conservation

The Lincoln Squirrel will publish more stories about the March 19 Town Meting in coming days. Meanwhile, here are a few other warrant articles that were discussed.

Ballot questions

There will be two questions on the March 28 town election ballot that were also discussed at Town Meeting:

• A request for $320,000 for the Department of Public Works to buy a new street sweeper ($215,000) and an articulated loader ($105,000). The loader is a smaller vehicle used for plowing sidewalks and bike paths as well as trimming roadside vegetation.
• A request for a Proposition 2½ override to pay for Lincoln’s share of the new Minuteman High School. This question, which was placed on the ballot pending the town’s decision on whether to withdraw from the Minuteman school district, is now moot. Residents voted at a February 23 Special Town Meeting to withdraw. Though the town will still have a representative on the Minuteman School Committee until July 2017, it will not be liable as a member town for the new building’s capital costs.

Conservation Commission funding

A motion to allow the Conservation Commission to spend $25,000 on several land stewardship projects passed at Town Meeting, though not without some “nay” votes.

The money, which comes from fees paid to the town by people who leave conservation land for agricultural purposes, will go toward repairing the muster field colvert so it can safely hold a tractor and emergency vehicles, as well as the upper Browning Field bridge. Other projects covered by the appropriation are plantings to screen the solar panels in Far Meadow near Lincoln Woods, setting up six deer “exclosures” for studying how vegetation burned in last year’s fire near Sandy Pond; doing an inventory of invasive Japanese knotweed; and controlling phragmites that grow in wetlands, especially on the Sudbury River.

It was this last project that caused some controversy, as several residents objected to possible use of chemicals to kill the phragmites. Conservation Commission chair Peter von Mertens said the preferred method would be to cut the phragmites and then cover the area with light-proof cloth to prevent regrowth, but Conservation DIrector Thomas Gumbart acknowledged that herbicides are also an option.

Right-to-farm bylaw

The town passed over an article that considered amending the 2011 right-to-farm zoning by-law to add parties who are permitted to farm by right in Lincoln and to add agricultural uses permitted by right on parcels of less than five acres.

The Agricultural Commission (AgComm) hoped to propose the changes because more and more people are doing farming on a small scale, such as raising chickens in their backyards. The group drafted some amendments to the by-law but decided to get more community input on what sort of limits there should be, such as whether there should be a limit on agricultural uses or revenue for homeowners on properties under five acres.

“We want to craft it so it won’t alarm people and so we have the proper parameters put on operations,” AgComm member Ari Kurtz said the day after Town Meeting. The AgComm has a study group examine the current agricultural by-laws, and Kurtz invited anyone interested in joining the group to email agcom@lincolnton.org.

Currently there are 16 commercial farms in Lincoln on about 500 acres of land, he said. Lincoln farms raise fruits and vegetables and livestock including chickens, cows, sheep, alpacas, but also wine grapes, horses for riding and therapy, and bees for honey and wax.

The Green Energy Committee (GEC) and the town of Lincoln are sponsoring the Lincoln Energy Challenge, a new residential initiative to help reduce overall energy use and save money on energy costs. The ultimate goal is to decrease Lincoln’s residential energy use 10 percent by 2020.

Thanks to government incentives and advances in technology, many new energy-saving options have become available. Volunteers from the Green Energy Committee have examined these options, many in their own homes, and want to share this knowledge with other residents to:

• Reduce home energy consumption
• Increase use of “greener” sources of electricity, particularly solar and wind
• Consider rooftop solar panels or community solar options

As a first step, the GEC and the Town of Lincoln have selected Next Step Living (NSL), the largest provider of home energy assessments in New England, to coordinate outreach to our residents and offer free assessments. The committee conducted a competitive bidding process to select NSL to implement the program. The goal is for 300 Lincoln residents to complete a no-cost home energy assessment by April 2017 and to implement home improvement projects like air sealing, insulation, and furnace, boiler or appliance upgrades with the help of state-incentivized rebates. While many homes may have had energy assessments, residents are encouraged to get a revised assessment if more than two years have passed.

A home energy assessment takes just a few hours and includes on-the-spot improvements such as no-cost energy-efficient LED light bulbs and water-saving devices for faucets and shower heads. Each measure identified in an assessment reduces the amount of energy used in a home. If Lincoln residents implement the recommended measures, NSL estimates that the total savings will exceed $28,000 per year.

To schedule a free Home Energy Assessment, call 800-769-2864 or visit www.LincolnEnergyChallenge.com. For questions email Lincoln Green Energy Committee member Sue Klem at susan.m.klem@gmail.com.

By Alice Waugh

In contrast to the mood at Town Meeting discussion last spring, residents at the State of the Town meeting were mostly supportive of a proposal to have new residential outdoor lighting meet certain “dark skies” requirements, with a few tweaks.

Voters rejected proposed zoning amendments in March that would have required permanent outdoor lighting fixtures to be shielded so as not to direct light above the horizontal, and imposed limits on their brightness and color temperature. At Saturday’s State of the Town meeting, Planning Board member Margaret Olson explained the reasoning behind those proposed rules and why they should not be difficult to follow.

When used at night, lights that are on the bluer end of the color spectrum (including computer screens) can disrupt the circadian rhythms of mammals because they are too much like sunlight, Olson said. Excessively bright lights are bad because “as you move from a well-lit to a dark space, the greater the contrast and the harder it is to adjust, and it gets worse as you get older,” she said. The solution is to have a larger number of less powerful lights in a warmer color spectrum, so the Planning Board is seeking limits of 3,000 degrees K. for color temperature and 900 lumens for brightness.

Another advantage of changing the zoning regulations is that it would make the site plan review process simpler and fairer, because the Planning Board would no longer have to examine and debate the lighting in each individual applicant’s plan, Olson said.

If approved, the new rules would apply only to new permanent outdoor lighting fixtures; existing light fixtures would be grandfathered, she emphasized. However, when replacing light bulbs, she encouraged homeowners to voluntarily buy bulbs with a color temperature that meets the new guidelines.

The board’s goals with the proposed rules, which will come before voters at Town Meeting again (though perhaps not in this exact form) in March, are fourfold:

• to protect the night sky by shining light only downward where it is needed, rather than skyward
• to protect wildlife by phasing out lights that mimic daylight
• having rules that are simple and easy for homeowners to understand
• being practical by encouraging residents to use lighting fixtures that are readily available and affordable while also being in compliance

Some residents, while generally supportive of the the proposed lighting restrictions, noted that the new rules would mean homeowners would need to install a large number of fixtures to compensate for the diminished brightness of each, compared to lights commonly in use now.

“A 60-watt bulb [the equivalent of 900 lumens] is not a lot. Driveway lights are about 250 watts, so you would need 10 to 20 fixtures,” said Steven Kanner, a member of the Board of Health. He suggested that the Planning Board create a mockup to give homeowners an idea of how an outdoor lighting plan should be designed to offer enough light while also complying with the rules.

Kanner also suggested changing the color temperature limit to 3,300 degrees K. and Olson was receptive, acknowledging that the 3,000 degree figure was arbitrary and that “perhaps that level of simplicity is unnecessary.”

Buzz Constable asked that the amended zoning regulations should allow the Zoning Board of Appeals to grant exceptions, which would allow some flexibility to accommodate new lighting technology and research in the future. “We don’t want to come back and argue about color every three years,” he said.

“I can assure you that the lighting being proposed is fully adequate,” said resident Frank Clark, an astrophysicist. “We’ve become accustomed to bright lights, most of which are going up into the sky and doing nothing.”

Olson urged residents to attend Planning Board hearings this winter to learn more about these and other proposed zoning amendments and offer their input before Town Meeting.