The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Legal notice: Zoning Board of Appeals hearing

The Zoning Board of the Appeals of the Town of Lincoln will hold a virtual online public hearing on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at 7:00 P.M to hear and to act on the following petitions under the Zoning Bylaws:

New:

Robert Shaw and Caroline Smart, 19 Juniper Ridge Rd., M/P 119-58-0 for a special permit to install a shed on a non-conforming lot.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

Legal notice: HDC public hearing (5 Hawk Hill)

>The Historic District Commission will hold a virtual online public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, to consider the application of 5 Hawk Hill Rd. M/P 182-19-0 to determine the significance of the building. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter should be present at the designated time and place.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

Legal notice: Planning Board public hearing (Farrington/Panetta)

TOWN OF LINCOLN PLANNING BOARD

Notice of Public Hearing for Review of a Preliminary Development and Use Plan and Changes to the Zoning Map Pursuant to Section 12.5 of the Zoning Bylaw

Hybrid meeting pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025 which extends through June 30, 2027, the ability of public bodies to meet in a fully remote or hybrid manner. This meeting of the Planning Board will be conducted in hybrid format.

In accordance with the provisions of MGL, Chapter 40A, Section 5, the Lincoln Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday June 10, 2025, at 7:01 PM, to review a Preliminary Development and Use Plan prepared by Civico Development for the designation of Planned Development District number 7 within the North Lincoln Overlay District under Section 12.5 of the Zoning Bylaw. The plan proposes 20 detached family homes sharing common land and infrastructure, a farmstand/garden center, and an area subject to a Conservation Restriction.Designation of a Planned Development District requires a Town Meeting vote which will take place on June 25, 2025, to see if the Town will vote to approve:

  • A Preliminary Development and Use Plan which will include a 20-unit housing development with three affordable units on approximately 6.13 acres, a farmstand/garden center located at 281 Cambridge Turnpike on approximately .77 acres and an area subject to a Conservation Restriction on approximately 4.34 acres; and
  • An amendment to the Zoning Map to include the Planned Development District number #7.

Details of the proposed changes are available in the Planning Department, Town Offices, 16 Lincoln Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts, between 9:00am and 4:00pm, Monday through Friday. Emailed copies will be provided upon request. The agenda with the Zoom information will be posted to the Town website at lincolntown.org/calendar two days prior to the hearing date.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

Car break-ins reported in south Lincoln

Several vehicles in south Lincoln were broken into last weekend, police reported.

Police got reports of larcenies from motor vehicles on Todd Pond Road and South Great Road near the Weston town line, as well as a stolen car on Trapelo Road, all in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 17. The stolen car, which had the keys inside, was later recovered in Waltham.

“As of now, it appears all of the vehicles were either in driveways or parked in designated parking spots,” said Lincoln Police Sgt. Ian Spencer. “The incident is still under investigation in coordination with state and neighboring agencies.”

Police asked residents to be vigilant in locking vehicles and not leaving valuables or keys inside. Anyone whose security cameras might have captured suspicious activity are asked to contact police.

Old County Road

Old County Road will be closed from May 28 through June 10 for routine inspection and maintenance of an underground pipeline. The work will run Mondays through Saturdays from 7:00am–5:00pm. Police officers will be assigned to the area to assist with detours and residential access. 

Great Create adds color to school

Students in grades K-5 look for their contributions in the panels in art installation displayed in the main hallway across from the library in the Smith building. The annual Great Create resulted in this vibrant mixed-media sculpture evoking the colors of the rainbow on which students collaborated to decorate, design, and color small objects and attach them with fabric, string and wire. Event organizer Lincoln School Foundation collaborated with Lincoln’s Beehive ART and were supported by the Ogden Codman Trust, The Commons in Lincoln, Corey Flint Photography, The Little General, Debra’s Natural Gourmet, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust/Rural Land Foundation, and Kirkland & Shaw.

