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

Police log for April 26 – May 8, 2025

April 26

Cambridge Turnpike westbound (4:01pm) — The Lincoln Police and Fire Departments assisted the Massachusetts State Police with a crash on Route 2 East.

Scott Circle, Hanscom AFB (9:45pm) — A person spoke with an officer regarding a possible fraud.

April 27

Weston Road (2:19pm) — A person spoke with an officer regarding an item left in their mailbox.

Well Road (8:40pm) — A resident spoke with an officer regarding an ongoing issue.

April 28

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (2:55am) — An officer stopped a vehicle for speeding. The operator, Luis Quinonez Corado, 25 of Waltham was arrested for operating under the influence of alcohol.

Commuter rail parking lot (2:04pm) — A caller reported a loud vehicle in the area. An officer located the vehicle, a Keolis work truck, and requested they clear from the area if they had completed their work.

Concord Road (3:57pm) — A vehicle struck another as it attempted to pass a turning vehicle at the intersection of Routes 126 and 117. There were no injuries reported.

South Great Road (6:06pm) — An officer helped a tow truck locate a vehicle.

April 29

Ballfield Road (3:04pm) — An officer spoke to a resident regarding possible vandalism to a bicycle.

South Great Road (5:05pm) — Officers stood by and helped two drivers exchange information after a minor motor vehicle crash.

North Great Road (6:44pm) — A caller reported a man attempting to flag cars over. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate anyone matching the description provided.

April 30

Tower Road (9:54am) — Officers from the Lincoln and Weston Police Departments checked a section of railroad tracks for the report of a person on foot in the area. No one was found.

Page Road (12:56pm) — An out-of-control brush fire was reported. The Lincoln and Concord Fire Departments were able to gain control and extinguish the fire a short time later.

Page Road (7:57pm) — The Fire Department responded to a house for the report of an odor of burning plastic. The odor was the result of burnt light bulb.

May 1

Old Bedford Road (1:45pm) — An electric vehicle was reportedly charging at a commercial property. The owner was contacted and advised that it was not allowed.

Trapelo Road (5:13pm) — A vehicle traveling north on Old County Road proceeded through the intersection after coming to a stop. The vehicle then struck a cyclist traveling west on Trapelo Road. The cyclist was uninjured and the motorist was cited for failure to yield.

Silver Birch Lane (10:44pm) — An officer responded for a barking dog complaint.

May 2

Russett Court (10:1am) — A minor crash occurred when a vehicle struck a construction vehicle. There were no injuries reported.

Oriole Landing (1:21pm) — An officer spoke to a person regarding a civil matter.

Donelan’s Supermarket (1:37pm) — An officer spoke to a motorist about idling their vehicle.

Lincoln Road (2:02pm) — A person reported their dog was missing. Animal Control was notified.

Bypass Road (6:41pm) — A single-vehicle crash was reported. The operator was transported for minor injuries and the vehicle was towed from the scene.

Patterson Road, Hanscom AFB (11:20pm) — An officer came to investigate a report of an assault and battery. The investigation is ongoing.

May 3

Cambridge Turnpike westbound (1:07am) — An officer assisted the State Police with a vehicle that had driven off of the road. The operator was ultimately cited for negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Bedford Road (4:24am) — Officers responded for a report of a single vehicle crash. The operator was ultimately transported to the hospital as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash and the vehicle was towed from the scene.

Ridge Road (5:15am) — Officers performed a well-being check.

May 4

Birchwood Lane (4:09pm) — An officer contacted a resident at the request of an outside agency.

Red Maple Lane (5:44pm) — A caller reported an occupied vehicle that was parked for several hours. The occupant was a utility worker monitoring a generator.

May 5

Wells Road (11:25am) — Officers conducted a well-being check.

South Great Road (4:10pm) — Officers responded for a two-vehicle crash. There were no reported injuries. One vehicle was able to be driven from the scene and the other was towed.

Lincoln Road (6:40pm) — A person spoke with an officer regarding an ongoing matter.

Mill Street (10:27pm) — The fire department responded for a report of an electrical line arcing. Eversource was notified.

May 6

Winter Street (2:58pm) — A dog was reportedly running unattended on Winter Street. Animal Control was notified.

