Girl Scout leader at the time, and I loved the idea. Otherwise, the logistics of planning such multi-generational activities posed multiple constraints of transportation and space. This original vision isn’t mentioned much these days, but I still think it’s a great idea to foster cross-age connections through the proximity our current community center plan would allow.
Ken —
I have been a part of this conversation for almost as long as you have, and so I know that you have had many opportunities to hear the reasons that having the Community Center at Hartwell is a good idea and having the Community Center at Lincoln Station is a bad idea. You also know that at every juncture, Town Meeting and all the relevant committees have supported the location at Hartwell. I respect your knowledge, your deep commitment to the town, and your right to continue to make an argument with which I and Town Meeting and so many others disagree. I do not respect, to the extent that I feel you have sullied your reputation as a wise interlocutor, your irresponsible introduction of the argument that locating the Community Center on the school campus increases the risk of a school shooting. This assertion is not based on any evidence. It does not accord with anything we know about how school shootings happen and who the likely perpetrators are. It is made in complete ignorance of the extensive security precautions that are already in place on the school campus. It is fear-mongering of a sort I would have thought beneath you. The CCBC has been very attentive to the question of the security of the school campus, and we believe that the improvements we propose for the campus will increase the safety of the children who use it. — Tim Christenfeld
The fourth paragraph left me thinking, “Ken Hurd is going to make us an offer we can’t refuse.”
I thought I was reading of serious concerns that placing HCA housing at the Mall could crowd out the commercial space needed for financial viability there. How could we also shoehorn the community center into the same space? All with parking for shopping, community center use, and a bit for the housing? That seems impossible.
Steven Kanner
Thank you Ken for sharing this very thoughtful perspective – worthy of our significant attention.
I’m in favor of locating many COA services at Lincoln Station while continuing to use Bemis Hall for other activities. Partnering with Lincoln would sustain the RLF and enhance the lively town center we all desire—while saving Town funds.