By Margaret Olson
On the issue of zoning: this is not a zoning by-law change. This is a use of the North Lincoln Overlay District, and it easily meets the purpose of the North Lincoln Overlay district:
12.5.1 Purpose
The NL-North Lincoln Overlay District is intended:
(a) to permit greater flexibility in the development of tracts of land by requiring few predetermined standards,
(b) to permit a developer to propose, and for the Town to vote on, a site development and use plan unique to a particular location,
(c) to permit the use of development standards more detailed than the general standards elsewhere in this By-law,
(d) to provide information for the Town to evaluate the potential impacts of a proposed development, and
(e) to enable the Planning Board to require adherence to a site development and use plan in the granting of a special permit.
Other North Lincoln Overlay District projects include Oriole Landing, The Commons, and the North Lincoln office buildings. Both the North and South Lincoln overlay districts give the town flexibility (via a town meeting vote) to approve uses outside of the base zoning and control over how that is done.
The downside is that development under the overlays requires a significant investment by the developer prior to approval without any guarantee that the project will go forward. The answer to “why Civico” is that there are few developers willing to do this: it’s expensive in both absolute terms and opportunity cost. The RLF and other landowners would be in a better negotiating position with respect to developers if there was more flexibility in the by-right uses (base zoning).
Olson is former chair of the Planning Board.
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