Patterson Road, Hanscom AFB (3:01pm) — A person spoke with an officer regarding a civil matter.

May 7

Page Road (8:23am) — An officer spoke with a person regarding an ongoing incident.

May 8

Bemis Hall (12:48pm) —Council on Aging & Human Services staff were able to corral a dog until it could be reunited with its owner.

Sandy Pond Road (4:35pm) — A two-vehicle crash occurred at the five-way intersection. There were no reported injuries. One of the operators was cited for failure to yield and both vehicles were towed.

Beverly Eckhardt, 1928–2025

Beverly Eckhardt

Beverly Hillmann Eckhardt, 96, of Lincoln and Wayland died peacefully on May 6, 2025. Her loving husband Homer predeceased her by two years after their recent move to the Residence at Paine Estate in Wayland. 

Beverly was born in Salisbury, Vt. to Phoebe Ladd Hillmann and William Ferdinand Hillmann. She attended Brandon High and then the University of Vermont, where she graduated cum laude in 1949 with elections to Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. Although she had an early interest in biology, she was steered toward psychology, which led to a productive career in engineering psychology.

After leaving UVM, she attended Brown University and completed a Master of Science in Psychology. She began her career as a research psychologist at the U.S. Submarine Base Medical Research Laboratory in New London, Conn., where she worked on visual studies pertaining to Navy personnel requirements and submarine interior design. During this period she spent a one-year Fulbright scholarship as a research associate with the Center Nationale de Recherches Scientifique in Paris, France. She moved to work for RCA in Burlington, Mass., in the Aerospace Systems Division, where she worked in human factors research. Much of her work was on visual display systems and design, and included work on the Apollo space missions. RCA paid for her to complete a Ph.D. in human factors engineering from Tufts University, which she completed in 1968.

Beverly met the love of her life, Homer, while they both were working at RCA. He was a recently divorced man with four children, so despite her mother’s caution, she quickly became a stepmother. When she became pregnant with her daughter Anneliese in 1969, she left work and became a full time-mother.

While living in Lincoln, she enjoyed gardening at Codman Farm, where she had a time as a board member, reading in both English and French, keeping Old English Sheepdogs, swimming at Valley Pond, writing for the Lincoln Journal, leading a Girl Scout troop, and being a loving mother and wife. She became involved in the Council on Aging, which led to a second career as the director of the Ombudsman Program for Eliot Community Human Services and Minuteman Homecare.

Beverly kept her family home in Vermont for many years, renting it to local families. In the early 2000s she sold it, along with a property she had purchased while at RCA, and purchased a couple of properties in Edgecomb, Maine, near her daughter’s family. She and Homer converted one into a part-time home where they could enjoy being with their grandchildren.

She said she was fortunate to have been able to work for so many years as well as be a mother. She was a compassionate person, seeking to be kind to others, chiding herself when she thought or said something unkind. She had an infectious smile that put people at ease. Beverly loved learning and was always interested in understanding people. Nature discoveries excited her, which she often would share with her daughter, showing her animals, pointing out bird calls, and expressing nurture for wild plants.

She is survived by her daughter Anneliese Pugh of Alna, Maine; stepdaughters Margaretha Eckhardt of Lincoln and Juliana Huljack of Stockton, N.J.; stepsons Jason Eckhardt of New Bedford, Mass., and Kris Eckhardt of Westbrook, Maine; two grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and four step-great-grandchildren.

A private graveside service will be held for the immediate family at Lincoln Cemetery. A memorial for residents and friends at the Paine Estate will be forthcoming.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Beverly Eckhardt’s memory may be made to University of Vermont Foundation, Codman Community Farm, Buddy Dog Humane Society or Midcoast Conservancy.

Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Beverly’s online guestbook, click here.

My Turn: Planning for climate-friendly aviation

By Christopher Eliot

In a previous Lincoln Squirrel article, I explained why “sustainable” aviation fuel (SAF) is unlikely to make aviation climate-friendly, barring one or more significant technological breakthroughs.

If SAF will not make aviation climate friendly, what should be done? Unfortunately, this is a very hard question to answer. I do not have an ideal solution any more than the aviation industry, but I believe my truthful admission is better than industry propaganda. It requires a lot of energy to fight the law of gravity. Currently, aircraft use the energy reservoir of millions of years of fossil fuel. It is unclear what renewable energy sources can practically be used to support aviation. It is more unclear if we can produce enough renewable energy for basic electrical needs and aviation too.

