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

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Recap of background stories for Town Meeting

In preparation for the March 25 Town Meeting, the Lincoln Squirrel is publishing an updated and expanded expanded recap of news stories and letters to the editor on some of the issues to be voted on. The full warrant list can be found here.

Wang property acquisition (article 11)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

Accessory apartments (articles 12-14)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

School project (articles 33 and 34)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Community center feasibility study (article 35)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Landfill solar initiative (article 36)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Agricultural bylaw amendment (article 38)

News story:

Water bottle/plastic bag ban (articles 41 and 42)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

Lincoln Kitchen opens to the public on Saturday

The much-anticipated Lincoln Kitchen restaurant had the first of two “soft openings” for friends and family this past Tuesday and will open to the general public on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Lincoln Kitchen replaces Aka Bistro, which closed in May. Two months later, the nearby Whistle Stop Cafe also closed. Lincoln residents Jim and Carol White, who own the Trail’s End restaurant in Concord, signed a lease for both Lincoln sites in August with their daughter Elizabeth-Akehurst-Moore. Trail’s End Cafe in Lincoln opened in October for breakfast and lunch, and Lincoln Kitchen (which, like Aka Bistro, has a liquor license) will be open to the public for dinner on Saturday, Feb. 11.

“We’ll follow the same food philosophy here at Lincoln Kitchen as we do at Trail’s End Cafe in Concord and Lincoln: we serve carefully crafted comfort food made from thoughtfully sourced ingredients,” said general manager Bree Showalter. “We source all of our meats and poultry from farms that are committed to the humane treatment of their animals, who never use hormones or antibiotics. We use local farms for produce and other items as often as possible, throughout all the seasons.”

Lincoln Kitchen had a soft opening for invited friends and family on Tuesday and has another scheduled for Friday, Feb. 10. Starting in the middle of next week, the restaurant’s hours will be as follows:

  • Monday to Saturday — Lunch: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bar menu: 3-5 p.m. Dinner menu: 5-10 p.m.
  • Sunday — Brunch: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The renovated interior of Lincoln Kitchen.

Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore and her father Jim White at Lincoln Kitchen on February 7.

Two commercial properties moving toward next chapter

By Alice Waugh

Two prominent commercial properties in South Lincoln will see some changes—and perhaps new tenants—in the coming months.

152 Lincoln Rd., formerly occupied by the Cambridge Trust Co. until the branch closed its doors last year, was purchased in November by Cambridge West Partners for $1,015,000. Meanwhile, the new owners of the mansard-roofed building at 2 Lewis St. are continuing renovations they began after they bought it from Sejfi Protopapa in November 2015 for $850,000.

152 Lincoln Rd.

The new owner at 152 Lincoln Rd. has hired KeyPoint Partners to find a replacement occupant for the 3,375-square-foot space in a building that is also home to Barrett Sotheby’s International Realty and other tenants. Decades ago, the Community Store, Lincoln’s grocery store before the mall across the street was built, occupied the entire building, which was faced with pink stucco.

Although the Cambridge Trust Co. is obviously set up as a bank, many kinds of businesses would work there, said KeyPoint’s Michael Branton. “Because it’s a fully built-out bank branch with teller stations and a drive-up window, a financial services tenant could move in easily. However, the property is suitable for a variety of uses, from retail to professional services to office,” he said.

The distinctive Lewis Street property, also known as the Wyman Cook House dating from 1870, currently has four commercial tenants, though one of them—a field office of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)—will leave in the spring now that its work overseeing the Route 2 project is almost complete. The other three businesses (the Lincoln Barber Shop, Lincoln Town Cleaners and the Travel Station) are tenants at will, and “everyone can stay as long as they’d like to,” said Christina Van Vleck, who co-owns the building with her husband David Nydam Jr.

Back in South Lincoln’s commercial heyday, the building was home to a post office and general store. More recent tenants have included a ski and bike shop, a cafe, and educational software company Lexia Learning Systems.

2 Lewis St.

The top two floors have been vacant for years, and the Van Vlecks are renovating it with the goal of moving their family into the 2,800-square-foot space. They’re also planning some work on the exterior, including exterior paintwork to change the familiar mint green. “We will definitely paint it a new color, which will be a welcome change for everyone,” Van Vleck said with a laugh. Depending on budget, future plans may include replacing the vestibule that was “pasted in the front of the building” with a more traditional front porch, and replacing the aluminum siding with wood or fiber cement siding.

Once the Van Vlecks and their three-year-old move in, “we hope to participate more actively by being landlords and helping foster businesses,” said Van Vleck, a graphic designer who works out of her home.

The Van Vlecks are talking to potential tenants for the 1,900-square-foot space currently occupied by MassDOT and hope to have one in place by early summer. “We very much hope that the building provides space for business owners living in Lincoln or neighboring communities to work close to home and, ideally, provides a service that meets a need within the local community,” Van Vleck said.

The year in review (part 2)

Site of the former Aka Bistro, soon to be Lincoln Kitchen.

December

November

October

September

August

July

Groups proposed for economic development, south Lincoln

shopTwo new committees to promote business development in Lincoln are being proposed.

At a Board of Selectmen meeting earlier this month, Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney offered a proposal for an Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) and a South Lincoln Implementation Planning Committee (SLPIC) to the Board of Selectmen earlier this month. Creating groups to focus on economic development and south Lincoln were among the recommendations of the 2009 Comprehensive Long Range Plan.

The EDAC would be similar to an Economic Development Commission or a Chamber of Commerce found in many towns, but it would expand its membership to include nonprofit Lincoln-based organizations. The group’s goal would be “to help attract, retain and grow businesses (for profit and non-profits) and jobs in Lincoln that respects Lincoln’s character and adds to the quality of local residential life by providing goods, services and amenities desired by residents, jobs and livelihoods for Lincoln residents, and tax revenue that support the town services that are important to Lincoln residents.”

If approved, selectmen would appoint nine members to the EDAC, and the Planning Board would appoint seven members to the SLPIC. Each group would include members from the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board, the Rural Land Foundation, business owners, and an at-large member with experience in retail estate or business development. The EDAC would also include a member from a nonprofit such as a farm or cultural/historical organization.

Aside from its focus on South Lincoln, the SLPIC would be more project-oriented than the EDAC. It could create working groups for specific projects drawing on other one-time members, such as a people from the Department of Public Works and the bicycling community for a signage project, or a marketing consultant to work with business owners on marketing and displays, Burney explained.

“It’s a way to find out who’s out there and what they’re struggling with. Do you have a vacancy rate? How can we help you fill your vacancy rate? Are you planning to expand, and If so, how can we keep you in Lincoln?” she said.

Burney’s proposal also included economic data, some of which was also presented in the 2014 Lincoln Station Planning Study.

  • In 2015, there were 190 establishments in Lincoln that provided 2,034 jobs with a total of $143 million in wages.
  • The North Lincoln office development near Hanscom Field has a vacancy rate of 30-40 percent.
  • The Mall at Lincoln Station earns only $7.7 million per year in sales and “leaks” as much as 80 percent of total consumer spending in adjacent towns.
  • Lincoln has a median household income of $150,000, with over 40 percent earning a combined income of $200,000 or more.

Planning Board member Gary Taylor noted that South Lincoln is at a transition point with two new restaurants opening, even as commercial space across the street remains vacant.

“I really think we have an opportunity here to chart a new path with respect to economic development and particularly South Lincoln,” he said. “We’ve never really [said to businesses] that we really want to get behind you and we want to listen to you.”

“As a Planning Board member, I feel revisiting South Lincoln is a really important mission and something that excites me,” board member Lynn DeLisi said. “We spend a lot of time deciding whether people should have spruce trees or Eastern cedars or whatever, but really the heart of the matter is revitalizing the town.”

Selectman were cautious, saying they had questions about the missions and membership criteria of the two groups. They wondered if the business community would include those with home offices in town, or those who are Lincoln residents but run successful businesses elsewhere.

The two proposed groups seem to have a lot of overlap, said Selectman James Craig, the liaison to the Planning Board, adding that he wanted to “talk more and see why this can’t be under one umbrella.” However, Town Administrator Tim Higgins, who worked with Burney on the proposal, said he saw the value in having two separate groups and recommended that approach to her.

The EDAC was a particularly valuable asset in Ayer, where he was previously town administrator, he said. “I certainly didn’t realize just the power of networking” for the business community, Higgins said. “It’s a nice way of businesses getting to know one another and understand one another, regardless of any specific action items that might come.”

“I’d like to go a little slower and take it under advisement,” Selectman Peter Braun said.

Burney will meet with Higgins and Craig to discuss the EDAC further, and Craig will report back to the other selectmen. The Planning Board will reach out to other boards and committees to explain the SLPIC and its charge to see if there is interest in serving on the group or a subcommittee.

A pair of ground-breaking occasions

Town officials and others recently donned hardhats and wielded shovels at two different Lincoln sites: the First Parish Church, which is doing interior renovations, and Care Dimensions’ new Greater Boston Hospice House on Winter Street. (Never mind that construction activity had already begun in both places—it’s the thought that counts.)

The hospice facility, slated for completion by November 2017, will feature 18 private patient suites including two pediatric suites for terminally ill patients and their families. Last year, Care Dimensions, which also operates the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, cared for more than 1,300 patients living within 15 miles of the Lincoln site.

Work at the church is expected to be complete by June 1, 2017.

gb-fpl

The Building Committee of the First Parish in Lincoln celebrates the groundbreaking of the renovation project for the church at 4 Bedford Road. Left to right: Doug Detweiler, Ken Bassett, Mary Helen Lorenz, Ken Hurd, Peter Sugar and Barbara Sampson. (Photo courtesy Kathy Harvey-Ellis)

Photos by Mike Dean www.mikedeanphotos.com

Representatives from the town of Lincoln along with Care Dimensions president and board members at the September 27 groundbreaking ceremony for the new Greater Boston Hospice House. Left to right: Selectman Peter Braun, Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Joel Freedman, Care Dimensions President Diane Stringer, and Phil Cormier, Vice Chair of the Care Dimensions Board of Directors. (Photo by Mike Dean)

Trail’s End Cafe opens its doors in Lincoln

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The Trails’ Enders (formerly the Whistle Stoppers), left to right: Barry Palu, birthday boy Bryan Ernst, Jim Nicholson, Judy Fox, John Ciraso and John Snelling. (Photos by Alice Waugh)

Trail’s End Café welcomed its first customers on Monday morning in the Lincoln space occupied by the former Whistle Stop—and just as he was for the Whistle Stop, Barry Palu was its very first customer.

Palu is one of a group of former Whistle Stop regulars who met to eat breakfast, solve the newspaper crossword puzzle and kid around over coffee. They were left without a meeting place after the Whistle Stop closed in July, but Palu eagerly anticipated its successor. He arrived half an hour after Trail’s End Café opened at 6:30 a.m. but was the only customer. But by 10:00, the place was busy, and he and his friends were ensconced at an outdoor table on the warm, early fall morning.

Trail’s End Café doesn’t look much different from the Whistle Stop except for the shiny new espresso machines, but customers were delighted with the experience. “It’s fantastic—there’s no comparison,” Palu said. His friend Judy Fox agreed as she sang the praises of the steel-cut oatmeal she had for breakfast.

“It’s a little higher [in price], but well worth it to me,” Palu added.

The café serves breakfast and lunch (primarily soups, salads and sandwiches), since it doesn’t have any cooking equipment aside from an oven. Those in search of dinner will have to wait until the debut of Trail’s End Kitchen, which will open in the former Aka Bistro space later this fall or early winter after completing renovations.

“It will be a very different feeling from what was there before,” said co-owner Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore. It will be homey, serving “carefully crafted comfort food” for lunch and dinner along with both a kids’ menu and cocktails, wine and draft beer.

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General manager Bree Showalter fills an order at the Trails’ End Café.

All three eateries are owned by Akehurst-Moore and her parents, Lincoln residents Jim and Carol Wright, who opened the Concord location in 2011 as a breakfast spot and began serving dinner in 2014. Although they weren’t actively looking to open another location, they were approached by some people who encouraged them to consider the old library in Weston Center, but residents subsequently decided to turn the site into the Weston Art and Innovation Center, Akehurst-Moore said. After Aka Bistro closed, others urged them to consider that site, “and we thought it had good potential,” she said. They signed leases for both locations on August 31.

tec-signAsked how she viewed the market for her Lincoln venture, Akehurst-Moore said, “I think personally what Lincoln needs is what we’re going to provide: good food but not an overly formal, white-tablecloth setting—a place you can go on a regular basis that’s affordable but high-quality. I think we’ll be a draw for the whole area.”

Although the Concord restaurant hosts music including jazz brunches, Akehurst-Moore said it would depend on the configuration of the space at Trail’s End Kitchen as to whether they could do something similar there, though she said they would certainly be open to renting out the entire facility for private parties.

tec-trio

Robin Bogner (right) and her sons Mateo, 6, and Skylar, 8, enjoy breakfast.

The one thing Akehurst-Moore is sure about is that she’s going to get busier. She’s expecting a baby over the winter to go along with her five-year-old twins, and she’s also involved in developing the Concord Market, which has gotten approval to open in Millbrook Tarry, the same commercial plaza occupied by Trail’s End on Lowell Road in Concord, though not for about a year. The Lincoln venture is the latest stop in a career that began when she earned an art history degree and a master’s degree in architectural preservation and then became a lawyer.

“I have a great staff, obviously,” said Akehurst-Moore, who works closely with Bree Showalter, the general manager of the restaurants who also manned the counter in Lincoln on Monday. “A huge part is getting a team together that’s motivated and hard-working and talented and just as crazy as I am,” she added with a chuckle.
Trail’s End Café will be open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Trail’s End to open cafe, restaurant in two Lincoln Station locations

xxx and Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore sign leases for two restaurant properties in the Lincoln Station complex on Wednesday.

Geoff McGean of the Rural Land Foundation and Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore of Trail’s End sign leases for two restaurant properties in the Lincoln Station complex on Wednesday.

The suspense is over for the Lincoln Station restaurant situation. The owner’s of the Trail’s End Cafe in Concord will open new locations in not one but both Lincoln restaurant locations vacated by the closures of Aka Bistro and the Whistle Stop cafe.

The Rural Land Foundation (RLF), which owns Lincoln Station, announced in a press release Wednesday night that Jim and Carol White of Lincoln and their daughter Elizabeth Akehurst-Moore, who together own Trail’s End, had signed two separate leases. After renovating the Aka Bistro space, they plan to open Lincoln Kitchen, which will serve “high-end comfort food” for lunch and dinner along with cocktails, wine, and craft beer on tap and in bottles. Trail’s End Café, Lincoln will open in the Whistle Stop space as a “casual breakfast and lunch venue” that will offer homemade baked goods, sandwiches, salads, coffee and espresso drinks similar to what’s served at the Concord location, the release said.

The cafe is expected to open by the end of September and the restaurant by later in the fall.

“I am very excited to open two restaurants in my hometown,” Akehurst-Moore, a Concord attorney who has been operating Trail’s End since 2011, said in the release. “Both restaurants will maintain our commitment to serving delicious food, homemade from thoughtfully sourced ingredients, using local products when possible.”

Akehurst-Moore could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. Jim Moore deferred comment until Wednesday.

Lincoln resident Richard Card had hoped to lease the Aka Bistro space for Blazes, a combination bookstore, coffee shop/restaurant and cocktail bar. He made an offer but as of late July, he had started looking at other locations as he had not heard back from the RLF. Card could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

“We had several really qualified candidates approach us about leasing both spaces, but in the end we think Lincoln Kitchen and Trail’s End Café will provide a great community experience with top-quality local food,” RLF Executive Director Geoff McGean said in the release. “Elizabeth grew up in Lincoln and her parents, Jim and Carol White, still live here, so they understand Lincoln and recognize the desire for a community-based restaurant that will appeal to all Lincolnites. We are so fortunate to have them share their Concord restaurant expertise and great food with Lincoln.”

 

News acorns

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Paul Solman

PBS’s Paul Solman speaks on Nov. 22

The Bemis Lecture Series presents a conversation with Paul Solman, PBS NewsHour business and economics correspondent and author of the “Making Sense: Your Money and Your Life” blog, on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. in Brooks Auditorium. Free admission. For more information, email bemislectures@gmail.com.

“Wonderful Town” musical at L-S

The LSB Players of present Wonderful Town on November 18-21 at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s Kirschner Auditorium. Wonderful Town is a 1930s musical written by the powerhouse combination of Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story, On the Town, Candide) and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town, Singin’ in the Rain, Bells Are Ringing, Will Rogers Follies). This family-friendly musical centers around Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, two sisters who have traveled from their tiny hometown in Ohio to New York City to seek their fame and fortune. The show is directed by Carly Evans, music directed by Michael Bunting and conducted by Tom Grandprey. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for senior citizens/students and may be reserved online.

Annual artists’ market at deCordova

“Northern Lights – Holiday Sights,” the 22nd annual Artists’ Market at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum Store, runs from November 14 to December 31 with extended evening shopping hours. The Artists’ Market nearly doubles the square footage of the store for the holiday season to offer gifts and artisan items including jewelry, scarves, ornaments, paper goods, housewares, and hand-blown glass crafted by artists from across the country. The sale kicks off with a holiday reception on Friday, Nov. 13 from 7-9 p.m. with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, holiday music, a wrapping table, and more. Members receive a 15 percent discount. The store offers expanded holiday shopping hours until 7:30 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays from December 7–23.

Up for discussion: marijuana businesses in Lincoln

cannabisBy Alice Waugh

Is Lincoln going to pot? Not just yet, though residents will have chance to talk about it at the State of the Town meeting on November 14.

The Board of Selectmen decided to open up the topic of cultivating or selling medicinal marijuana in Lincoln after being approached by Dr. Stephanie Lipton of New England Wellspring, a firm that has been talking to several other towns in addition to Lincoln about possible dispensary sites. Before the state Department of Public Health (DPH) will consider issuing a license to dispense or grow marijuana, the applicant must first have in hand a letter of support (or at least non-opposition) from the town government.

No specific sites in Lincoln have been discussed. “The town has not been engaged in any formal negotiations with New England Wellspring, but we have had a number of informal, exploratory conversations,” said Selectman Noah Eckhouse.

“Our board thought long and hard about what we would do if formally approached by an applicant for such a letter. Should it really just be our decision? We concluded that we’d much prefer to have some broader guidance from the town on this issue,” he said.

The issues of siting, hours and security would certainly arise, as would the possibility of the town negotiating its own fiscal arrangement with an operator. “The conversation at State of the Town is intended to inform the selectmen and other land use boards about Lincoln’s view on these topics, so that we can act with the best interests and assessment of the town,” Eckhouse said.

In July, Acton selectmen voted unanimously to approve a letter of non-opposition for a potential cultivating and distribution facility for New England Wellspring, while Needham voted in September to deny a similar request.

Also last month, Weston authorized a letter of non-opposition for the company to open a medical marijuana dispensary in office space at 104 Boston Post Rd. near the intersection with I-95. New England Wellspring told the Weston officials that if everything is approved by the state, the Weston site would sell marijuana grown in Acton and the Weston site would have 24/7 security and be used primarily for distribution via home delivery, accepting a handful of walk-in patients each day by appointment only.

The Weston approval included the caveat that the site may not be used for distribution of recreational marijuana in the event that becomes legal in Massachusetts. This could be an issue if organizers collect enough signatures to put the question on the statewide ballot in 2016.

Lipton is also co-owner of A House Call Vets, a veterinary practice that offers in-home care. She told the Lincoln Squirrel in an email that she had no comment “until we are further along in the application process pending DPH consideration.”

The state’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened in Salem in June. The DPH has also issued retail permits for sites in Brockton and Northhampton.