A diagram of the choices facing Lincoln voters in Town Meeting warrant articles 30, 31 and 32 (click to enlarge).
By Alice Waugh
With a last-minute change to the wording of a Town Meeting motion, town officials are doubling down on their support for seeking state funding for a comprehensive school renovation project in the hope that a large majority of voters feel the same way.
[Read more…] about Town boards come together on revised school warrant article
By Alice Waugh
One of the Community Preservation Act requests that will come up at Town Meeting on Saturday is $290,000 to reconstruct the Bemis Hall basement to add 1,200 square feet of usable space and install a fully handicapped-accessible bathroom, which the building now lacks.
[Read more…] about Bemis Hall basement to get makeover if voters approve
The eighth-grade warrant article group, left to right: Amalia Munn, Allie Dwyer, Colin Christian, Greer Harnden and Elena Christenfeld.
Six Lincoln School eighth-graders are hoping voters at Saturday’s Town Meeting approve a citizens’ petition for funding to clear the edges of one of the school playing fields.
Elena Christenfeld, Colin Christian, Allie Dwyer, Greer Harden, Amalia Munn and Irene Terpstra have been meeting every Monday since September withTown Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden and Town Clerk Susan Brooks to experience the process for getting an issue before Lincoln’s Annual Town Meeting.
After conversations with the Parks and Recreation Department, the students first came up with the idea to clear the edges of the playing fields next to Codman Pool, the Smith school building and the Town Office Building where brush is growing into the playing area. They eventually settled for just the Smith field as well as an adjacent student emergency evacuation area.
[Read more…] about Students’ Town Meeting article seeks funds for field work
The Community Center Study Committee’s “preferred option.” Click on the image for more exterior and interior design ideas.
By Alice Waugh
Residents on Saturday will have the chance to hear the final report of the Community Center Study Committee (CCSC), which proposes a community center to be built on the Hartwell campus at a total cost of about $13 million, including roads and other site work.
[Read more…] about Community center on Hartwell campus would cost $13 million, panel says
By Alice Waugh
Lincoln resident Richard Card wants to open a combination bookstore, coffee shop, and wine and cocktail bar in the South Lincoln business district that would offer “an ambience that promotes higher-minded conversations,” he says.
[Read more…] about Resident aims to open bookstore with food, coffee and cocktails
Editor’s note: shorty after this was published, town officials released
By Alice Waugh
Just days before the annual Town Meeting, officials are scrambling to tweak the wording of one of the warrant articles relating to the school building project.
To the editor:
The Town of Lincoln has been fortunate throughout its history to have been served by individuals who care deeply about its direction. Through careful planning and respect for all its resources, they have created a place we can all be proud to call home.
As a member of the Planning Board, Bob Domnitz has embodied the ethics and pragmatism that have guided this community for the past 260 years. He has served the town of Lincoln exceptionally well, and I endorse him wholeheartedly.
Sincerely,
Margaret Flint
Lexington Rd.
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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.
Editor’s note: Article 45 is a citizens’ petition that asks voters if they support a resolution “that urges town boards, commissions and committees to consider, in relevant cases, and report in their minutes, the impact of their decisions on climate change; or take any other action relative thereto.”
To the editor:
Lincoln has a long history and a national reputation for being a progressive, proactive community in conservation and environmental protection that is reflected in our landscape. The town must now continue with this tradition of creative and innovative planning in finding effective ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: support warrant article on climate change
Editor’s note: Town Meeting Warrant Articles 37 and 38 ask Lincoln voters if they will amend the town’s zoning by-law to (1) permit a greater variety of commercial uses in the Lewis Street district, and (2) relax the parking requirements for businesses. See the complete warrant for details.
To the editor:
I am writing as a former member of the Board of Selectman who was liaison to the Planning Board for 12 years. I worked closely with the board on many critical development challenges that threatened our rural, small-town character in our residential neighborhoods and our fragile retail district.
From that perspective, I am writing to urge support for Articles 37 and 38 at Town Meeting, and to urge all to better understand the work of our Planning Board in implementing the Comprehensive Long Range Plan (CLRP) and caring for neighborhood character through site plan review.
The Planning Board takes it direction from the values and concerns that the town articulates through Town Meeting actions, the CLRP, planning forums, and the numerous comments from applicants and residents that are received at Planning Board meetings every year.
As to proactive work in planning and implementation of aspects of the CLRP, Articles 37 and 38 will do just that. Many in town believe that we must take actions to preserve and promote a vital retail district in the Lincoln Station area. The Planning Board conducted a study as to how best advance this objective. In addition, they held meetings with local business owners to gather their ideas about promoting the district. A business district is made up of private property owners who cannot be compelled to make investments. But they can be encouraged and welcomed. That is what Articles 37 and 38 are designed to do.
Other objectives identified in the CLRP are dependent upon voluntary actions of other boards and committees, and cannot be mandated or regulated by the Planning Board.
Several letters to the editor have taken issue with the work of the Planning Board, specifically regarding site plan review.
Site plan review is not unique to Lincoln. It is used across the Commonwealth to preserve community character.
While property owners have rights, those who live in the neighborhood also may have legitimate concerns that deserve consideration. It is the Planning Board that is charged by the town, through the town’s zoning bylaws, to protect neighborhoods. It is a balancing act that I have observed has been taken very seriously and very sensitively by the Planning Board.
The Planning Board works hard to ensure that all new development receives full and fair vetting by the town, and by the neighborhoods that will experience the most immediate impact. When the Planning Board reviews a large project, they are acting in all our interest to ensure we all have a voice in shaping and managing change and the character of our community for years to come.
Sincerely,
Sara Mattes
71 Conant Rd.
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.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.
CorrectionA March 23 letter to the editor headlined “Letter to the editor: vote ‘yes’ on Articles 30 and 31” carried the wrong signature. That letter was written by Douglas Adams, not Steven Perlmutter. The Squirrel had previously published a letter from Perlmutter on March 17 headlined “Letter to the editor: ‘focus like a laser’ on getting state funding for school.” The March 23 letter has been amended online to reflect this correction.
In the March 20 Lincoln Squirrel story about the school building warrant articles to be voted on at Town Meeting, there was a sentence that stated in part: “If the town were to borrow $30 million and also approve the campus master plan expenditure, there would be an increase in median tax bills of 3.9 percent.” That percentage refers only to the tax increase for fiscal 2016 including the effect of the school feasibility studies, not the year-over-year tax growth with $30 million of borrowing. A decision to borrow and how much to borrow by the town would come after a feasibility study.