Expanding aviation is clearly wrong: we don’t want to make a hard problem bigger. We need to constrain the growth of aviation, starting with private jets which are the worst part of the problem as explained by Alex Chatfield on February 23 (“My Turn: Proposed private-jet Hanscom expansion is a climate bomb in sheep’s clothing“).

Existing aircraft can be made somewhat more efficient, thus reducing their environmental impact. Unfortunately, crowded seating, while loathsome for passengers, does reduce the fuel consumption per passenger mile. Scheduling that reduces empty seats is beneficial to the airlines and to the environment. Flying directly to a destination under 3,000 miles away is almost always more environmentally friendly than flights with layovers. Further efficiencies are possible but will only produce some percentage of improvement, easily outweighed by increases in travel.

Spending a trillion dollars to support production of SAF does not seem like a good use of resources or a path to a solution. Spending a trillion dollars on high-speed rail is much more likely to succeed and have a much better impact on climate considerations.

The single most impactful proposal is the development of blended wing aircraft. Fundamentally altering the shape of an airplane to generate much more lift will significantly reduce fuel consumption, and climate impact. JetZero claims the design can reduce emissions by up to 50%. However, more independent estimates predict more conservative benefits of 20-30%. Furthermore, the development of a new aircraft with associated production, servicing, and operational infrastructure is exceedingly challenging from a technical perspective, and maintaining the investment interest for the long development period is excruciatingly hard. The safety issues associated with a new design are immense. One or two fatal crashes could easily end production of an otherwise promising technology.

Jet contrails, while short-lived, turn out to have a massive effect on global warming and may account for 50% of the climate impact of aviation. Modifying flight paths to avoid the conditions where contrails form could substantially reduce this effect, although this has not been proven.

Electric aircraft are being tested and may soon become operational but it is not certain this technology will prove to be economically feasible. Several promising companies including Eviation and Lilium that have attempted to develop electric aircraft have recently failed. The industry wants to focus on electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVtol) instead of the simpler electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCtol) form of electric aircraft. From an environmental perspective, eVtol is probably bad and eCtol is probably good. All forms of electric aviation are technically difficult and have an uncertain future.

EVtol would create a whole new aviation industry providing a fast way to commute from cities to suburbs. Vertical takeoff and landing requires a prodigious expenditure of energy, likely limiting range to 25-50 miles. It is likely that eVtol will be a form of luxury travel unavailable to most people. It will probably be an expensive replacement for bus and automobile service to those who have the means. It will place a further drain on limited green energy sources, create new sources of overhead noise and confusion while reducing the environmental impact of nothing.

ECtol, on the other hand, could replace a certain number of short range flights (200-300 miles), including trips to The Cape and Islands. While this is a limited benefit, it is certainly better for the environment than using private jets to fly those same routes. Approximately half of all air travel is under 593 miles. More than 90% of high-traffic scheduled flights are less than 1,500 nautical miles. Current battery technology cannot produce electric aircraft that address a large percentage of the aviation problem. Increasing battery efficiency by at least a factor of three might allow electric aircraft to replace almost half of the current passenger miles. Electric aircraft do not have to cross oceans to dramatically reduce the climate impact of aviation.

My best plan for aviation requires (hopefully) addressing 10-30% of the problem with electric aircraft, 20-50% through the development of blended wing aircraft, 10-30% by reduction in contrails, 20-30% of the problem with high-speed rail, 10-20% of the problem with SAF, 10% from incremental optimization of engines, and remaining reductions due to remote meetings, more local vacationing, and some reductions in the use of air travel. The technological improvements are all uncertain; reduction in air travel is the only proven way to reduce aviation’s impact on the climate. However, while uncertain, the various engineering proposals (other than SAF) could greatly reduce the climate problem of aviation. Moving slowly toward this goal will be better for the aviation industry than following the false promise of SAF and being forced to drastically scale back operations when the scale of the climate crisis becomes inescapable.

What can you do?

The most direct action is to reduce your air travel slightly, maybe by 10%. Perhaps you can combine two trips into one (longer) trip or convert an in-person meeting to an online meeting. You can support groups opposed to private jet expansion and write to your government representatives.

