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

government

Town Meeting warrant articles published

A total of 36 warrant articles (13 of which will be considered as a group on the consent calendar) will be presented to residents for votes at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 24. The full warrant is online here. Articles include:

  • Customary financial articles
    • The town budget (including the Lincoln School and Lincoln-Sudbury High School budgets)
    • Capital expenditures, including a new fire engine
    • Funds for routine maintenance of town facilities
    • Appropriations to a retiree health insurance trust fund, and to a debt stabilization fund
    • A variety of other smaller appropriations
  • Campus building projects — Lincoln School and community center
  • Bylaw proposals
    • Mary’s Way proposed zoning overlay (allowing planning for the Oriole Landing mixed-income housing development to move forward)
    • Historic District expansion to include modernist homes (voluntary on the part of homeowners)
    • Site plan sunset provision
  • Green initiatives
    • Vote to initiate the “electricity aggregation” process
  • Citizens’ petitions
    • A ban on the retail use of plastic bags
    • A ban on the retail sale of individual plastic water bottles
    • An alternative ban on the retail sale of individual plastic water bottles that bans the use of such bottles on town property
    • A resolution to support tighter regulation of natural gas leaks
    • A resolution to designate Lincoln as a “safe and welcoming” town; and

The Board of Selectmen is meeting with residents who submitted citizen’s petitions. They voted last week to endorse retail bans on plastic water bottles and grocery bags while removing from the warrant a petition asking for reimbursements for residents’ legal fees.

On Monday, March 5, the board will meet with Mothers Out Front, the proponents of the gas leak resolution, and on Monday, March 19, the board will meet with the proponents of the “safe and welcoming town” resolution.

News acorns

PTO hosts candidate forum

The Lincoln School PTO will host a town election and candidate forum on Friday, March 2 in the Hartwell multipurpose room. The PTO will have a general business meeting at 8:15 a.m., and the candidate forum, including a question and answer session, will run from 8:30–9:30 a.m.

“Beauty and the Beast” with ballet

The Lincoln Public Library will host a reading of Beauty and the Beast geared to young children, accompanied by dancers from the Commonwealth Ballet Company acting out some of the parts in colorful costumes on Saturday, March 3 at 11 a.m. Free and open to all ages.

Session looks at “green” features of school options

How “green” are the proposed Lincoln School project concepts? Find out at the School Building Committee (SBC) meeting on Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room. Bill Maclay, founder of Maclay Architects, and Martine Dion, principal architect and director of sustainable design at SMMA, will present the results of Maclay Architects’ energy performance analysis of each of the five project concepts presented at the January 23 community workshops. The analysis includes options for differing levels of building envelope energy performance, mechanical systems optimization, construction cost estimates, energy modeling for both annual consumption and building enclosure-related energy usage, and 20-year capital and operating costs and cash flow estimates.

Eighth-grade parents’ night at L-S

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School will host Eighth-grade Parents’ Night on Thursday, March 8 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the L-S auditorium. The agenda includes an overview of the ninth-grade curriculum and an outline of the scheduling process, followed by an opportunity to visit faculty members to ask questions about course selection and curriculum. Eighth-graders will have received the Program of Studies earlier that week. The snow date will be Tuesday, March 13 from  7–8:30 p.m.

LSSC write-in candidates’ night on March 5

The decision by Gerald Quirk of Sudbury to withdraw as a candidate for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District School Committee leaves only one candidate, Carole Kasper of Lincoln, in the race with two seats open. The League of Women Voters of Sudbury will invite write-in candidates for that race to participate in Candidates Night on Monday, March 5.

Anyone who sends written notification of his or her intention to be a write-in candidate to the Sudbury or Lincoln town clerk or the Lincoln-Sudbury registrar by the end of the business day on Friday, March 2, will be invited to participate in Candidates Night. Closing hours on Friday are noon for the Sudbury town clerk, 5 p.m. for the Lincoln town clerk, and 3 p.m. for the Lincoln-Sudbury registrar. Write-in candidates are not required to file their intention with town clerks or the registrar and may enter the race at any point, but will not be included in Candidates’ Night unless they file a written intention to run by that deadline.

