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

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Residents argue pros and cons of South Lincoln rezoning

By Alice Waugh

Current zoning in South Lincoln (left, where “SLOD” stands for South Lincoln Overlay District) and the changes being proposed. Click image for larger version.

A proposal to rezone part of South Lincoln met with opposition last week as residents worried about ceding too much control to the Planning Board for building projects in that area.

More than 60 residents packed the Town Hall conference room for the second public forum on the rezoning proposals, which was hosted by a subcommittee of the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee (SLPIC). The group has been working with an outside consultant in drafting changes to the zoning bylaw to encourage a more dynamic “village center” around the train station with a greater variety of businesses and housing. This would result in a larger commercial tax base as well as options to stay in Lincoln for older residents and others in smaller households who are looking to downsize. 

The proposal builds on recommendations of several planning studies done in the past 20 years, including the 2009 Comprehensive Plan.

As outlined in the forum last May and the State of the Town meeting in November, the proposal would create a new South Lincoln Village District consisting of two subdistricts: Village Business, which emphasizes commercial or mixed use, and Village Residential, which provides a variety of housing options close to transit and retail amenities. That area would also allow buildings up to three and a half stories if they’re farther back from Lincoln Road.

Units that combine living and working space for a yoga studio, artist, architect, or designer, or bed and breakfast would be allowed in the entire village district, while uses such as an artisan bakery or a microbrewery would be allowed in the business district. 

Under the proposal, projects that have up to six units per acre and no more than 25% lot coverage would require only a site plan review by the Planning Board. “Lot coverage” takes height into account, so if a building’s footprint occupies 15% of the lot’s square footage but has two stories, it would have 30% lot coverage.

These criteria are still quite restrictive, however — “that’s not going to get anyone’s juices flowing,” Planning Board chair Margaret Olson said at the February 5 forum. The expectation is that developers would prefer more density, which would require them to apply for a special permit as well as the site plan review. With a special permit, projects could be up to 20 units per acre and have a greater maximum lot coverage (60% for residential and 100% for business). The developer would also have to include “density bonuses” such as outdoor play areas or gardens, sidewalks and seating, and at least 10% of the housing would have to qualify as moderate income.

Getting a special permit would require a public hearing, notices to abutters, traffic and environmental analyses, input from other town boards, and other conditions. However, Town Meeting approval would not be required unless a proposed project exceeds the special-permit density. 

Recently added to the rezoning proposal is a circuit-breaker provision that limits the total number of residential units that can be created at Lincoln Station over time. Once that number is reached, the hurdles become steeper for developers, and Town Meeting could also amend the cap at any time.

Town Meeting discourages developers

For developers today, the Town Meeting process is “lengthy, costly, and unpredictable,” so many potential applicants in Lincoln simply go elsewhere, said Olsen. The town would be better served by a rigorous Planning Board review using new regulations and guidelines, which includes a series of back-and-forth discussions with the developer, she added. This is “poorly suited to the Town Meeting process, and frankly, if you want to lean on a developer, it helps to have had practice.” The result would be a more comprehensive, predictable and efficient process for permitting, according to an FAQ sheet created by SLPIC.

Another stumbling block for existing South Lincoln businesses is that many do not meet current zoning, and, as a result, require a special permit to operate. Special permits can require renewals if there is a change in tenant or for any improvement to the building.

“Building owners stated that such uncertainty in the permitting process made it difficult to find suitable tenants because small local businesses or their lenders would not expend time and up-front money with the risk that permits might not be issued. Consequently, some existing businesses are not making improvements to their properties due to the current permitting process,” the FAQ sheet says. 

Additionally, under current rules, any modification to the mall other than minor changes must be approved by a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting. The mall and restaurant/post office building are owned by the Rural Land Foundation and sit in the South Lincoln Overlay Zone.

“With Town Meeting, there’s no rules… [Developers] have very little idea of whether [the project] met the town’s expectations,” Olson said. “If we want to achieve the goals of 20 years of master planning, we need a set of rules we can communicate about what is and is not acceptable in our town.”

A few residents at the forum spoke in favor of the rezoning proposal. “There are needs for more housing and more diverse economic availability for people. I’m concerned that my children won’t be able to live in a generational town or afford to retire here,” said C.J. Doherty, a Lincoln resident who co-owns the Twisted Tree Cafe. “As a business owner, having more people living around my business would certainly help. We need businesses to make a town. Change is painful and disruptive, but I don’t think it should preclude us from even considering it.”

Potential applicants in the past have asked if they would have to go to Town Meeting for a specific project, and when they learn they do, “that ends the conversation,” said Allen Vander Meulen, a member of the Housing Commission.

At a Town Meeting, “there are maybe 200 people who actually know anything about the particular question. [Other attendees] haven’t researched it. They just vote a straight yes or no on housing or school funding or whatever,” resident Paul Rice said. “My faith is in the [Planning] board, and if we’re putting the wrong people on the board, that’s a whole different question.”

Voice in opposition

But others protested what they saw as taking voting power away from residents and giving too much power to the Planning Board.

“Town Meeting is the ultimate arbiter of our town collectively, not just one five-person committee,” Peter Braun said. Under the rezoning proposal, “all we have is a ‘trust us’ kind of dimension to it. This is radical change in how we’re governing ourselves.”

“If we allow Town Meeting to keep having the final say on every single project, there will be no projects,” Olson said.

“If it’s the right project, it will pass,” replied Braun, noting that voters approved The Commons in Lincoln and Oriole Landing (albeit with the help of a $1 million grant from the Housing Commission for the latter).

Others said SLPIC has not gathered enough input from renters and homeowners in the areas that would be subject to rezoning, and that they do not have a representative on its planning and zoning subcommittee. Olson said that the Planning Board will consult town counsel about the legality of opening up more seats.

“Any steps in being less transparent as citizens as a town is the wrong direction. Part of what I love about Lincoln is having Town Meeting and having that say,” said Greenridge Lane resident Lisa Parker.

Along with official handouts at the forum were flyers produced by United Residents for Responsible Redevelopment touting its website, StrongSouthLincoln.com, that argues against the rezoning proposal. One member of the coalition, Jessica Packineau, said after the meeting that she supports mixed-use redevelopment, especially for the mall. 

“I think there are strategic ways to do it,” said Packineau, who lives at 148 Lincoln Rd. behind St. Joseph’s Church. “I love the goals of increasing [train] ridership and I think attention to parking is critical, but we should look at it holistically across the town. There are a lot of tweaks we could make to the zoning code that would advantage homeowners in what they could do to create more value on their lots.”

If the current proposal were to be enacted, “it could have been very lucrative for us,” Packineau added, noting that her property would be eligible for denser development. “I’m not being Nimby about it — I think it’s just wrong philosophically and politically.”

The rezoning proposal was originally slated for a Town Meeting vote next month, but officials didn’t complete all of their impact analysis in time, Olson said, so the vote will be postponed until a Special Town Meeting next fall. One of the provisions that might change is the 20-units-per-acre maximum that would be allowed with a special permit but not a Town Meeting, she said.

Water Commission proposes 30% rate hike

By Alice Waugh

The Water Commission has proposed a water rate increase of 30%, along with a base meter rate hike from $35 per quarter to $50. In addition, the base meter charge for multi-unit complexes would be assessed on a per-dwelling basis, not by a per-meter basis as has been done in the past.

The new rates will be the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. in Town Hall.

The increases, which were endorsed by Lincoln Finance Director Colleen Wilkins, are necessary for the Water Department to meet its projected costs for fiscal 2021. The department is seeking an operating budget that’s 38% higher than this year’s, and it also needs to replenish its retained earnings, which have been depleted by unanticipated expenses over the past year.

After several years of no rate increases, last year’s 25% hike sent into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, largely to finance bonding of almost $2 million. Wilkins recommended that the new rates go into effect for water that’s used starting on April 1.

The proposed meter-vs.-dwelling change is the result of Water Commission research into how neighboring towns charge for housing that has more than one dwelling on a meter. In Lincoln, for example, most single-family homes have a single water meter, but complexes such as Lincoln Woods and the multistory independent-living building at The Commons have many separate dwellings but very few meters (often only one or two).

For medical facilities that have beds rather than dwellings, such as the skilled-nursing portion of The Commons and the Care Dimensions Hospice House, the number of beds will be divided by the number of people that typically dwell in one house in Lincoln, which was about 2.3 several years ago (the Water Commission is double-checking to make sure the figure is accurate today).