Eliot, a Lincoln resident, is the former chair of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

“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.

News acorns

Blood drive to benefit Boston Children’s Hospital

On Tuesday, May 13 from 10:00am-5:00pm, the Doo family (which is grateful for the donations that were available during their daughter’s multiple brain surgeries) and their Brain Games fundraiser will host a blood drive for Boston Children’s Hospital. Registration takes place inside the First Parish stone church, with the bloodmobile parked outside on Bedford Road. The drive is open to anyone able to donate, not just the Lincoln community. As a bonus, Boston Children’s will give each donor a cooler bag with a few Brain Games goodies inside. Sign up here to donate.

SSEF postpones gala due to immigration concerns

South Sudanese Enrichment for Families (SSEF) has decided to postpone the May 17 celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Massachusetts arrival of the “lost” boys and girls from Sudan. The event was planned to share their tremendous accomplishments. In light of the controversies around immigration, there is heightened confusion and concern within the South Sudanese community. SSEF has made the decision to postpone the event, but the online auction will go forward — keep checking the SSEF website or call 781-322-0063 for more information.

From SSEF Executive Director Susan Winship and board co-chair Ababa Abiem: “We are committed to rescheduling this celebration for a later date. If tickets were already purchased, you will receive an email with more information. In the meantime, a Legal Assistance Fund has been created to help those in need of immigration legal advice. We truly appreciate your support and commitment to our community as we navigate this situation. We look forward to celebrating with you at a future date. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at Susanwinship@comcast.net or aabiem@gmail.com.”

Donate items for new playground

Magic Garden Children’s Center is creating a new playground and looking to fill it with gently used treasures. Specifically, they are looking for:

  • Bricks, old hardware parts (door knobs, latches, locks), small wheels from wagons, bikes, etc.
  • Metal baking pans, kitchen utensils, large spoons, measuring cups, whisks, ladles, bowls
  • PVC pipes and fittings, outdoor instruments, wind chimes
  • Outdoor paint brushes
  • Plexiglass or plastic panels

Email Camie Petri (camille.petri@gmail.com) for donation pickup.

Coming up from the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust

Volunteer work day at Twin Pond
Friday, May 9 from 1:00-3:00pm
Join other volunteers to help clear woody introduced plants from the forest understory. RSVP here.

LLCT pollinator plant sale
Sunday, May 18 from 11:00am-1:00pm, Lincoln Station
Native perennials and shrubs that support wild pollinators and promote gardens that bloom throughout the season and offer nectar and pollen resources to bumblebees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. More about the sale and plant list.

Family invasive plant walk
Saturday, May 17 from 1:00-3:00pm
Join LLCT and Danielle Proulx for a fun and educational kids’ program. Young nature detectives will play games, hear stories, and head out on a guided nature walk to track down non native plants. Geared towards elementary-aged children. Learn more and RSVP here.

LLCT and COAHS noticing walks
Space is still available on the May 21, June 3, and June 18 Noticing Walks. Join a group of nature-lovers exploring Lincoln’s trails. RSVP here.

Become a hospice volunteer

Care Dimensions, the region’s largest provider of hospice care, will hold online training classes for those interested in becoming volunteers for the nonprofit organization. You can make a difference in a patient’s life by:

  • Engaging in a shared interest or hobby
  • Helping with letter-writing or life review
  • Visiting with your approved dog
  • Reading to the patient
  • Listening and by providing a supportive, comforting presence

Volunteers visit patients in their homes, in facilities, and at our hospice houses. If patient visits are not the right fit, you can volunteer in other ways, such as providing administrative office support or making check-in phone calls to current patients or bereaved family members. Training will be held via Zoom on Mondays and Wednesdays, June 2-18, from 9:00-11:00am (register by Friday, May 23). For more information or to register, click here or email VolunteerInfo@CareDimensions.org.

Legal notice: Select Board public hearing

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.

Property sales in March and April 2025

3 Goose Pond Rd. — Robert McGarr to Juliana Sagor and Peter Lee for $1,775,000 (April 28)

21 Birchwood Lane — Anthony Dubon to David B. Martin Trust and Laurel K. Martin Trust for $875,000 (April 25)

30 Old Sudbury Rd. — Paul Chapman to John and Margaret Doyle for $2,000,000 (April 4)

61 Oxbow Rd. — Marijke E. Holtrop Trust to Amanda Millis and Florian Allroggen for $1,400,000 (April 2)

19 Sunnyside Lane — Donna Bryne to Wei Zhu and Coty Sheme for $1,010,000 (March 18)

49 Birchwood Lane — Laura Stookey Johnson Trust to John and Samara Fangman for $975,000 (March 17)

 

Public forums, walks scheduled around Panetta/Farrington proposal

A map showing the land that will be developed and conserved under the proposal. Click image to enlarge, and see the April 27 and April 20 Lincoln Squirrel articles for more information.

The Rural Land Foundation has scheduled a number of public forums (in person and via Zoom) and site walks to acquaint residents with the proposal to purchase and rezone land to allow 20 construction of 20 single-family houses plus new town-owned conservation land. 

To go forward, the project — the result of a multi-year collaboration between RLF, Farrington Memorial Nature Linc, and the Panetta family — must win a two-thirds majority on a rezoning vote at a Special Town Meeting on June 25, as well as approval to allocate $950,000 from the town’s Community Preservation Act fund.
 
RLF Executive Director Geoff McGean and Wendy Matusovich of Farrington Nature Linc will present at these events so the community can learn more about the project and ask questions. 

Thursday, May 8
12:00-1:00pm, Lincoln Public Library Tarbell Room

Monday, May 12
7:00-8:00pm, Zoom

Tuesday, May 13
9:30-11:30am, site walk at Farrington Nature Nature Linc (RSVP here)

Wednesday, May 21
9:00-10:00am, site walk at Farrington Nature Nature Linc (RSVP here)

Thursday May 22
7:00-8:00pm, Zoom

Tuesday, June 3
7:00-8:00pm, Zoom

Wednesday, June 4
12:00-1:00pm, Lincoln Library Tarbell Room

Legal notice: Planning Board public hearing

The Lincoln Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 7:01pm on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 via Zoom and in person at the Donaldson Room at Town Offices at 16 Lincoln Road to review an application for Multi-Family Residential Site Plan Review under Section 17 of the Zoning Bylaw. The applicant, Fabio Andrade, proposes to remove an existing building and construct a 4-unit multifamily townhouse at 150 Lincoln Road, Parcel 162-30-0.

Plans are available for review by e-mailing Jennifer Curtin at curtinj@lincolntown.org. The agenda with the Zoom information and meeting location will be posted to the town website at lincolntown.org/calendar at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard may be present at the designated time and place; written comments will also be accepted.

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

Council on Aging & Human Services events in May

Coming up on Fridays in May 12:30pm in Bemis Hall (see the May COA&HS newsletter for details):

  • May 9 — A Visit with Isabella Stewart Gardner
  • May 16 — Unusual Plants of Lincoln and Beyond
  • May 23 — Film: “American Sniper”
  • May 30 — Should I Stay or Should I Go? Exploring the Options (part 3)

Also at the COA&HS: a jazz concert with Jim Mazzy on Thursday, May 22 at 2:00pm in Bemis Hall.

Food Project seedling sale

The Food Project will have a seedling sale on Saturday, May 17 from 11:00am–2:00pm at its Baker Bridge Road field (90 Concord Rd, Lincoln).

Coming up at Codman Community Farms

Click on an event title for details.

Pair of Gropius House special events

Join the 2025 birthday celebration in honor of the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius on Saturday, May 17 from 6:30-9:00pm at the Gropius House. This 60’s themed party that continues a tradition of Bauhaus design-inspired revelry will honor both the birthday of Gropius and 40 years of the Gropius House as a public museum. Hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and live music. 1960s attire or adornment is optional. Advance ticket purchase encouraged ($80 for Historic New England members, $100 for nonmembers, $35 for students with ID). Call 617-994-6651 for more information. Thank you to the event’s key sponsor and Historic New England member Mark Allen.

The Children’s Creativity Festival, a collaboration with LincFam and Historic New England, takes place on Sunday, May 18 at the Gropius House from 3:00-5:00pm. Come to an open house and a hands-on celebration featuring art, music and dance in the sprit of the Bauhaus principles of experiential learning and creativity. The event is free and open to all. Contributions to support our organizations are appreciated.

Roadway & Traffic Committee vacancy

The Select Board invites applications from residents who would like to be considered for appointment to a one-year term to the Roadway & Traffic Committee (RTC), which acts in an advisory capacity to the Select Board and Superintendent of the Department of Public Works. It works in close collaboration with the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, which performs a separate but related role with a more concentrated focus on improving and expanding pedestrian and cyclist safety and connectivity throughout Lincoln.

Although not required, a background in planning, design and construction, project management, transportation planning, or traffic safety would be beneficial. The RTC meets about once a month in the mornings. Send a volunteer application and brief letter of interest to Peggy Elder, Select Board Administrative Assistant, at elderp@lincolntown.org by Monday, May 12.

Property tax exemption available

Seniors and low-income residents who live in Lincoln may be eligible for a Community Preservation Act tax exemption. The CPA tax is a surcharge of 3% of the property tax levied after the first $100,000 of the taxable residential assessed value of your home. Guidelines with adjusted household income limits:

  • Seniors aged 60+ — $112,630 for a single person, $128,720 for two persons; add $16,090 for each additional person.
  • Others under age 60 — $90,104 for a single person, $102,976 for two persons; add $12,872 for each additional person. For more information or to apply, please call Carlee at 781-259-8811.

Planning Board votes 4-1 to approve Plaut proposal

The three lots owned by the Plauts are outlined in blue (click to enlarge).

The Planning Board voted 4-1 last week to approve a proposal to clear-cut and replant several acres of undeveloped land between Old Winter Street and Trapelo Road.

Representatives of Timothy and Madeleine Plaut, who own three lots totaling 8.5 acres, presented a proposal in March to clear about one-third of the land, regrade part of it for a driveway, plant new native trees and shrubs, and create a meadow in preparation for building a single-family house. The board specified that “to the extent possible,” construction and delivery vehicles must enter and leave the property from the Trapelo Road side of Old Winter Street and that the applicants build a temporary turnaround for that purpose. They had originally hoped to gain temporary access from Silver Hill Road, but the Conservation Commission denied that request since the route would traverse wetlands.

In their written decision, the board also required the applicant to mark every tree six inches or larger in diameter that they intend to cut down, and to have a site visit with Planning Department staff before tree removal begins.

At the board’s April 22 meeting, member Susan Hall Mygatt voted against the proposal, arguing that the clearing and replanting portions of the proposal do not conform to Section 17.7.4a of the town zoning bylaw that says that “the landscape shall be preserved in its natural state insofar as practicable by minimizing any grade changes and vegetation and soil removal.” The plan calls for cutting down 137 mature trees and planting 268 new trees of varying sizes as well as shrubs and ground cover. 

“It’s a question of what you consider the ‘natural state’,” board co-chair Gary Taylor said. “I would consider this to be preserving the natural environment of Lincoln.”

“I don’t think it meant it should be preserved as of the date that bylaw was enacted. I’m not an originalist; I think landscapes change,” Mygatt responded. “It’s going to be beautiful, but it’s just inconsistent with the bylaw.” Also, she added, “It’s such a huge project that while I believe [the Plauts] have the vision and financial capability to pull this off, if we’re wrong, it’s one heck of a mess on that property… I just think it’s an unnecessary risk to take.”

“If I’m an abutter, this is the next best thing to [having it be] conservation land. It’s better than three McMansions,” board member Rob Ahlert said — a sentiment that was echoed by two of those abutters.

Although the board approved the plan, they also agreed that the town needs more teeth in controlling what can be done to the landscape of private property. “I think we need to revise our bylaws and come up with something about taking down trees,” co-chair Lynn DeLisi said — something that the Tree Preservation Study Group is already working on.

But others at the meeting objected more strenuously. The intent of the zoning bylaw is to “preserve the current ecosystem,” said Barbara Peskin, who envisioned “children seeing wildlife running for their lives.

“I think this is an ecological disaster,” Vicky Diadiuk said. “Property rights are not as important as the welfare of the community. We’re talking about a common resource we’re about to devastate… it’s unworthy of the town of Lincoln. Stop studying and start passing laws that protect our environment. You’ll be gone by the time you finish talking about it.”