If there are three or more candidates for the two seats, the League will offer a panel in that race with the chance for all the candidates to introduce themselves and respond to questions. If there are only two candidates for the two seats, the race will be treated as uncontested and the candidates will have a chance to introduce themselves.

Candidates’ Night will be held in the auditorium at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Monday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m., with a chance to meet the candidates starting at 7:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The program also includes candidate panels in the races for Sudbury Board of Selectmen and Sudbury School Committee (K-8). For more information, please contact Nancy Brumback at 978-440-8304 or nancy.brumback@gmail.com.

Forums planned for Town Meeting and election issues

Oriole Landing update on Tuesday

Residents are invited to hear reports from town officials, boards, and committees on the proposed Oriole Landing mixed-income housing development on Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 7–9 p.n. in Town Hall. Hosted by the Housing Options Working Group. There will be ample time for questions, discussion, answers, and suggestions in preparation for the Planning Board public hearing on March 6 and the Town Meeting vote on March 24.

Kasper to appear at three events

Lincoln’s Carole Kasper is running for the seat being vacated by Nancy Marshall on the Lincoln-Sudbury RHS School Committee. There are three public events upcoming in Lincoln at which citizens will have an opportunity to meet Kasper, learn about her involvement with various Lincoln institutions, and get a sense of her views and goals for L-S. Coffee and light refreshments will be served. The election is Monday, March 26; the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

  • Friday, March 9 — Lincoln Woods Community Room, 9:30–11 a.m.
  • Wednesday, March 14—Lincoln Library Tarbell Room, 9:30–11 a.m., and Bemis Hall, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

Green Energy Committee sessions on Town Meeting articles

At Town Meeting, there will be several articles and citizens’ petitions related to the environment and sustainability. In one article, the Green Energy Committee (GEC) will be asking residents to consider supporting a Lincoln “Community Choice Aggregation” program. Aggregation programs can provide advantages for price, price stability, and renewable energy content that is included in our electricity purchases. A “yea” vote would start the process involving about a year of planning, bid solicitation, and staff review. Pending the Board of Selectmen’s approval, the town would sign a formal contract with an electricity supplier on behalf of the town.

To learn more about this and the other “green” initiatives that will be voted on at Town Meeting, come to the Green Energy Committee Forum on Wednesday, March 14 from 7:30–9 p.m. in Hartwell Pod B. On the agenda:

  • “Community Choice Aggregation,” sponsored by GEC
  • “The Regulation of Sale and Use of Bottled Water,” sponsored by the Lincoln-Sudbury Environmental Club
  • “The Regulation of Sale and Use of Bottled Water — Alternative,” sponsored by Jim White, owner of Trail’s End and Lincoln Kitchen
  • “Protecting Consumers of Gas and Electricity from Paying for Leaked & Unaccounted-for Gas,” sponsored by Mothers Out Front

The forum is a chance to meet and talk with sponsoring groups and others engaged in sustaining the environment. Immediately before the forum from 6:30–7:30 p.m. in the Hartwell parking lot, residents can meet owners of electric vehicles, ask questions and learn more.

Report: Oriole Landing will boost revenue by up to $115,000 a year

A fiscal analysis performed for the developer of the proposed Oriole Landing project says the housing will result in a net boost to town revenue of at least $75,000 per year.

The report for Civico Development done by Fougere Planning & Development, Inc., looked at increased revenue from property and excise taxes as well as costs from added school-age children and emergency services. The Milford, N.H. company is also doing a fiscal impact analysis for the proposed 180-unit LCB Senior Living development in Lexington.

With an estimated value of $16 million, Oriole Landing would be expected to generate first-year tax payments of $217,870 based on Lincoln’s current property tax rate of $12.60 per $1,000 valuation, the report says. Another $32,813 in revenue would come from automobile excise taxes and $6,536 in the 3 percent property tax surcharge that funds the Community Preservation Act. The added estimated revenue totals $257,219.

Fourgere analyzed three years of emergency call data from 1,582 apartment housing units to project annual increases of 29 calls a year and 14 more calls for fire and ambulance services. Based on Lincoln’s Public Safety Department call records and budgets, the town would pay an additional $18,641 for Oriole Landing services. There will be no added road maintenance costs because the development’s road maintenance and garbage removal will be paid for by the apartment complex operator.

The report analyzed the school impact of the 30 proposed two-bedroom units, disregarding the 30 one-bedroom units since those tenants would presumably not have children living with them. Using the Lincoln Woods units (minus its three-bedroom units) for comparison, Fourgere projects that 9–16 school-age children may live at Oriole Landing, with 70-80 percent of them in grades K-8.

Oriole Landing’s fiscal impact according to the Fougere report (click image to enlarge).

Based on Lincoln’s class size policies, this will result in less than a single additional class, meaning an extra teacher costing about $100,000 probably would not have to be hired. However, the firm included a figure of $60,000–$100,000 “to account for some school-related costs… to cover potential teacher salaries.” K-8 school enrollment is down 12.5 percent since 2011-12, according to school data cited in the report, so “given the declining enrollment trend, the need for additional staff is unlikely.”

When everything is added up, the net fiscal impact will be an estimated $75,437–$115,437 in additional revenue for the town.

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Civico’s preliminary site plan on Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in town hall. Residents will also be asked to amend zoning bylaws to establish a North Lincoln Planning Development District and approve the prelininary site plan at Town Meeting on March 24.

On Thursday, Feb. 22, Civico Development will host a presentation and Q&A for the Council on Aging at 2:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall and an open house in the Lincoln Public Library from 6:30–8:30 p.m. There will with additional open houses on March 8, 15, and 22 and another COA session on March 16. A full list of meetings can be found here.

Dueling water bottle bans at Town Meeting

A group of high school students is trying again to get Lincoln to ban the sale of single-serve plastic water bottles and retail distribution of plastic grocery bags—but one of last year’s bottle-ban opponents has advanced his own ballot measure that goes even farther.

Students in Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s Environmental Club have submitted two citizen’s petitions for the Annual Town Meeting on March 24. One measure seeks to ban single-use plastic check-out bags at supermarkets and other retail stores. The other would prohibit retail sale of bottles of 1 liter (34 ounces) or less containing non-carbonated, unflavored drinking water. Bottles could still be given away at any time or distributed in the event of a town-wide water emergency.

The petitions are identical to last year’s, which the students withdrew after some residents and officials urged more discussion. Instead, voters passed “sense of the town” motions that expressed support for the concerns raised by the students and urged them to “continue to explore options, including the contemplated bylaws, in consultation with key Lincoln stakeholder groups.”

The owners of Donelan’s supermarket and two new restaurants in town also objected before Town Meeting in letters to the editor of the Lincoln Squirrel.

The Environmental Club has advocated alternatives to plastic water bottles, such as water in aluminum cans or boxes similar to orange juice containers boxed water and water in aluminum containers, and pushed for more water fountains and hydration stations on public and private property for refilling reusable water bottles.

Lincoln resident Jim White, co-owner of the Trail’s End and Lincoln Kitchen restaurants, said he had a “positive conversation” with the Environmental Club and supports the students’ goals in trying to reduce harm caused by discarded bottles to the environment and human health. However, he still thinks the proposed restriction on sales of water bottles isn’t good policy. “What that does is puts the burden of compliance on essentially two businesses in town, and that’s unfair,” he said.

White has submitted his own citizen’s petition that goes even farther than the student measure—it would also prohibit anyone from bringing the same water bottles onto town-owned property, including schools, conservation land, recreational fields and public buildings.

“If Lincoln is going to make a statement, then let’s have everyone in Lincoln make a statement—let’s be a leader,” White said.