Since multi-unit buildings will now incur multiple base charges based on the number of dwelling units, the total bill for the complex will go up, regardless of how much water is used. Multi-dwelling complexes in Lincoln are charged at Tier 1 rates, since they use considerably less water than single-family homes where residents water their lawns and gardens.

“We reached a consensus that it is fair that every dwelling should have an equal part in the basic assessment required to sustain the infrastructure such as pipes, pumps, and treatment plants that varies very little as the amount of water used changes,” Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said. “We are trying hard to base our decisions on data, and we are trying to be fair.”

More big spending, rate hike on tap for Water Department

By Alice Waugh

The Water Department is asking for a significant increase in its operating budget for next year, as well as another substantial hike in water rates. And in a sign of ongoing concern about the department, no less than six residents have taken out nominating papers for the three seats on the Water Commission, which oversees the department.

At its December 10 meeting, the commission approved a budget request for fiscal 2021 of $1.835 million — a 38% increase over this year’s figure. It’s also seeking $250,000 in capital spending, though the department expects to ask for even more in fiscal 2022 to replace the aging Tower Road well and remodel the second floor of pump station. The total cost estimate for the well project is $575,000 to be split over two years, so another six-figure amount is in the cards for the fiscal 2023 capital budget.

The requested spending increases come on top of votes at two Town Meetings last year to approve borrowing for the Water Department totaling almost $2 million. Water rates last year went up by 25% as a result, and they’re expected to rise this year by as much as 30% (or even 34% if the board decides to increase its retained earnings by $150,000 to allow for unanticipated expenses). This would involve hiking the base meter rate, the water usage rates, or both. The average annual total bill this year is $667.

The Water Commission will settle on an approach for hiking rates at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. and has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m.

The explosion in spending over the last two years is a result of several factors: deferred maintenance and insufficient spending on capital projects in previous years, repair costs in 2019 for two water line breaks as well as a chemical leak at the town well on Tower Road, and a rash of staff departures requiring expensive short-term help to keep the water treatment plant operating.

Staff vacancies

More than two-thirds of the proposed operating budget increase in fiscal 2021 is for staff (salaries and overtime) as well as contract labor to fill the gaps created by vacancies. Exacerbating the problem is an ongoing statewide shortage of licensed water operators, especially in the public sector, with dozens of jobs going unfilled for long periods. Lincoln’s openings have been advertised for months with few if any applications, and the town recently raised some starting salaries to attract more applicants.

When Superintendent MaryBeth Wiser was hired in March 2018, the department was at full strength, with a water treatment plant manager and three plant operators in addition to the supervisor and administrative assistant. By February 2019, operator Victor Vasselin and plant manager Heather Clary (a Lincoln resident) were gone. Then just weeks ago in December, around the time a new plant manager was finally hired, the remaining two operators, Jeremy Bernard and Will MacInnes, left. For at least a week, before plant manager Gary Tuck began work, all four of the plant staff positions were vacant.

The commission expects to vote on hiring another new operator at its February 4 meeting, but that will still leave the four-person plant staff at only half strength.

Bernard and several former Water Department employees told the Lincoln Squirrel that morale had been low since Wiser’s arrival, saying she was not qualified and was abusive to staff. By the summer of 2018, about four months after Wiser was hired, complaints about her had reached the point where “employees were lined up daily one and two deep at a time at the front counter of the selectmen’s office,” according to minutes of the commission’s August 8, 2018 meeting.

At that meeting, which devoted considerable time to a discussion of Wiser’s rocky transition, Higgins said he was “astounded that they had to counsel the staff on basic professionalism, basic courtesy and respect for each other and the superintendent” and alluded to “challenges faced by the previous superintendent with the Water Department employees.” He also said that the commission “needs to discuss whether they would like to keep Ms. Wiser [and] Ms. Wiser needs to think about whether she wants to stay.”

Bernard and MacInnes did not respond to requests for comment about the reasons for their departures.

In addition to the plant operator turnover, four administrative assistants have come and gone since late 2018. As a result, the department has had to pay an outside software consultant to help with billing and training the series of administrative assistants. As of July 2019, he had been retained for three quarterly billing cycles at a projected cost of about $38,000.

When asked this week if any of the past administrative assistants had voiced concerns about Wiser and why there had been such rapid turnover in that position, Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said she could not comment on personnel issues.

Lincoln’s water treatment plant must be fully staffed to maintain its licensure from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and “they’re paying careful attention to that” and requiring “regular, sometimes daily updates,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins told the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on December 9.

MassDEP spokesman Joe Ferson said earlier this month that the agency is “continuing to monitor the situation” and that the town “believes they can manage this situation and is working on a longer-term strategy to come into full compliance with regulatory requirements.” Part of this strategy is budgeting for a new position of utility laborer, which would be filled by someone who would learn on the job in a journeyman capacity and eventually qualify for promotion and licensure.

Extra pay for superintendent

The short staffing has meant many hours of extra work for Wiser, who has has been the only person on call to respond to mechanical problems at the treatment plant in recent weeks. A qualified operator must respond in person to equipment malfunction alarms, some of which are due to aging water filters that can’t be replaced until they arrive on a ship from Australia in late May at the earliest.

Although the superintendent is an exempt job category that’s not entitled to overtime pay, Wiser asked for a stipend to compensate her for the extra hours — a request that took the Water Commission by surprise at its January 7 meeting. “It would have been helpful if you had come to me ahead of time so I could give it some thought,” Hendrickson said.

At that meeting, the commission suggested Wiser take comp time, but the ongoing staff shortages make that impossible, she said. After some discussion, the commission on January 21 approved paying Wiser an additional $7,000 a month retroactive to December 2019 until the new staff members are familiar enough with the plant’s operations to take call after hours. The panel will revisit the matter at its March meeting.

Many Water Commission candidates

The Water Commission itself has undergone considerable turnover as well. Robert Antia and Heather Ring resigned from the three-member panel last year, with Ring citing lack of confidence with Wiser and a “hostile work environment [that] festers.” This required the town to make two emergency short-term appointments in October: Michelle Barnes and Selectman Jennifer Glass. Both terms expire this spring, and Hendrickson’s term is also up, meaning there would be a completely different board after the town election on March 30.

As of this week, six residents had taken out papers to gather the signatures needed to appear on the ballot. Hendrickson announced earlier this month that she would run for a two-year term, her last on the commission, and Steven Kanner has filed papers to run for the same seat. Jim Hutchinson, who is completing his service on the Finance Committee, and Housing Commission member Allen Vander Meulen, who ran for the Board of Selectman in 2017, are eyeing the one-year seat, and Barnes and Ephraim Flint have pulled papers for the three-year seat.

Letter to the editor: Town Moderator seeks reelection

To the editor:

Today I handed in my nomination papers for reelection to the position of Town Moderator. I feel honored to have served in that position for six years and look forward to serving for another term.

I have learned a great deal about running our Town Meeting, but I know that with each meeting, there is more to learn. I strive to ensure that our meetings are respectful at that same time that the issues are fully and robustly debated. The feedback from residents has been helpful and worthy of reflection and consideration.

As Moderator, I have also enjoyed working for six years with Lincoln eighth-graders in an effort to introduce them to direct democracy through the process of gathering signatures of registered voters and submitting a citizens’ petition to Town Meeting.

I ask for your support at the local election on Monday, March 30. And I look forward to seeing everyone at our annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 28.

Sincerely,

Sarah Cannon Holden
Weston Road

COA, Selectmen seek to change their names

By Alice Waugh

Two town government organizations — the Board of Selectmen and the Council on Aging — are hoping to change their names to keep up with changing times.

The Council on Aging (COA) wants to change its name to the Council on Aging and Human Services to reflect how its mission has expanded to serve Lincoln residents of all ages. A group of residents is proposing an update from Board of Selectmen (BOS) to Select Board to promote gender inclusivity and equality, in the same spirit as other title changes such as chairman to chair, fireman to firefighter and mailman to postal carrier. Both changes require Town Meeting approval in March.

Residents including Ellen Meyer Shorb, Stuart Rose, Kim Bodnar, Emily Haslett, and current Selectman Jennifer Glass organized a citizen’s petition to change the name of the BOS. The board itself is also sponsoring a warrant article that, if approved, aims to ensure that all language in the town by-laws is gender-neutral. Selectmen will discuss the issue at their next meeting on January 27.

According to the measure’s background document (which is based on similar measures enacted in 30 other Massachusetts towns including Bedford, Concord, Lexington, Sudbury, and Weston), the term “selectman” traces its history back to the early days of America. In the new open town meeting form of government, every citizen could voice opinions and vote on town matters — but “every citizen” referred to every land-owning male citizen. Soon, the notion of calling every man in town together to decide daily matters proved too cumbersome, and a group of men were selected to manage the details of town governance.

Lincoln elected Beth Ries as its first female Selectman in 1977; nine other women have since held that office.

“My personal thinking on ‘why do this and why now’ is that language matters and how we speak reflects who is included, and I’m glad that our town and towns around us are finally formalizing language that reflects this,” Shorb said.

Council on Aging

When the COA was first established, its mission was to serve seniors exclusively, but more recently, it’s been administering the Emergency Assistance Fund and the fuel assistance program, which are both open to all residents. In the past two years, the COA and other town officials have seen “a significant increase in the number of residents of all ages in various kinds of crisis,” and many of them were coming to the Council on Aging for help, COA Director Carolyn Bottum said.

in response, the town funded a community nursing position starting in 2018, and last year, with the help of grants, the COA began administering two more services for all ages: a town social worker and mental health clinics. Then in October, the Rental Assistance Program was launched in collaboration with the Housing Commission to provide help to residents of all ages who need assistance with rent. 

“The current name no longer reflects the fact that a considerable portion of our services are human services provided to residents of all ages. It also doesn’t reflect the fact that the town nurse, town social worker, AARP tax aide, SHINE [a program that helps Medicare recipients with health insurance], and veterans agent, all of whom serve residents of all ages, are all housed in the COA building and organized by the COA,” Bottum said.

“In addition, we do find that younger residents, especially, are confused and sometimes reluctant to work with us because they think we only serve older adults. Finally, we do think it may help when we go to apply for grants that are for services for younger people, since gran-tmakers might be confused as to why a Council on Aging is asking for funds for a program for younger people,” she added.

The name change must be approved at Town Meeting in March. In December, the Board of Selectmen were supportive of the plan.

“It’s a signal to people of where to turn if they don’t fall into that [senior] category but need some help, so it’s a benefit to the community in that way,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said.

“It’s more comprehensive and more transparent,” Selectman Jonathan Dwyer said.

Several other Massachusetts towns including Littleton, Taunton, Foxboro, Seekonk, Norton have also updated the name of their Council on Aging “simply because there is no other human services department in town,” Bottum said.

Regardless of the change, “it’s extremely essential to note that adding Human Services to our name does not denote that we are in any way no longer focused on seniors.  We are here to be the second home, voice, and advocate for Lincoln seniors just as much as we always were. Our focus is still on seniors; we have just added a service component for other ages and the name change reflects that. But we will always be a Council on Aging first,” Bottum said.

Letter to the editor: Hendrickson running for reelection

To the editor:

My last three-year term on the Water Commission is up and I am planning to run again, this time for the two-year seat. I am running again because I think it’s important to provide some continuity to the commission. In the last two years we have changed two water commissioners, the superintendent, and all the staff. I believe my knowledge of past decisions over the nine-year period I have already served will be helpful as the new commission moves forward to tackle today’s issues around refurbishing or upgrading the Water Department’s aging infrastructure and also developing a long-term funding structure that will be both fair and fiscally responsible. Above all, I am committed to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water to all of our customers. It is my intention that this two-year term will be my last service on the Water Commission.

The life experience that I bring to the position of water commissioner includes a bachelor’s degree in physics, which helps me to understand the technical issues, and 20 years of experience in a high-tech manufacturing company where I helped to develop the marketing strategy and the company’s annual budget. I have also always been committed to living light on the earth, as evidenced by my early participation in the Recycling Committee, my active engagement on the School Building Committee to promote a net-zero school, and my continuous efforts on the Water Commission to offer water conservation programs.

I hope the voters will give me another opportunity to serve the town I love so well.

Sincerely,

Ruth Ann Hendrickson
253 Concord Rd.

Clarification

The January 14 News Acorn about automatic voter registration should have said that only first-time registrants will be registered as unenrolled; anyone already registered will retain their current party affiliation. The original post has been updated.

News acorns

LSB Players present “Beanstalk!”

LSB Players, the theater production company of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, present “Beanstalk!” by Ross Mihalko and Donna Swift on Friday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 18 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the Kirshner Auditorium. The 11 a.m. show will be a special sensory-friendly performance. Audiences of all ages will enjoy this fun adaptation of a classic fable. There will be lobby activities for young children. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens/students, and $5 for children age 5 and under. Tickets may be reserved at LSBtickets@gmail.com and will also be available at the door.

Town Meeting warrant now open for citizens’ petitions

Residents who are interested in sponsoring a citizens’ petition at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 28 must submit paperwork by the close of business Monday, Jan. 27. Petitions often take the form of resolutions urging local, state or national leaders to take certain action on legislative or public policy matters, or proposed town bylaw amendments. Petitioners are urged to consult with the Town Clerk or Town Administrator’s office to ensure that proper process is followed, and that any contemplated petitions are legally valid.

Massachusetts automatic voter registration now in effect

As of January 1, 2020, Massachusetts has implemented Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) to make registering to vote as streamlined as possible for eligible Massachusetts residents. AVR comes into play when visiting the state Registry of Motor Vehicles and state agencies within the MassHealth and Health Connector programs. Individuals who visit these agencies and are eligible to vote will be registered as Unenrolled voters will (no party) unless they decline the option of registering to vote completely. Only first time voters will be registered as unenrolled; anyone already registered will retain their current status. Lincolnites can still register to vote or change their voter registrations at the Town Clerk’s Office or online at www.sec.state.ma.us/ovr/.

 If you are registered as Unenrolled and would like to join a party, come to the Town Clerk’s Office to fill out a Party Enrollment Card, or change your party online (see above). Also note that any name changes when filling out agency paperwork (for example, using a middle initial instead of your full middle name) prompts a notice of change to your voter registration, and you will receive an Acknowledgment Notice by mail from Lincoln’s Town Clerk. Anyone with questions may call Town Clerk Valerie Fox at 781-259-2607.

Architecture documentary, Holistic Wellness Fair during Winter Carnival

Friends of Modern Architecture will show Visual Acoustics on Thursday, Jan. 30 from 6:30–9 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Library. The film explores the charming and productive life of Julius Shulman, widely regarded as the greatest architectural photographer of the twentieth century, who played a significant role in bringing to light the architectural Modernist movement. Refreshments and conversation after the film.

The fourth annual Lincoln Holistic Wellness Fair organized by the Lincoln Area Wellness Collaborative takes place on Saturday, Feb. 1 from 1–4 p.m. in the Pierce House. The event is part of the Parks & Recreation Department’s Winter Carnival. Visitors can learn about holistic health methods such as acupuncture, Ayurveda, BEMER therapy, higher brain living, Kundalini yoga, massage and bodywork, reflexology, sound and energy healing, therapeutic touch, zero balancing, and more. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, and Debra’s Natural Gourmet will donate refreshments. Practitioners will offer free sample treatments, short classes, demos and presentations. For more information or to sign up in advance for demos, email Jai Kaur San Antonio at asanajai@verizon.net.

Click here to see the full list of Winter Carnival events taking place from January 30 to February 2.

Screening of “Un Cuento Chino”

The Lincoln Film Society will show Un Cuento Chino (Chinese Take-Out) on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. in the Tarbell Room. In Spanish with English subtitles. A well-ordered hardware store owner in Buenos Aires will see his life turn upside down when he helps a stranded Chinese man who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish find his uncle in the bustling city. But can this coexistence bear fruit? (IMDb.com)

Thoreau Animal Index Blitz

Join the Walden Woods Project to co-create an index of all of the animals mentioned in Thoreau’s journals during its Thoreau Animal Index Blitz on Thursday, Feb. 13 from 1–8 p.m. at its headquarters at 44 Baker Farm Rd. in Lincoln. Like Ray Angelo’s Botanical Index, this will become a valuable resource to Thoreau scholars for years to come. We only have three and a half volumes left to index and we fully expect to finish at this event, with a champagne toast when we’re done. Click here to register.

Girls in STEM Camp at Minuteman

Minuteman High School will hold its fifth-annual Girls in STEM Camp for any interested female students in seventh and eighth grade during February school vacation, from Tuesday to Friday, Feb. 18–21 from 8 a.m.–2:30 p.m. The Girls in STEM Camp involves activities led by Minuteman High School students who are in the school’s Girls in STEM mentoring program, along with faculty advisors. The Minuteman students, who are mentored by young women currently attending college or working in a STEM field, get to share their knowledge with middle-school students during the Girls in STEM Camp experience. The camp runs twice a yea,: once during February school vacation and again in August.

Students who live in one of Minuteman’s district towns may attend for free; those from towns outside the district (including Lincoln) will be charged $149. Visit minuteman.org to register or contact Michelle Roche, Minuteman’s director of career technical education, at 781-861-6500 ext. 7236 or m.roche@minuteman.org.

Events coming up at deCordova

  • Join photographer Claire Beckett and Koch Curatorial Fellow Sam Adams on Thursday, Jan. 30 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. for a tour of Truthiness and the News, which includes Beckett’s work and that of other photographers, photojournalists, and conceptual artists who test the limits of believability. Click here to register.
  • Inspired by the plants in Blossfeldt’s photographs, experience a new way of arranging flowers and learn the history, styles, and concepts of ikebana arranging at an ikebana workshop led by Joanna Caccavale, president of the Ikebana International Boston Chapter, on Thursday, Feb. 13 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. Click here to register.
  • Enjoy an evening of ceramics activity for couples at Valentine’s Date Night with Clay. Work as a team on the wheel, decorating clay hearts or building your own signature romantic sculptures. Workshop includes firing, materials, and refreshments. Over 1.5 hours of instruction and assistance in building a unique gift. All levels welcome (21+). Valentine’s Day is sold out, but a few spots remain on February 12 and February 13 (click a date to register).
  • Artist Max Razdow will facilitate a Land Art workshop inspired by the Peter Hutchinson: Landscapes of My Life exhibition on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 10:30 a.m.–noon. The program will begin in the galleries, move outdoors to make Land Art, and then into deCordova’s studios. Participants will have a chance to creatively document their projects and bring home a record of their intervention. Click here to register.

Farmers protest sudden end to lower water rates

By Alice Waugh

The Water Department recently stopped allowing rate caps for agricultural users of town water, but after farmers were taken by surprise and objected, officials decided this week to study the matter further.

The issue of water rates is a sore subject for the town. To help pay for an array of capital projects and new equipment, residents voted to approve bonding totaling about $2 million at Town Meetings in March and November 2019, and the department has been in a financial and staffing crisis for some time.

Because of the expenditures, water bills went up by 25% last year, and another significant increase is expected when next year’s rates are set. The Water Commission plans to propose the new rates on January 21 and hold a public hearing on February 4.

Everyone who uses town-supplied water must pay according to how much water they use each quarter. There are three usage tiers: 0–20,000 gallons, 20,001–40,000 gallons, and 40,001 gallons or more. As an incentive to conserve water, the fee climbs steeply from one tier to the next: $5.08 per 1,000 gallons for users in tier 1, rising to $10.71 for tier 2 and $25.03 for tier 3. Local farms can use more than 100,000 gallons per quarter in the growing season.

In keeping with Lincoln’s agricultural character, former Water Department Superintendent Greg Woods (who left about two years ago) capped the rate at Tier 1 for some farming operations in Lincoln. The policy was on an informal case-by case basis; Lincoln does not have a written policy regarding rates for agricultural water use.

Water Department Superintendent MaryBeth Wiser drafted a proposal with suggested criteria for an agricultural rate last year, but in June 2019, the commission voted not to adopt it and to discontinue the water rate caps for farms. Water customers were notified in their July bills that farms would no longer receive special treatment and would be charged according to water usage the same as everyone else starting October 1, 2019. Since farms use a lot of water, the change could mean added costs amounting to tens of thousands of dollars a year. The only alternative is to pay for digging a private well, which can cost upwards of $20,000.

Although the notice went out in July, some farmers didn’t realize a change had been made until they got their water bills in November, as there was no outreach or publicity from the Water Department aside from the notice in the summer bill.

“Agricultural water rates are important to the viability of farms in Lincoln,” Agricultural Commission co-chair Ari Kurtz said at the Water Commission’s January 7 meeting. “Farmers use town water to wash vegetables, maintain community gardens, and water crops when wells are not available or treated water is required. Building wells is a significant expense that many small farmers cannot absorb and would discourage small startup agricultural operations… If water conservation or the need for increased revenue for the Water Department were significant drivers of the decision to rescind agricultural water rates, we would like to have the chance to examine alternatives that are less damaging to the farming community.”

Kurtz was reading from a letter that he and Agricultural Committee co-chair Louise Bergeron wrote to the commission.

“These will be crippling rates for many people,” said Steven Kanner, who owns Kanner Family Orchard on Bypass Road, which supplies fresh fruit to customers including the Lincoln schools and Codman Community Farms (CCF).

“For us, the situation is critical,” said Pete Lowy, manager of CCF. “We would have to double or triple rates for garden plots.” CCF leases more than 100 community gardening plots to residents.

The Water Commission approved an interim agricultural rate structure in 2017, though it’s unclear who now qualifies for that rate. After extending an exemption for Brian Turnbaugh of 153 Lexington Rd., the commission approved an interim fee structure whereby Tier 2 would encompass 20,001–100,000 gallons per quarter. This was proposed as an “interim measure” by commission member Packy Lawler, who advocated a rate structure for agricultural use that encourages water conservation, according to meeting minutes.

“We’ve had agricultural water rates on our agenda or list of things to do for about five years,” commission member Ruth Ann Hendrickson said at this week’s meeting.

Wiser’s June agricultural proposal wasn’t useful for Lincoln, Hendrickson said. “It was sort of a generic proposal that MaryBeth had picked up from various sources on the Internet. It was really more appropriate to a place like the Midwest,” with its massive amounts of livestock and farming acres. “It was more complicated than we needed.”

As the commission was discussing the issue this week, it was apparent that they did not have current data on the number of farms in town, how a farm is defined, how much water they use, and which have separate water meters for agricultural uses such as watering animals and irrigating crops as opposed to regular indoor use. This stems in part from difficulties some officials have had in using Munis, the town’s financial data system.

 “What we really need is some data,” Hendrickson said. “How much water are we talking about? It’s a balancing act between supporting the town in its desire to have farms vs. asking to what extent do our customers want to subsidize the farmers. That’s the question we’re going to have to wrestle with… Every year we already overdraw our [state DEP] permit. We’re between a rock and a hard place.”

The commission decided to appoint a subcommittee to study the issue of agricultural water rates, chaired by member Michelle Barnes and including Agricultural Commission members. But they’re under a tight deadline, with the public hearing on new rates set for February 4.

News acorns

Lincoln Democrats meet to strategize

Join Lincoln Democrats and friends for strategizing and putting into action the “roadmap for 2020” on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 9 a.m. in Bemis Hall. In November, Lincoln Democrats voted climate change as the #1 issue but also identified gun control, health care, and immigration as “very important.” What do you think? Ideas and energy welcome.

Lincoln doctor dons skates to benefit Jimmy Fund

John Ready, a Lincoln resident and chief of orthopedic oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will be among the Dana-Farber doctors, researchers, and staff who will play a charity hockey game against Boston Bruins alumni to benefit the Jimmy Fund. The Dana-Farber Rink Rats’ game will be held Saturday, Feb. 1 from 2–4 p.m. at Warriors Ice Arena in Boston. Dr. Ready has committed to raise $1,200. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children, and are available online and at the door. To support Ready or other participant or to learn more, please visit www.jimmyfund.org/rinkrats.

First Parish offers “Spiritual Autobiography” course

Join Rev. Jenny Rankin of the First Parish in Lincoln and a small group to reflect, consider your life through a “spiritual” lens and write about it in a “Spiritual Autobiography” course over five weekly sessions starting Tuesday, Jan. 14 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the parish house (14 Bedford Rd.). Through in-class exercises and short writing assignments, participants will consider the different chapters or stepping stones of their life’s journey up until now. Some things to consider: What have been the gifts and graces of your life? Where were the losses and hurts? How would you articulate your sense of the sacred, God, or whatever spiritual vocabulary do you use? What “language of reverence” do you speak? Email sarah@fplincoln.org to sign up.