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

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Jan. 11 talk by Palestinian scientist

Lincoln’s GRALTA Foundation is co-sponsoring “Hope in the Midst of Calamity: A View from Palestine, ” an online presentation by Bethlehem University professor and Palestine Museum of Natural History founder Mazin Qumsiyeh, on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. The event is hosted by the Community Church of Boston and co-sponsored by Muslims for Progressive Values and Jewish Voice for Peace. Qumsiyeh, a U.S. citizen, lives in Bethlehem and is an internationally known voice for Palestinian science and rights. He is co-founder of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability. Click here to join the Zoom meeting (meeting ID: 895 5257 5898, password: 246499).

Run for local office

Looking for a rewarding if occasionally vexing way to feel more connected?  Willing to undertake new challenges? Unafraid to speak up? Then run for local office! The annual town election will take place on Monday, March 28. Nomination papers are available at the Town Clerk’s Office until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Papers must be returned by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4. Please contact Valerie Fox at foxv@lincolntown.org or call 781-259-2607 if you’re interested.

The following offices will appear on the March ballot:

  • Board of Assessors — one seat for three years
  • Board of Health — one seat for three years
  • Cemetery Commission — one seat for three years
  • Commissioners of Trust Funds — one seat for three years
  • Housing Commission — one seat for three years
  • Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee — two seats for three years each
  • Parks and Recreation Committee — one seat for three years
  • Planning Board — two seats for three years
  • K-8 School Committee — one seat for three years
  • Select Board — one seat for three years
  • Town Clerk — one seat for three years
  • Bemis Trustee — one seat for three years
  • Trustees of Lincoln Library – one seat for three years
  • Water Commissioner — one seat for three years
  • Water Commissioner — one seat for two years

Former police dispatcher pleads guilty

Spencer Hughes of Randolph, a former dispatcher for the Lincoln Police Department, has pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges. He was arrested in 2020 and resigned the following month, according to NBC 10Boston. Investigators subsequently found more than 2,200 images and approximately 68 videos of child pornography in external hard drives and other devices after searching his home. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for May 5.

DeCordova is the most popular Trustees web page

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum was #1 for the properties managed by The Trustees of Reservations based on web traffic in 2021. Rounding out the top five starting at #1 were Castle Hill Estate in Ipswich, World’s End in Hingham, Crane Beach in Ipswich, and Naumkeag in Stockbridge.

New rules ask town to permit 750 housing units in South Lincoln

(Editor’s note: when this story was originally published, the accompanying map misidentified the amount of land that would be subject to multifamily zoning under the new state rules. The map has been updated.)

To comply with new state housing guidelines, Lincoln would have to allow 750 units in South Lincoln or become ineligible for various state grants.

Because it has a commuter rail station, Lincoln is designated as an “MBTA community” and is therefore required to amend its zoning to allow multifamily housing with half a mile of the station or face loss of eligibility for some state grants. The rules call for a minimum of 15 units per acre suitable for families and children and with no age restrictions. This translates to 750 units for Lincoln.

The red circle shows land within a half-mile radius of the Lincoln commuter rail station. Wetlands and buffers are indicated in shades of blue, conservation land is in green, and the beige area in the southwest quadrant is the Mass Audubon Society. The town would have to allow 750 units of multifamily housing within that area to comply with the Housing Choice Act. NOTE: this map was incorrect when initially published and was updated on Jan. 19, 2022. (Map courtesy Margaret Olson)

The initiative was announced in early 2021 but the initial outline of the law left many unanswered questions.

“We verified this [750-unit requirement] jaw-dropper with the state,” Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson, who made an illustration of “just how infeasible this is.” At least half of the acreage within that zone is wetlands, wetlands buffer, or conservation land, she noted.

It’s unclear how the existing multifamily units in South Lincoln would be counted as part of Lincoln’s requirement. Condos and apartments with half a mile of the station include 125 units in Lincoln Woods and a total of 65 units in three developments on Ridge Road and Greenridge Lane.

There will be a webinar hosted by the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development to explain the requirements outlined in a 2021 bill on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 1 p.m. Click here to register. 

If Lincoln does not comply by changing its zoning, it would no longer be eligible for grants from the Housing Choice Initiative, the Local Capital Projects Fund, or the MassWorks infrastructure program. It’s unclear how much money Lincoln has received from these funds in the past.

My Turn: Hendrickson runs for another term on Water Commission

Editor’s note: Jim Hutchinson was elected to a three-year term on the Water Commission in 2021. He is stepping down early to run for the Select Board.

Dear Lincolnites,

I am writing today to announce my intention to run again for Water Commissioner and ask for your vote at the town election on Monday, March 28. I will run for the two years remaining on Jim Hutchinson’s seat rather than the three-year seat that will also be open.

Jim brought an impressive knowledge of municipal finances that greatly benefitted the commission. We are sad to see him go, but we are committed to using his ideas to improve Water Department operation and long term planning.

In 2020 I was elected to a two-year seat, and I did not expect to run again. I have been finding, however, that the knowledge I have gained during the last 11 years on the commission has been very useful to the new superintendent. Also, with Jim stepping down early, we will have a new commissioner to integrate into the board. I believe my presence will provide the continuity and institutional knowledge needed as we reshape the commission.  

During these next two years I will focus on completing the water treatment facilities upgrade we launched four years ago, taking advantage of the ARPA funds available to update our aging water delivery systems, and developing a long-term funding structure that will be both fair and fiscally responsible. Above all, I am committed to ensuring the delivery of abundant, safe drinking water to all of our customers.

I truly enjoy working on the Water Commission and I am committed to help in preserving this important natural resource for the benefit of the town. I hope the voters will give me another opportunity to serve the town I love so well.

Sincerely,

Ruth Ann Hendrickson

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

SOTT #1: Community center could cost more than $25 million

A community center for Lincoln is now expected to cost up to $25.4 million in 2025 dollars — and to save money for the project, many attendees at the November 1 State of the Town meeting said, “go for it ASAP!”

The updated estimates were revealed during one of several topics at the first of two State of the Town (SOTT) meetings on November 1. Other issues discussed were the public health situation, town finances, and the school building project.

  • Click here to see the community center slides presented at State of the Town

Several years ago, the Community Center Planning and Preliminary Design Committee documented the need for larger and more appropriate facilities for both the Council on Aging and Human Services (then called simply the COA) and the Parks and Recreation Department. After studying space needs and various possible locations in 2018, two slightly different design concepts for the site of the current Hartwell pods came in at $16.2 million for Scheme 1 and $15.3 million for Scheme 2. (A survey of residents who attended a June 2018 Special Town Meeting showed that voters were almost evenly split on which of the two they preferred.)

Those cost estimates were recently reexamined by the firm that worked with the town on the school building project. In 2021 dollars, the concepts would cost up to $22 million and $20.7 million respectively, and in 2025 dollars, those numbers rise to $25.4 million and $24 million.

As of fiscal year 2020, the town’s borrowing capacity is $29 million, and that number goes up by about 2.5% every two years, so the community center could theoretically be paid for by borrowing alone. The Finance Committee estimates that it would cost the average Lincoln homeowner about $245 in taxes for every $10 million borrowed.

Officials presented a revised timeline for the project whereby there would be a “sense of the town” vote in March 2022. If a majority of residents wanted to go ahead with it, a community center building committee would then be appointed. There would be another town-wide vote a year from now to hire architects and other professionals, and a final Special Town Meeting vote in fall 2023 on a preferred design and budget appropriation.

But several of the more than 150 residents who attended the SOTT meeting via Zoom urged officials to speed up the timeline at least by a few months to minimize cost escalation.

“This is getting really expensive. I’m really concerned that the people who will use this facility will not be able to afford a bite this big,” Barbara Low said.

Community center planning was delayed for about a year by the pandemic, but despite that, “prices of commodities and building projects in our region have been going up astronomically,” Select Board member Jonathan Dwyer noted.

“We have a significant number of seniors in this community who have been waiting patiently for their turn” until after the school project is substantially complete, Diana Beaudoin said. “To expect them to wait for another 5 years while costs escalate… I think quite frankly the risk is that we might not do it.” While she fully supported the school project, “there needs to be some companion consideration given to the resources for seniors,” she added.

There’s no concern that Bemis Hall will fall into disuse after the community center is built. Library offices as well as organizations that are now squeezed into Bemis will welcome more space in Bemis, several residents noted. “We’re tripping all over ourselves trying to find space” for various activities, Sara Mattes said. “Please step it up, guys.”

Other SOTT topics

Public health — Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, there have been 248 cases of the disease reported in Lincoln, public health nurse Tricia McGean said. Almost 90% of Lincoln residents have been fully vaccinated.

Thirty-six of those were breakthrough cases in people who had been fully vaccinated. Breakthrough cases nationally represent about 1% of the vaccinated population, and those who do contract the virus despite being vaccinated have a less severe illness — usually nasal congestion, headache and fatigue, but not the cough and high fevers seen at the outset of the pandemic, she said. 

  • Click here to see the SOTT slides on the public health situation

There will be a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Lincoln School for those aged 5–10 on November 10.The town also hopes to schedule a booster vaccination clinic using the Moderna vaccine by the end of the year.

School project — Phase 1 of the construction was completed on time over the summer and middle school grades are now using the revitalized space, School Building Committee chair Chris Fasciano said. Phase 2 is expected to be complete in July 22, followed by installation of solar panels and landscaping.

  • Click here for the school project presentation slides at SOTT

Fasciano showed photos of completed parts of the building, including the refurbished auditorium and lecture hall, school “neighborhoods” and hubs, and the Reed Gym’s new windows and connector to the school. He also highlighted features that were initially cut from the project for cost reasons but later restored by donations from the Ogden Codman Trust, the estate of Harriet Todd, Robert and Jacquelin Apsler, the Friends of the Lincoln School Project, and donors to a fund seeded by the eighth-grade Class of 2020 for new trees and other landscaping (though that fund is still about $11,000 short of the needed $60,000).

Residents also approved another $828,945 at Town Meeting in 2020. The gifts and additional town spending restored almost $2 million to the $93.9 million project.

Finance Committee — The pandemic “has stabilized from a financial standpoint,” Finance Committee Chair Any Payne reported, and in fact the town is in line for $2.74 million in reimbursements for Covid-related spending from three federal programs. Of that, the largest amount ($2.06 million) is expected from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that President Biden signed into law in March 2021. The town has established an ARPA working group to comb through the requirements and regulations to find everything that could be eligible for that funding. Some things such as certain infrastructure projects don’t have to be directly pandemic-related.

  • Click here to see the Finance Committee’s SOTT slides

Going into the next budget cycle, the town has more free cash than it anticipated due to a lower-than-expected increase in annual health insurance premiums (less than 1%, though the town had initially budgeted about 6%, Payne said). The town is also getting more revenue and state aid than expected. The town’s stabilization fund, used to reduce the impact of large one-time expenses, now stands at $2.59 million, he added.

As usual, the Finance Committee will ask boards and departments to submit budget inverse requests of no more than 2.5% but will consider one-time “compelling preferred items” for additional spending, Payne said. Last year, in the face of uncertainty and expenses surrounding the pandemic, officials said no to most of the additional budget requests, “but this time we feel like we have a little more room to work with,” he said.

An online poll during the SOTT meeting showed that 79% of attendees were age 50 and up, and 42% served on a town board or commission.

South Lincoln treatment plant has capacity for more development

The first phase of an engineering study of the wastewater treatment plant near the mall shows that it’s working well and has additional capacity to handle some commercial or residential development in the area.

The plant in the field about 1,500 feet north of the apartments was built in 1975 to serve the Lincoln Woods apartments and the businesses in the mall. It’s now owned and operated by TCB (The Community Builders), which is paying part of the cost of the Wright-Pierce study. The town needs to know the status of the plant to make informed decisions about rezoning South Lincoln to allow for more types of development.

The plant is “a little long in the tooth” and the building used mainly for records and water testing is in bad shape and needs to be replaced soon, said Kevin Olson, senior project manager at Wright-Pierce, as he presented Phase 1 of the study to the Planning Board meeting on October 5. However, after visiting the plant and looking at maintenance records, the plant is “performing well and is not overloaded,” said his Wright-Pierce colleague Adam Higgins.

The plant’s state permit allows it to handle up to 26,000 gallons per day of wastewater, though its average annual flow is less than half that. “There’s still available treatment capacity and flow capacity,” Higgins said.

Assuming the plant is maintained but not substantially upgraded or replaced, it will cost about $311,000 for work that should be done within the next five years and another $121,000 (in 2021 dollars) for work done in five to 15 years, according to the study.

Phase 2 of the study will look at whether the plant can handle flow above 26,000 gallons per day (gpd) for which it’s permitted, alternative treatment methods with a life-cycle cost analysis, and a recommendation on how to proceed, both with flows and treatment type.

“The increase in flow will likely be cut off at 40,000 gpd, but we’re waiting for input from the Planning Board and SLPAC [the board’s South Lincoln Planning and Advisory Committee] if more is desired based on wanting additional commercial/residential development,” Higgins said in an email. 

The Phase 2 report is due in early December, with a report to the Planning Board expected shortly before Christmas.

Neither the board nor SLPAC has voted on how the cost will be divided between the town and TCB if plant upgrades are desired, “but my expectation is that whoever does the development will pay for any required treatment plant work or expansion,” board Chair Margaret Olson said. “That being said, the town does need to know what can be done and what it would cost before investing large amounts of staff and volunteer time into proposing changes that would require wastewater treatment.”

Register for State of the Town online meetings

Lincolnites can now register to attend the Zoom-based Sate of the Town meeting on November 1-2 from 7–9 p.m. on both nights.

SOTT #1 (Monday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.)

  • Public Health Update
  • School Building Project Update
  • Finance Committee Update
  • Community Center Discussion
  • Open Forum

Zoom advance registration link (night 1)

SOTT #2 (Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.)

  • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Anti-Racism (IDEA) Initiative Update
  • South Lincoln Planning Update
  • Climate Action Planning Committee
  • Open Forum

Zoom advance registration link (night 2)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. For more information on the issues, see the Selectmen’s Fall 2021 Newsletter.

Plans moving ahead for bike and pedestrian-friendly improvements

Plans for safety improvements to Farrar Road and Route 2A are advancing, and a third project to benefit pedestrians in South Lincoln is out to bid.

The Farrar Road project will create “advisory shoulders” on Farrar Road, which involves painting dashed lines to indicate shoulders. Vehicles can cross the lines to avoid traffic coming from the opposite direction but must yield to oncoming traffic if there are “vulnerable users” (bicyclists, pedestrians, or any other non-vehicle) ahead or alongside.

An example of a sign about advisory shoulders.

Farrar Road was chosen as a pilot by the  Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPEC) in service of its broader goal to make Lincoln’s roads safer for all. If the measure turns out to be successful, other “minor connectors” in town might get the same treatment. There are 17 miles of  minor connectors that offer routes to schools and access to conservation trails but are not major roads.

The lines will advise all road users of the legal rights of way and safe passing distance. “It doesn’t change the way folks should use the road — it’s not like a stop sign or speed limit. It just advises about what’s safe,” BPEC member Bob Wolf told the Select Board at its June 21 meeting. The committee has been working with police, the Roadway and Traffic Committee, the DPW, the Planning Board, and representatives of candidate neighborhoods. Wolf and fellow BPEC member Ginger Reiner presented the idea to residents at one of last November’s State of the Town meetings.

The town has submitted an “application to experiment” to the Federal Highway Administration for the advisory shoulders, which are a relatively recent invention in this country. If all goes well, the painting could take place as soon as September, Wolf said.

Route 2A improvements

Another project in the planning stages is repaving and adding safety features to Route 2A. The current plans (which are at the 75% complete stage) call for traffic islands at intersections, and reconfiguring the Route 2A/Lexington Rd, intersection to make it safe for those approaching on Brooks Road.

MassDOT plans to move the Route 2A/Lexington Rad intersection slightly to the west. The green area is the new roadway.