The L-S students had better luck last year in getting Sudbury voters to approve the restrictions on plastic grocery bags and water bottles. An October 2017 vote to repeal the measure water bottle was defeated. Both of Sudbury’s plastics rules goes into effect on July 1, 2018. Only Cambridge and Concord have approved similar sales bans in Massachusetts.

San Francisco has banned the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on city-owned property, including at large-scale outdoor events on public property, though sales are still permitted in stores. The city is installing more hydration stations on public property and now requires new buildings to have them.

Details on Oriole Landing released; hearing on March 6

The Planning Board’s public hearing on Oriole Landing, a proposal for 60 units of mixed-income housing on Mary’s Way, is scheduled for Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m.—just 18 days before residents will be asked to vote on the matter at Town Meeting.

The proposal calls for 60 one- and two-bedroom units on six acres of land adjacent to The Commons. Fifteen of the 60 units would be deed-restricted as affordable according to state guidelines. At the March 24 Town Meeting, voters will be asked to approve a bylaw amendment to establish a North Lincoln Planning Development Overlay District as well as a Preliminary Development and Land Use Plan for the project (click here to view the draft warrant article). Five projects have been approved under this process in Lincoln: Battle Road Farms and the Lincoln North office building (1986), Minuteman Inn (approved in 1989 but never completed), and Minuteman Commons and The Groves/Lincoln Deaconess, now The Commons (2006).

The Planning Board has created a detailed FAQ document about the project, and the Housing Commission also has a website with an overview and background on affordable housing in Lincoln. Plans and other documents relating to the March 6 public hearing are available here. A list of upcoming public forums and official meetings can be found here.

If approved next month by a two-thirds vote, Civico Development must return within two years to the Planning Board for site plan special permit approval through another public hearing process. Civico must also go before the Historical Commission if they plan to demolish an existing structure on the property that may be deemed historically or architecturally significant. The company is working with the commission to develop a plan that will “honor a historic house located on the property,” according to the FAQ document.

Other information from the document:

  • The development would have the second-highest density of housing units per acre in town (10.5), lower than The Commons (11.95) and greater than Minuteman Commons or Lincoln Woods (8.72 and 6.28 units per acre, respectively).
  • Nine to 16 school-age children spread over various grades would be expected to live in Oriole Landing. Since there will be only one- and two-bedroom units, Civico believes the number will be on the lower side.
  • A traffic study indicates that there will be no significant delays at any of the nearby intersections due to added traffic from the development. It is also “not anticipated to have a significant impact” on the Deerhaven Road/Garland Road community. The town is having the traffic study reviewed by a third-party consultant.
  • Estimated rents will run from $1,564–$1,759 per month for the designated affordable units, or $2,200–$2,900 for the market-rate units.
  • The state is expected to allow up to 70 percent of the affordable units (10 of the 15) to be rented to households qualified as “local preference”—tenants who are already Lincoln residents, employees of the town or of Lincoln businesses, or families with children enrolled in the Lincoln Public Schools.
  • The Lincoln Housing Coalition projects that the town will need to add 10 units of affordable housing per decade just to keep pace with development trends and maintain Lincoln’s Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) at a minimum of 10 percent. If the SHI falls below this state-mandated threshold in the 2020 census, developers can bypass local zoning restrictions to build so-called 40B projects. Lincoln needs approximately 10 units of affordable housing to meet requirements for 2020.
  • Future expansion is unlikely because the developer is keeping the bedroom count under 90 bedrooms in order to use a septic system. Bedroom counts over 90 require construction of a package treatment plant costing approximately $1 million.

Letter to the editor: Kasper running for L-S School Committee

To the editor:

I am announcing my candidacy for the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee (LSSC) and looking forward to earning your vote on Election Day (Monday, March 26).

As an L-S School Committee member, I would prioritize the support and enhancement of the many strengths of our dynamic 21st-century high school, including rigorous college-prep academics, educated and experienced faculty, thoughtful core values that guide decision making, and responsible management of budgets and resources in supporting a school environment that encourages well-rounded students who value learning, leading, initiating, serving, and developing both their intellectual and social-emotional potentials. As a current L-S parent, I have seen first-hand the significant positive impacts that these factors have on the daily lives of our students.

