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

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Letter to the editor: leaf blower mailing questioned

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To the editor:

The Lincoln Leaf Blower Study Group recently sent a brochure to everyone in town in which it quoted a March 2014 statement by the Board of Health saying, “Exposure to high-intensity, episodic or long-duration noise and air particulate and vapor dispersion from leaf blowers represents significant potential health hazards to our citizens.”

That statement is misleading because it fails to reference the Board of Health’s December 10, 2014 statement in which it said that exposure to dust and noise generated by leaf blowers is a concern only in the paved town center and that, “in contrast, the board is much less clear that the use of leaf blowers in other areas of our town presents consistent or even frequent bystander health risks from noise or air pollution.” Other statements in the brochure suffer from a similar lack of context.

I am informed that the brochure was prepared and mailed at town expense. The brochure is obviously a prelude to an effort to enact a by-law to limit or prohibit the use of leaf blowers in Lincoln. The taxpayers of Lincoln should not be paying for campaign literature supporting an initiative that many question or oppose. Will the town pay to prepare and mail a brochure that corrects the misleading statements in the Study Group’s mailing, and to state the other side of the issue?

Sincerely,

Michael R. Coppock
214 Aspen Circle

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Key votes on Minuteman slated for Monday night

mm1By Alice Waugh

Selectmen from towns in the Minuteman High School district met last week to endorse a new regional agreement with a few minor changes—including adding language that would allow Lincoln to leave the district along with several other towns without having to pay for the new school project.

[Read more…] about Key votes on Minuteman slated for Monday night

Letter to the editor: Craig announces candidacy for Board of Selectmen

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Editor’s note: Noah Eckhouse announced earlier today that he will not be running for reelection to the Board of Selectmen.

To the editor:

I am writing to announce my candidacy for the open seat on the Board of Selectman and to ask for your support. I am excited by the opportunity to bring my skills, experience and energy to the board as we face many important challenges as a town over the coming months and years.

For those of you who may not yet know me, I have lived in Lincoln with my family since 2004 and am the proud parent of a fifth-grade child in our public schools. Serving on the Planning Board since 2008 (five years as an elected member and two as an appointed associate member), I have had the privilege to work alongside many wonderful and dedicated volunteers on many different committees and boards, all of whom care deeply about our town. I believe this experience, combined with my professional background as an attorney in private practice with an emphasis in real estate law, will allow me to bring added value and perspective to our Board of Selectman, especially as the town considers significant land use issues and their affordability, including: a school building project, a multigenerational community center, and the feasibility/desire for future growth of Lincoln Station.

I am also excited at the chance to work with the board in continuing to engage our many nonprofits to share in the costs of the services the town provides, working to further strengthen our relationship with Hanscom and the Air Force, and collaborating with other boards and committees in addressing the many day to day issues facing our town.

Lincoln has a tradition rich in balancing conservation of our natural resources with necessary growth, all while exercising prudent fiscal discipline. An avid runner, I am reminded daily of how special and unique our town is, in large part due to the foresight and strategies implemented over the years by our town leaders. If elected, I look forward to working with the board and fellow Lincolnites to create and adopt the strategies that will continue our shared vision for Lincoln’s future.

Lastly, I would like to thank Noah Eckhouse for his many years of tireless and dedicated service to our town. Noah’s willingness six years ago to step forward and run for selectman at a time in his life when most of us would be otherwise wholly consumed with work and family has inspired me to do the same this coming year.

I look forward to meeting and hearing from you over the coming months, and hope you will consider supporting me at our town election in March.

Sincerely,

James Craig
Farrar Road
jameslaw33@comcast.net

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

Letter to the editor: Eckhouse not running for reelection

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To the editor:

I write to announce that I will not be seeking reelection as selectman when my term expires in March. After serving on the board for the past six years, twice as chairman, I am ready to step back and encourage another generation of leaders to take my seat at the selectman’s table.

The last six years has been a blur of success, challenge and difficult compromise. We accomplished many things:  the complete renewal of our Town Office Building, rebuilding our roads and streetlights, liquor licenses, conservation of important parcels, and healthy relationships with our town employees and their unions. We created the town’s first PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement, with more on the way. We saw the regional effects of traffic, construction, dog walkers and even murders encroach our little town and force us to respond as a team. And we never once asked for an override.

Rest assured Lincoln is in good hands. From our eminently capable town staff led by Tim Higgins to our committed volunteers on countless boards and committees, Lincoln has a passion for governance “by the people and for the people” like few other places in these cynical times.

As for me, I will enjoy my return to civilian life watching my two children complete their studies at L-S (while still clinging to hope that I can run faster than them in the Fourth of July road race), supporting STEM education in our K-12 schools, and helping to grow our L-S varsity sailing program into a dominant force. And building a few less parade floats…

In closing, I’d like to thank my predecessor Sarah Cannon Holden for helping me ramp up, Gary Taylor and Sara Mattes for tolerating me as a young pup, and Peter Braun and Renel Fredriksen for many years of co-leadership teamwork. Of course my family deserves the biggest thanks for putting up with distractions, phone calls and evening meetings, and general immersion in all things local. (Catherine: it will soon be safe to go with me to the dump and Donelan’s again!)

Lincoln needs all of us as active volunteers. The job can be demanding at times but creates a sense of accomplishment and reward that is unlike anything else I’ve done. I encourage our next generations of leaders to step up. If not you, who?

Sincerely,

Noah Eckhouse
Baker Bridge Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

A breakthrough and a hiccup for Minuteman

mm1Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a clarification of Lincoln’s Minuteman spending in 2015-16.

By Alice Waugh

Area officials have hammered out a newly revised Minuteman High School regional agreement by stripping out the contentious “host community” compensation issue and making it the subject of a separate agreement between the town and the Minuteman school district—but both deals must still be approved by the Minuteman School Committee (MSC). [Read more…] about A breakthrough and a hiccup for Minuteman

Heated discussion over Lincoln and Minuteman

mm1By Alice Waugh

Many of the 16 towns in the Minuteman High School district are ready to move forward with a new regional agreement, but Lincoln is standing firm on its demand for compensation as host community to a new high school—a stance that could potentially torpedo a new agreement.

Selectmen from the member towns met on December 2 to try to agree on a deal in principle for amending the agreement that would be acceptable to all 16 towns. The idea, originally proposed by Boxborough Selectman Vince Amoroso, would achieve several things: [Read more…] about Heated discussion over Lincoln and Minuteman

Campus study draft to be presented next week

The current school campus showing when various sections were built.

The Campus Master Planning Committee (CMPC) will receive a draft report from its consultants with recommendations for reconfiguring the Lincoln School campus on Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room.

Residents heard an interim report at the State of the Town meeting in November from LLB Architects, who outlined some examples of how the building areas, pedestrian walkways, playing fields, and roads on the campus could be configured to accommodate a school project and a new community center somewhere on the Hartwell side. They did not include site work cost estimates for the scenarios.

The CMPC also released results of an informal survey of residents who attended an October 17 public forum. About 160 people responded to seven statements with answers ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” The results of Questions 1 and 5 indicate support for reducing the footprint of the school building, which would most likely mean a two-story structure, although the overall character of the campus is still seen as important.

1. Gaining additional field space is a worthy reason to reduce the overall school footprint.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
52% 20% 25%

2. Locating parking near building entrances and fields is more important than the character of the campus.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
17% 21% 60%

3. Pedestrian walkways should take precedence over vehicular drives and parking lots.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
54% 30% 15%
4. The campus character is tied directly to the current footprint of the buildings.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
38% 25% 31%

5. We should consider reducing the footprint of the school in order to gain building efficiencies, better educational layout, and more space on campus for playing fields and other uses.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
62% 14% 19%

6. The value (functionality, appropriateness, and life expectancy) of the projects should take precedence in decision making if the costs exceed the previously projected costs.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
8% 19% 67%

7. Future projects should aim to reduce the impact on the regulated areas [wetland buffers, riverfront setbacks] to the extent that is practical.

Agreed or
strongly agreed		 Neutral Disagreed or
strongly disagreed
27% 25% 42%

The final report is due to town officials on December 31. The CMPC and its consultant have been working for six months on the project and have presented information at five public forums this fall.

Letter to the editor: town working on zoning rules for small farmers

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To the editor:

These remarks were intended for presentation at the State of the Town Meeting on November 14. Unfortunately, time constraints prevented us from getting to them.

At the Annual Town Meeting in March 2011, the town passed “The Right to Farm” bylaw, a new section of the town’s general bylaws. This was done to broadly inform residents of state law regarding agriculture and to recognize the town’s general support of farming. Since that time, the Planning Board has been working together with the Agricultural Commission to bring our zoning bylaws (ZBL) into conformance with state law, while making refinements that reflect our local needs and circumstances.

State law provides for very modest local control over agriculture practices on properties greater than 5 acres. Therefore, our efforts have largely been focused on properties less than 5 acres. We are also respectful of rights currently held by residents, especially those enjoyed for personal use, such as keeping a backyard pony, a few beehives, or a small flock of chickens.

Our ZBL already allows for the raising and sale of produce (defined by our Zoning Board of Appeals as plant-based—vegetables, fruit, etc.) by an owner or tenant. But what should be done regarding the small farmer raising livestock and selling animal products, on less than 5 acres? These include sheep farmers, beekeepers, and poultry raisers, among others.

Our primary focus has been attempting to craft a permitting process under a definition of commercial agriculture, possibly based on sales per acre. This is still very much a work in progress. We are trying very hard to strike a balance between the needs of small farmers and non-farming residents. Public hearings on our proposed amendments will be scheduled in the near future and we look forward to your feedback. We hope to be ready for the March 2016 Town Meeting.

I would especially like to thank Lynne Bower, Jim Henderson and Ari Kurtz of the Agricultural Commission for their hard work. Please feel free to contact any of us if you have questions or concerns.

Bryce Wolf, Planning Board vice chair
52 Birchwood Lane

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.

Letter to the editor: thanks from Chris Reilly

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To the editor:

After spending the last five years as Lincoln’s Director of Planning and Land Use Permitting, I recently took a parallel position in a nearby community. Leaving Lincoln after five years was not something I anticipated considering when I took the job, but I feel I certainly made the best effort I could as I bring with me many positive memories of the considerable time, energy and spirit spent trying to serve Lincoln’s true, interests. To that end, I would like to thank those who supported my position and made the experience worthwhile.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: thanks from Chris Reilly