News acorns

Order senior prom flowers from FELS

Support the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln-Sudbury by purchasing senior prom flowers. Pre-order White, pink, or red rose boutonnières for $20; white, pink, or red corsages for $45; or a combo pack (one of each) for $60. Pick up on Thursday, May 29 from 10:30-noon outside the Lincoln-Sudbury main office. Questions? Email FELSQuestions@gmail.com.

Deadline for Town Meeting citizens’ petitions

The deadline for submitting citizens’ petitions for the Special Town Meeting on June 25 is Tuesday, May 27 at noon. Citizens considering sponsoring a Town Meeting petition are strongly urged to contact the Town Clerk’s Office (781-259-2607 or foxv@lincolntown.org) for guidance about the process. The office will contact the people identified as lead petitioners to ensure coordination as we prepare for the discussions and presentations that will be occurring in advance of Town Meeting.

Benefit concert for Society of St. Vincent de Paul

For the fourth year in a row, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston (SVdP) is putting on an outdoor concert to celebrate the start of summer and to thank all their volunteers and supporters. The concert will be on Tuesday, May 27 from 5:30-8:00pm on the Weston town green. Our performers are Lincoln’s own Doo Wop Team; Adrian Sicam and his Berklee All-Stars, and Twice-a-Day-Ray, a group of medical professionals by day and raging rockers by night. Bring a picnic, take a chance on winning some gift cards from local businesses, and visit Frosty’s Ice Cream Truck. The suggested donation is $25 a person. In the event of rain, the event will be in the St. Julia’s Parish Hall across the street.

SVdP runs a food pantry in Lincoln, gives financial assistance to those who live, work, or go to school in Lincoln and Weston, and provides scholarships to adults who want to upgrade their skills in the workforce. Last fiscal year they served more than 400 community members and provided more than $180,000 in services.

Talk on “Resolute Revolutionaries”

Dana Robbat, author of the upcoming book Lincoln Modern: Plain Living, High Thinking, will give a talk on ” Resolute Revolutionaries: Walter Gropius and Quincy Adams: Modernism in Lincoln, Massachusetts” on Wednesday, May 28 from 6:45-8:00pm in the Tarbell Room at the Lincoln Public Library. Hosted by FoMA/Lincoln and supported by the Freedoms Way Foundation. Learn how Gropius, creator of the world-renowned Bauhaus that changed the world of design, settled in the small New England farming community and influenced the young architect Quincy Adams, a descendent of two U.S. presidents.

Nolli is acting Water Dept. superintendent

Rick Nolli, formerly the water distribution foreman and senior person in the Water Department, is the new acting superintendent. He succeeds Darin LaFalam, who was offered a job with the Concord Water Department. The Lincoln department promoted two employees and will hire a new lower-level person, said commission member Steve Gladstone. LaFalam was hired in 2021 and was named state director of the New England Water Works Association later that year. “He made the water commissioners’ jobs very easy,” Gladstone said.

Tack Room to get expanded outdoor patio

A sketch of the expanded Tack Room patio and doorways.

The Planning Board gave a thumbs-up this week to a plan to increase the size of the dining patio at the Tack Room restaurant and a more convenient access door.

The Rural Land Foundation (which owns the property) and the owner of the Tack Room, Mike Culpo, found that they needed to replace the 10-year-old seasonal awning over the patio. As part of the improvement, they will increase the patio size from 810 square feet to about 1,060 square feet, or about four feet wider along the Lincoln Road side and five feet wider along the post office side.

The enclosure will have an exit to the green space along Lincoln Road and a new clear, accordion-style doorway from the restaurant interior to make it easier for customers and servers to access the patio.

“It will still be a seasonal patio, but will be much more spacious with roughly 20 tables. Four of those tables will be high-top tables located near a few outdoor TVs we will install,” Culpo told the Lincoln Squirrel, adding that he hopes to have the work complete by late summer.

Legal notice: Select Board public hearing (Cellco)

Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless

The Select Board of the Town of Lincoln will conduct a public hearing on Monday evening, June 2, 2025 at 7:00 pm, in the Town Offices – Donaldson Room, in response to an application by Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless for Grant of Location for Small Cell Wireless Communications Facility on a replacement utility pole #43 located along Waltham Road, the nearest site address being 37 Longmeadow Road, Lincoln, MA 01773.

Pursuant to the extension of the remote meeting authorization of the Open Meeting Law through June 30, 2027, under Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Select Board will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, providing the public the opportunity to participate in person or remotely.

Plans are available for review in the Select Board’s Office. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and/or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town of Lincoln website, at www.lincolntown.org.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

Legal notice: Select Board public hearing (Goose Pond)

Verizon New England Inc. and
NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource Energy Hearing

The Select Board of the Town of Lincoln will conduct a grant of location hearing on Monday evening, May 19, 2025 at 7:00 pm, in response to a petition for joint or identical pole locations. VERIZON NEW ENGLAND INC. and NSTAR ELECTRIC COMPANY d/b/a EVERSOURCE ENERGY request permission to locate poles, wires, cables and fixtures including the necessary anchors, guys and other such sustaining and protecting fixtures to be owned and used in common by your petitioners, along and across the following public way or ways:

Goose Pond Road:
Place one (1) JO pole, P.14-1X approximately 35’ southeasterly from existing pole, P.14 located on the westerly side of Goose Pond Road. The petition is necessary to accommodate services 34 Goose Pond Road.

Pursuant to the extension of the remote meeting authorization of the Open Meeting Law through June 30, 2027, under Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Select Board will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, providing the public the opportunity to participate in-person or remotely.

Plans are available for review in the Select Board’s Office. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and/or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town of Lincoln website at www.lincolntown.org.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

News acorns

Pride event on Wednesday

The Lincoln School will hold its annual Pride Month kickoff to celebrate diversity on Wednesday, May 14 (rain date: May 28) from 1:00-3:30pm at Lincoln Station. There will be performances from the Lincoln-Hanscom Step Team and local musicians Layla MacLachlin and David Onigman, a breakdancing demonstration from Jabbar Fair, face-painting, ice cream, and more. Sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department, the Mass. Cultural Council, and the Lincoln PTO. For more information and volunteer opportunities, email lincolnmapride@gmail.com. 

8th-grade car wash fundraiser

To raise money for end-of-year activities including the trip to Washington, D.C., in June, the Lincoln School eighth-graders will hold a fundraiser car wash on Saturday, May 17 from 9:00am-3:00pm at Town Hall. Sign up online in advance or drive up and pay on the day of the event — donations are welcome.

Exhibit by Lincoln artist

Some of Liz Wilkinson’s artwork on display in Concord.

Tabor Hill Road resident Liz Wilkinson has an exhibit of 22 pieces at the gallery at the Trinity Episcopal Church at 81 Elm St. in Concord through June 28. Wilkinson, who taught Spanish at Concord-Carlisle High School for 25 years, has exhibited at Concord Art, the Cambridge Art Association, the Umbrella Arts Center. See her Instagram page for examples of her work or contact her at lizwilkinson2013@gmail.com.

Farm needs office items

The staff of Codman Community Farms staff has grown, and the farm is looking for donations for their office space: two office chairs (preferably on wheels), a leather armchair, a large whiteboard, a large wall calendar, school-style lockers, and old flat sheets. Anyone with items to donate may contact Hathaway Ellis at 617-866-0288 or hathaway.fiocchi@gmail.com.

Conservation Commission volunteers sought

There is a vacancy on the Conservation Commission. See details on the duties and how to apply on the town’s volunteer information page. the commission is also looking for volunteers to identify and control invasive Japanese knotweed patches around town. Volunteers “adopt” knotweed patches and control them manually three times per summer. Those interested should contact Conservation Planner Stacy Carter at stacyc@lincolntown.org.