Town officials recently offered feedback on the latest round of plans by MassDOT and expects to hear their response in several weeks. Among their requests:

  • Add pedestrian-activated flashing lights at all intersections
  • Add a crosswalk at Brooks Road
  • Add pedestrian islands at certain intersections
  • Make the road shoulders 4 feet wide where practicable

Select Board member Jonathan Dwyer said the town should hear the next response from MassDOT in four to six weeks. The agency has been “accommodating and respectful” to previous requests, he added.

Path in South Lincoln field

A third pedestrian-friendly project that’s currently out to bid is a pathway alongside Lincoln Road from the railroad tracks to the intersection with Codman Road. The paved path would be on the grass north of the stone wall and row of flowering trees and would skirt the community gardens.

The proposed path alongside Lincoln Road in green. The Doherty’s gas station property is in gray.

The project will be funded by a previously awarded grant from a state program to encourage safe travel and connectivity to mass transit for pedestrians and bicycles. The original deadline for completing the work was June 30, 2021, but the town was unable to award the contract through the initial bidding process, so the new deadline for bids is July 30. MassDOT gave the town an extension until November 30 to complete the work, said Director of Planning and Land Use Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie.

Some residents have expressed concern that the path would cut through the community gardens or is intended to promote access to the Codman Community Farm store. But CCF Board President Nancy Fleming wrote in LincolnTalk in May that the path has nothing to do with the store. She also explained and defended driveway work and other changes at the farm.

“For the first time in decades, we are financially stable, our animals are extremely well cared for, and we are plowing resources back into the aging infrastructure of the farm in ways that were impossible just five years ago,” she wrote.

Lincoln is eligible for more than $2 million in Covid-19 relief funding

Lincoln will be able to apply for slightly more than $2 million under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill signed into law by President Biden in March.

The money will come in two tranches, and the first could arrive within weeks, Town Administrator Tim Higgins told Select Board members at their June 7 meeting. However, it won’t be clear for a while what specific expenditures the funding can be used for in Lincoln, he added. The notice came with a 150-page manual of regulations about funding eligibility and administration, and that was only  a summary, he added.

Town officials will familiarize themselves with what expenses and projects are eligible and will then begin “a widespread public conversation and debate about the best use of the money,” Higgins said. The Select Board will then be asked to form an ARPA Steering Committee drawing from school, finance, and Council on Aging and Human Services personnel to hold public hearings and present recommendations at the State of the Town meeting in November.

In addition to stimulus checks, tax credits, and unemployment benefits for millions of Americans, ARPA has a variety of funding provisions that are locally relevant, including:

  • Funds for Covid-9 vaccination distribution, contract tracing and other public health expenses
  • Grants to small businesses
  • Money for K-12 schools to help them reopen safely
  • Housing assistance, including money for renters and homeowners affected by the pandemic
  • Water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure projects
  • Grants to public transit and commuter rail agencies to mitigate major decreases in ridership
Priority for grants under state housing law

In an unrelated funding development earlier this spring, Lincoln received priority access to some state grants after it was named as a Housing Choice Community under the state’s Housing Choice Initiative (also known as the Zoning Act). Lincoln was one of eight cities and towns to receive the designation for the first time, bringing the statewide total to 78.

The designation — which rewards communities that are producing new housing and have adopted best practices to promote sustainable housing development — confers exclusive admission to new Housing Choice Capital Grants and priority access to many Commonwealth grant and capital funding programs such as MassWorks, Complete Streets, MassDOT Capital Projects, and LAND and PARC grants.

“Through the Housing Choice Initiative, we can give an extra boost to our partner cities and towns that are working to address challenges like the need for drainage improvements, water and sewer connections, and sidewalks that might otherwise have stood in the way of housing production,” Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy said in a press release.

“As we continue to take steps to address our housing crisis, these capital and small-town grants, paired with the Housing Choice zoning reforms signed into law in January, will support even more communities be a part of the solution,” Gov. Baker said. 

Baker was referring to the related Housing Choice Act, which encouraged local zoning changes to foster housing development, especially in areas served by public transportation. Since it has a commuter rail station, Lincoln was named as an MBTA community under the law, which effectively requires those communities to allow denser housing around train stations — a development that has caused uncertainty and consternation in some quarters.

All cities and towns are in compliance until the state issues specific legal guidelines. However, MBTA communities that do not change their zoning rules to comply with the act will eventually become ineligible for grant funding from the Housing Choice Initiative, the Local Capital Projects Fund, or the MassWorks infrastructure program. 

2021 Town Meeting roundup

Town moderator Sarah Cannon Holden (left, in teal jacket) addresses the crowd at Lincoln’s Annual Town Meeting on May 15, 2021.

(Editor’s note: the section on the property tax circuit breaker program was updated with corrections on May 19.)

Aside from the accessory apartment issue, the 2021 Annual Town Meeting was largely free of controversy. Here are highlights of some of the measures that were approved:

Town spending

The base budget for fiscal 2022 starting in July is $42.9 million, or $44.4 million when including other articles approved at the May 15 meeting. Of that amount, $23.3 million is for the Lincoln Public Schools and $3.9 million for the town’s share of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School expenses.

Voters also approved $1.28 million for capital projects and $937,692 for Community Preservation Act items, as well as $1.82 million for a new public safety radio system. Those lists included two items for the school project ($410,557 for furniture and technology, and $161,200 for playgrounds) that the School Building Committee had been forced to cut from its construction budget earlier.

The Water Department budget also passed unanimously without discussion. Water Commission chair Jim Hutchinson praised new Water Department Superintendent Darin LaFalam’s “easy and calm manner with the staff and his careful and prudent handling of capital projects” and noted that there were no borrowing requests this year. The town has decided against applying to join the MWRA or building a new state-of-the-art water treatment plant, but it will revisit the issue before the next round of major capital requests in a few years, he said.

More information:

Property tax relief

Voters authorized the town to ask the state legislature for permission to allow Lincoln to implement a property tax circuit breaker program. The program would limit the property tax plus water bills to no more than 10% of the income of homeowners over 65 who have lived in town at least five years and who meet certain income and property value limits. It would be paid for by shifting up to 1% of the tax levy onto all the other property owners. Select Board member Jennifer Glass outlined the proposal to the board via Zoom on May 3.

Approximately 250 Lincoln properties could qualify for the program based on assessed value and length of ownership (the town does not have access to incomes). The Board of Assessors estimates that 30-40 households would benefit, and that the additional cost to other taxpayers could be up to about $73 in the first year, and up to about $145 in years two and three. Once approved, the local program must be reauthorized by town-wide vote every three years.

Glass noted on Saturday that a group of donors has contributed about $115,000 to a town property tax relief fund. That fund will likely be used over a five-year period to administer a circuit breaker program for homeowners under 65 who meet the other criteria. A resident asked whether the program being voted on could be funded with private funds. Glass noted the private funding does not replace the proposed circuit-breaker program. “For this to be sustained, it’s difficult to do with private funding,” she said.

Name changes

The Board of Selectmen is now the Select Board and the Council on Aging is now the Council on Aging and Human Services. Ten women have served on the board over the years, and “I’m proud to be the last Selectman elected,” board member Jennifer Glass said before the vote.

Environmental measures

Voters adopted a resolution in support of the country’s continuing participation in the Paris Climate Accord, and action by the state legislature to promote climate justice and expand the use of clean energy. “If you believe we should be bold and move fast on this climate crisis that affects everybody, I urge you to support this motion,” citizen’s petition sponsor Paul Shorb said. 

The vote in favor was not unanimous, however. Resident Mike Frankston argued that the Paris Climate Accord disadvantages the United States economically. Increasing the cost of domestic manufacturing and industrial activities will shift those activities to China and other countries that pollute more, thus actually worsening the problem. “There are many unintended consequences,” said Frankston, one of two “nay” votes on the resolution.

Measures that would ban the retail sale and use of polystyrene and some other single-use food-industry plastics also passed. Voters also approved a proposal to seek state permission to require retailers to charge 10 cents for single-use paper and plastic bags (though plastic grocery bags were already banned in 2018). The charge is intended to encourage use of reusable bags and does not impose a tax, since retailers can keep the money. 

Bright Light Award

Public health nurse Tricia McGean and Board of Health member Patricia Miller each received a Bright Light award for their “skillful, devoted and compassionate leadership of the town’s pandemic response efforts.” 

The two were recognized for their hard work in providing public health information, helping to organize vaccine clinics for seniors, and contact tracing and follow-ups for Lincoln residents who tested positive for Covid-19. They received a standing ovation for their efforts, as did the larger Public Health Team.

Community center

Residents voted to hear a brief report on the status of the proposed community center. Select Board member Jonathan Dwyer said the town has the ability to borrow up to $27 million for capital projects including a community center once the school project is complete in 2023.

Accessory apartment issue results in razor-thin votes

For the second year in a row, Lincoln’s Annual Town Meeting in the Covid-19 era went off without a hitch under a tent in the Hartwell school parking lot. However, though as in any town meeting, there was some controversy — at one point resulting in 87-86 vote.

The subject of not one but two razor-thin votes was the town’s accessory apartment rules. The Planning Board asked residents on Saturday to approve several changes to the bylaw, which they outlined in video and Powerpoint presentations on April 27:

  1. Delete a section that requires the dwelling to be at least 10 years old, and remove the requirement that accessory apartments can increase the floor area of the original dwelling by no more than 10%.
  2. Add a cap on the number of accessory apartments equal to 5% of all residential units in town. This cap would not apply to affordable units, including those participating in the town’s Affordable Accessory Apartment program.
  3. Require accessory apartments leases to be for at least 30 days.

The Planning Board recommended the first change so that modestly sized homes could add a livable accessory apartment comprising more than 10% of the original floor area. The second change was intended to act as “insurance” to limit the impact on town services should the program prove highly popular. Board chair Margaret Olson noted that this can easily be revisited in the future.

But it was the third amendment that provoked the most discussion. The goal of the proposed 30-day rental minimum was to discourage homeowners from building accessory apartments for the sole purpose of renting them out to short-term tenants via Airbnb or similar services. Olson said she wasn’t aware of any cases in Lincoln that suggested the limit but “it has been an issue in other communities.”

Town Counsel Joel Bard pointed out that the 30-day rental minimum would apply only to accessory apartments and their associated principal dwellings, not to all rental units in Lincoln.

Sara Mattes proposed an amendment that would remove that proposed 30-day minimum. In the discussion that followed, John Carr said that fear of short-term rentals ”destroying the community” was moot. “This parade of one-day guests is the status quo… [the community] has already been destroyed and we didn’t notice.”

Eric Harris said the effective ban on Airbnb rentals was unfair to those who already hold permits for accessory apartments and favors those with single-family homes. Tom Sander also opposed the amendment, suggesting instead that the town limit the number of rentals per year for each accessory apartment owner.

The voice vote on the Mattes amendment was too close to call, and a standing vote resulted in a tally of 87 “no” votes vs. 86 “yes” votes. But the drama wasn’t over yet. Christoper Boit offered another amendment that would reduce the minimum rental period from 30 days to seven, which he said would allow more flexibility for short-term caregivers to come and go.

Speaking as a private citizen, Finance Committee chair Andy Payne noted that neither limit would apply to short-term accessory apartment occupants who are not paying rent. Additionally, “short-term rentals do give a number of our fellow residents an option to make Lincoln more affordable for them than it would be otherwise.”

Again, a voice vote was too close to call. In the standing vote, the Boit amendment was approved by a 89-82 margin.

Tim Christenfeld then proposed yet another amendment: removing the 5% cap on the number of accessory apartments. “This seems to run against a lot of what we’re trying to accomplish” in terms of encouraging economic diversity in town, he said. A cap signifies that “we support moderate-income families in Lincoln, but not too many.”

The current proportion of accessory apartments in town (64) is about 2–2.5% of the total number of units, Olson said. New ones are being created at the rate of two to three per year, meaning Lincoln would reach the 5% cap in about 20 years.

Christenfeld’s amendment was defeated in a voice vote where roughly two-thirds of residents voted no.

Eric Harris argued that “policy should not be based on one vote” (the margin for the first amendment) and the matter should be brought back at a future Town Meeting, but the vote on the original motion (as amended to reduce the rental period minimum from 30 days to seven) passed with only a handful of residents voting no, easily clearing the required two-thirds majority.