There are always ways to improve, and I would prioritize these as well. A climate of inclusion and social safety for all students should be a key focus area within a school culture committed to the core values of fostering caring and cooperative relationships, respecting human differences, and cultivating community. Facilitating smoother eighth-to ninth-grade transitions for all students should also be highlighted, as well as a continued emphasis on reasonable class sizes. Increasing awareness of the L-S Four-year Plan, guidance for a college planning process that entails student initiative and follow-up, would also serve students and families more fully. And further, our Lincoln and Sudbury communities need to continue together in a spirit of relationship building, open communication, creative collaboration, and shared commitment to excellent pubic education for all of our L-S students.

I have been an active volunteer in our local community. Most recently, I contributed as a member of the LSSC School Start-time Sub-Committee (Spring 2017), initiated and led the First Parish in Lincoln Intergenerational Women’s Group (2014-17), led the town-wide Lincoln Campus Master Planning Committee as chair (2015-16), and led the Lincoln School K-8 PTO as chair/president (2011-14).

Professionally, I spent many career years as a management consultant, trainer, facilitator, and educator, serving in various roles on college campuses and within firms before founding my own national consulting company that specialized in strengthening organizational performance and building workplace communities. My professional experiences spanned both private and public sectors, and included collaborations at every level of government from federal to local.

My educational background includes a B.A. in communication science and an M.Ed. in organization development with a specialty in multiculturalism. I have designed and taught undergraduate semester courses, and have professionally fostered on-campus student communities on two major college campuses.

My husband and I have two teenage sons. Our 10th-grader loves his life at L-S, while our eighth-grader will graduate from the Lincoln School this June and then begin ninth grade at L-S this fall. Our family is invested in L-S and its future, and it would be an honor to represent Lincoln, Sudbury, and Boston families in maintaining and increasing the excellence of our beloved high school.

Thank you for your consideration on Election Day!

Carole Kasper
140 Concord Road, Lincoln
kasperlssc@gmail.com

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Lincoln to hold Democratic caucus on March 3

Registered Democrats in Lincoln will hold a caucus on March 3 at Bemis Hall to elect delegates and alternates to the 2018 Massachusetts Democratic State Convention. This year’s state convention will be held June 1-2 at the DCU Center in Worcester, where thousands of Democrats from across the state will come together to endorse Democratic candidates for statewide office, including Constitutional officers and gubernatorial candidates.

Registration for the caucus—which is open to all registered and pre-registered Democrats in Lincoln—starts at 9:30 a.m. and the caucus starts at 10 a.m. Pre-registered Democrats who will be 18 by Sept. 18, 2018 will be allowed to participate and run as delegates or alternates. Lincoln can elect six delegates and four alternates to the convention. Youth, minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals who are not elected as delegates or alternates may apply to be add-on delegates at the caucus or at www.massdems.org.

Those interested in getting involved with the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee should contact co-chair Gary Davis at garyddavis04@gmail.com.

Public forums and other meetings scheduled for Oriole Landing proposal

A schedule of important dates for the Oriole Landing proposal (click image to enlarge or click here to see this on the town’s Oriole Landing website).

Civico Development and town officials have scheduled several public forums and meetings on the proposed Oriole Landing mixed-income housing development. The next forum is Tuesday, Feb. 6 from 2:30–4 p.m. in Bemis Hall.

If approved, Civico will build 60 units of housing—15 of them deed-restricted as affordable—in two adjacent buildings on Mary’s Way abutting The Commons (see this January 15 Lincoln Squirrel article for more information). The developer touts the proposal as a way to attract both new residents and current Lincoln residents looking to downsize but stay in town.

Residents will be asked at the March 25 Annual Town Meeting to approve two measures relating to the project: a zoning change to establish a North Lincoln Planning Development Overlay District, and a preliminary development and land use plan for the project. If it gets those approvals, the plan must later undergo a site plan review with details on traffic and environmental impacts and get a special permit from the Planning Board.

More information: