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

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Letter to the editor: “surprised” at First Parish remarks

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To the editor:

I, like many other Lincoln residents, was surprised by the harsh quotes in last week’s article about First Parish Church’s ongoing interactions with the Planning Board. As someone who has no opinion on the reasonableness of the church’s proposed plans for expansion, I can only say that it was painful to read so many mean-spirited remarks about the members of a key board in town who work tirelessly to do the tough job of regulating development that citizens have elected them to do.

Everyone well knows that (volunteer) Planning Board members each put in hundreds of hours per year to address the matters that come before them. Like those who serve on our School Committee or our Selectmen, the residents who serve on town boards learn quickly that it is impossible to please every citizen all the time. Polite disagreement is perfectly fair; thinly veiled insults are not.

I intend to support Bob Domnitz who is running for reelection to the Planning Board. Bob has served with distinction for twelve years, bringing his legal and engineering training to bear on every matter. We are fortunate to have someone with Bob’s skill set and sensitivity serving on our Planning Board.  He (along with the entire Planning Board) has promised to remain focused on protecting the rural character and values of Lincoln. This is what Lincoln asked him to do when he was first elected in 2003 and this is what he has faithfully done.

Sincerely,

Maria O’Brien Hylton
5 Oakdale Lane

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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Proposed changes to Lincoln Station zoning

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To the editor:

At this year’s Town Meeting, the Planning Board is proposing for the town’s consideration two zoning amendments to further the goals of the 2014 Lincoln Station Planning Study. These will be found under Articles 37 and 38 of the Town Meeting warrant. Together these amendments are intended to promote private sector development in the Lincoln Station area. No public-sector investment is proposed at this time.

There are two distinct commercial districts at Lincoln Station: The B1 Retail Business district, located along Lincoln Road immediately north of the railroad tracks; and the B2 Service Business district located on Lewis Street immediately south of the railroad tracks. The B2 district presently excludes some B1 retail uses that we believe would be appropriate on Lewis Street. These include retail stores, banks, and retail service establishments such as barber shops, beauty shops, laundry and dry-cleaning pickup agencies, shoe repair, etc.

To facilitate retail or mixed-use development, the first amendment, Article 37, expands the uses allowed in the B2 district to include all the retail uses presently allowed in the B1 district. Uses currently allowed in the B2 district will continue to be allowed.

In addition, after studying parking requirements in nearby and similar communities, we propose to relax our parking requirement to conform more closely to current norms. The second amendment, Article 38, will reduce required parking from 1 space per 140 square feet of retail space to 1 space per 250 square feet. The proposed amendment does not alter the flexibility in the Zoning Bylaw to adjust this requirement in specific cases if appropriate.

The increased flexibility offered by these two amendments is intended to encourage business owners to explore new opportunities and to enhance the economic sustainability of our town commercial center.

Sincerely,

Richard Rundell
Chair, Lincoln Planning Board

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.

Letter to the editor: Flint responds on First Parish

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(Editor’s note: In her letter, Margaret Flint refers to a February 24 article in the Lincoln Squirrel that incorrectly stated that the First Parish Church has been trying for 12 years to win formal approval from town boards to expand the Stearns Room, when in fact it has been doing so only since 2012. The earlier article has been updated to reflect this correction.)

To the editor:

I would like to clear up a few misconceptions regarding the First Parish Building Committee’s application for a building permit to upgrade the Stearns Room. In 2001, my family donated land to the church in good faith and with the understanding that there would be a modest addition to the Stearns Room to improve handicapped access and to improve circulation. After many years of input from parishioners and subsequent design changes, the Building Committee finally approached town boards in 2012 with their proposed plan. This was just two and a half years ago, not 14 as was reported.

The Stearns Room renovation has changed from its original intent to become quite a large project that now includes, among other things, a meeting room and a gallery to display a history of the church. I have been dismayed by the change in scale of the project, which I feel diminishes the prominence of the lovely, simple sanctuary. I believe strongly that my husband and father-in-law would feel the same way. In fact, I believe the church has bitten the hand that fed them the land in their disregard for several requests dating back many months, beyond the square footage, to the planned new Stearns Room: the amount of glass, the height of the roof, the metal roof, and the door leading nowhere and which bumps out the southern profile of the building.

Town boards have been generous to the church in granting exemptions for the Stearns Room. The February 24 article stated that “…the church has argued that, given the constraints of the property, it cannot fulfill the goals of a Stearns Room expansion without the exemptions.” To that I respond, perhaps the goals of the Stearns Room are too grand, given the constraints of the property and its place in the historic town center.

The article also quotes a member of the Building Committee as follows: “…it is not our intent to simply build real estate, but to create an experience that is spiritually uplifting and satisfying to the soul as well as true to the values of Lincoln and an entire spiritual community.” It is my belief that taking into account the concerns of neighbors and trying to reach compromise is what most people would consider being true to the values of Lincoln, especially in light of this building’s place in the Historic District.

Sincerely,

Margaret Flint
Lexington Road

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.

Letter to the editor: reelect Nancy Marshall

To the editor:

It is  of the utmost importance that Nancy Marshall be reelected to the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee. I have known and worked with Nancy for more years than I like to remember and have always found her to be sensible, practical, and financially responsible. In addition and maybe more important, she thinks first of the students and the world into which they will be going. She thinks ahead and endeavors to find ways to provide them with the training and skills they will need and ways in which the school system can provide those skills.

Please, make sure to vote and vote to reelect Nancy Marshall.

Note: This letter is being written by me as a private citizen and does not have an endorsement in any way with the Lincoln School Committee, of which I am a member.

Sincerely,

Al Schmertzler
142 Chestnut Circle

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrrel.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.

News acorns – 2/28/15

acornCodman Community Farms to hold CSA presentation at annual meeting

Codman Community Farms’ annual meeting, which is open to the public, will be held on Thursday, March 12 at the Pierce House from 6:30-8 p.m. Meet the newest board members for CCF and enjoy chili made with Codman Farm-raised grass-fed beef, beverages, coffee and desserts. The meeting will begin with election by CCF members of new board members Brendan Coughlin, John Mendelson, Dana (DJ) Mitchell and George Travis, followed by a panel presentation at 7 p.m. on “Community-Supported Agriculture and Locally Grown Food.” The panel will include directors, farmers and CSA coordinators from local farms in Lincoln and surrounding towns, including Ed Barker, executive director of Land’s Sake in Weston; Eric Robichaud, head farmer at CCF; and Ari Kurtz, owner and farmer of Lindentree Farm in Lincoln. The panel will discuss the latest trends in the growing farm-to-table movement and answer questions from the audience.

To find out more about Codman Farm’s meat CSA (which runs through June) or discuss a prorated share. visit www.codmanfarm.org or call 781-259-0456.

Multi-board meeting to discuss Town Meeting questions on school project

To learn more about the Town Meeting warrant articles relating to a school building project and the context in which they will be considered, the public is invited to attend a multi-board meeting/public forum on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in the Reed Gym. For more information, see this letter to the editor from School Committee chair Jennifer Glass.

State senators do Commonwealth tour on Monday

[Read more…] about News acorns – 2/28/15

Letter to the editor: school building warrant articles

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(Editor’s note: click here for the most recent news story about the school building project, or use the search box in the right-hand column of the page to find older stories.)

To the editor:

At the March 28 Annual Town Meeting, the Lincoln School Committee will ask the community to consider three warrant articles related to a Lincoln School building project.  The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC), which was reconstituted by a vote at last year’s Town Meeting, has worked over the past 12 months to develop a wide variety of project concepts that range from repair projects at one end, to comprehensive renovation projects (repairs + systems upgrades + educational enhancements) at the other. For detailed information, the SBAC’s final report documents are here, and hard copies are available in the Lincoln Public Library and the superintendent’s office.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: school building warrant articles

Public hearing next week on Community Preservation funding

lincoln-town-seal-colorThe Community Preservation Committee (CPC) will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in the second-floor hearing room in the Town Office Building to discuss proposals that have been submitted this year and to identify those that will be recommended for approval at  Town Meeting on March 28.

This year, the CPC received 12 proposals, of which eight are still under consideration. The total of requested funding is $1,222,075. The proposals in order of amount are: [Read more…] about Public hearing next week on Community Preservation funding

Letter to the editor: restrict use of leaf blowers

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Editor’s note: San Antonio read the following statement at the Leaf Blower Study Committee25 public forum on February 25. Click here to see links to previous coverage of this issue in the Lincoln Squirrel.

To the editor:

When I moved to Lincoln in 1991, I was positively elated to find such a special place. I grew up in Lawrence, Mass., and had lived in Boston, New York and then Los Angeles before returning to the East Coast. Feeling at that point quite starved for clean, safe space away from the pace of modern city life, my hope—no, my mission—was to find a place as uniquely beautiful as Lincoln with its inviting open fields, its intricate network of trails through the woods, and what in the beginning was relative peace and quiet.

[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: restrict use of leaf blowers

Letter to the editor: lighting regulation objection

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Editor’s note: This letter is in response to a February 23 letter from Planning Board member Margaret Olson on a proposed Town Meeting warrant article on outdoor lighting.

To the editor:

Article 44 will make every outdoor light in town nonconforming, meaning that if your beautiful Colonial-style porch or pole fixture that projects light up or to the side is damaged, you cannot replace it with another Colonial-style light. Nor will this article halt the red glow of Waltham and Boston that we see to the east at night, nor the glow of Worcester that we see to the west.

How will this be enforced? Will the police come to your door and order you to turn off your outdoor lights? Will we be required to install blackout shades to prevent interior light from leaking into the night sky?

Fossil fuel. Leaf blowers. Now this. Must Lincoln solve all the world’s problems?

Sincerely,

Michael Coppock
214 Aspen Circle

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrrel.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.

First Parish hopes to clear final hurdle tonight

firstparish-sm(Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect corrections made on February 28.)

By Alice Waugh

The First Parish Church is going before the Planning Board tonight in hopes of getting a final go-ahead for the controversial Stearns Room replacement, but some are worried that the process could drag on even longer.

Discussion among church officials about expanding the Stearns Room, which dates from 1963,  began in 2001 when the Flint family donated a parcel of abutting land to the church. The current proposal calls for a covered, handicapped-accessible entranceway from the sanctuary as well as handicapped restrooms, a sitting area with a fireplace, and a space on the south side of the addition for robing, private phone conversation, and gatherings at various times including after Sunday services when the Stearns Room is full. The room would open to a small patio and a view of the field to the west.

To carry out its plan, the church needed several zoning exemptions, and the process of trying to obtain town approvals began about two years ago. At several hearings, residents objected to how the proposed addition would look and argued that the church should not be exempted from zoning regulations. In response, the church has argued that, given the constraints of the property, it cannot fulfill the goals of a Stearns Room expansion without the exemptions.

In a victory for the church, Planning Board approved most of the site plan in February 2014 and granted relief from zoning limits on lot size, lot width and parking—but it denied the requested four-foot setback on the north side of the property. Based on that decision, building commissioner Daniel Walsh denied a building permit in March 2014.

The church subsequently appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, saying applying the setback requirement to the property’s north side was not reasonable in this circumstance, pursuant to the Dover Amendment, and should not be enforced, according to minutes of the ZBA’s meeting on June 19, 2014. The Dover Amendment is a state statute that exempts agricultural, religious and educational corporations from certain zoning restrictions.

At that June meeting, the ZBA granted permission for the north side setback by a 4-0 vote (member Megan Stride abstained). However, the board noted that the church would have to go back to the Planning Board to finish the site plan review process. Tonight the Planning Board will consider those elements of the site plan it hasn’t already reviewed, such as landscaping, lighting and drainage—”things they didn’t get around to before,” said Director of Planning and Land Use Chris Reilly. The Planning Board can’t revisit the building itself, which has already won the necessary approvals; “they have to be disciplined and look just at the remainder of the site plan review process, unless someone brings forth new information,” he said.

But Lincoln resident Ken Hurd, an architect who has been working for the church, was not reassured. “There have been hints that they want to look at more things,” he said. “They have changed their minds before, so we just don’t know.” Asked for specifics, Hurd said the board approved minutes of a September 2013 meeting in November of that year but later rewrote them shortly before its vote in February 2014.

“There’s a little lack of trust about what they say and what gets posted,” Hurd said on Tuesday afternoon.

On behalf of the First Parish Building Committee, Hurd this week wrote a letter to the Planning Commission to reiterate the benefits of the new addition, saying it would “affirm the dignity of everyone who might be part of this community institution… It is not our intent to simply build real estate, but to create an experience that is spiritually uplifting and satisfying to the soul as well as true to the values of Lincoln and an entire spiritual community.”

Meanwhile, the church also needed approvals from the Historic District Commission to demolish the old Stearns Room and build a new one. After a contentious hearing in November 2014, the commission voted to grant a certificate of appropriateness for the new construction by a vote of 5-2, with members Ruth Wales and Bryce Wolf voting no. The commission also voted 6-0 (with Wolf abstaining) to grant a demolition permit.

Previous coverage in the Lincoln Squirrel: