5 Birchwood Lane — Phyllis Gree to Malcolm W. and Elana Chandler for $735,000 (January 30)
12 Pine Ridge Road — Barlex LD LLC to 12 Pine Ridge LLC for $2,800,000 (January 30)
19 Conant Road — Dudley Hollow LLC to Rohan Hastie for $3,375,000 (January 29)
134 Chestnut Circle — Deborah Page to Eric Paul Roter for $799,000 (January 23)
152 South Great Road — Ellison Family Limited Partnership to Jeffrey David Ribens Trust and Linda Melius Rubens Trust for $1,300,000 (January 13)
33 Old Concord Road — Thomas M. Saidnawey to Angus H. and Jennifer S. Junkin for $2,715,000 (December 19)
49 Birchwood Lane — John Fangman to Linda G. Lee Trust and Robert Reamey Trust for $950,000 (December 19)
12 Laurel Drive — Tao David Kostman to Otto X. Cordero Sanchez and Alexandra K. Eurodolian for $1,495,000 (December 18)
50 Windingwood Lane — Joel K. Wechsler for Kristi L. Griffin and Mark C. Gebhardt for $912,000 (December 17)
34 Farrar Road — Michael Leip to Yingzhao Ma and Shanshan Hou for $820,000 (December 12)
60 Baker Bridge Road — Jocelyn Elliott to Adrian and Laura Bishop for $1,100,000 (December 8)
224 Aspen Circle — Marcia Roehr to Amruta P. Mhatre Living Trust for $730,000 (December 2)
15 Goose Pond Road — Roberto C. Santamaria to Adi A. Davidyan and Rebecca E. Goldberg for $1,500,000 (November 26)
236 Lincoln Road and 0 Longmeadow Road — Michael V. Salm to Ian Campebll for $4,100,000 (November 20)
25 Birchwood Lane — Patrick Zwiedler-McKay Trust to Elise Supovitz for $930,000 (November 17)
99 Tower Road — Mark Bazin Trust to Elinor Hardigg for $1,175,000 (November 14)
52 Greenridge Lane — Scott Miller to Megan E. Galletta for $527,000 (November 10)
145 Tower Road — Ronald Row to Donald M. and Regina L. Halsted for $1,456,000 (November 5)
198 Lincoln Road — John E. Krzywicki Trust to Timothy J. Barry-Heffernan and Emily F. Anderson for $1,940,000 (November 4)
The Dark Skies Subcommittee (DSC) is drafting language to update town rules on outdoor lighting in a measure that may come up for a Town Meeting vote in March 2026.
Section 13.5 of the zoning bylaw says that all permanent artificial outdoor lighting in new construction may consist only of fully shielded light fixtures, and that lights must have a color temperature value of 3000°K or lower. The bylaw was amended at Town Meeting in 2016 to include definitions for some of the terms.
“Dark skies” advocates have argued for years (including most recently in State of the Town presentations in 2024 and 2025) that artificial outdoor light at night keeps away wildlife (thus reducing their habitat), kills insects, and interferes with nocturnal breeding cycles and bird migration.
Lincoln’s zoning bylaw was initially amended to place limits on outdoor lighting in 2004, but advocates have tried to have the rules several times since then. An amendment proposed at Town Meeting in 2015 was hotly debated but ultimately went down to defeat by a vote of 161–133 (a two-thirds majority was required for passage). The group drafted zoning and general bylaw amendments and initially got on the warrant for Town Meeting using citizens’ petitions in 2025 but ultimately withdrew the items.
In the 20-plus years since the bylaw was first enacted, the Planning Board subcommittee says, new research has further demonstrated the environmental harm of excessive outdoor light at night, and lighting technology has advanced, with more color temperatures available in bulbs as well as wider availability of things like automatic timers, motion detectors, and dimmers.
The group would like to see changes including lowering the maximum color temperature to 2700°K, requiring that outdoor lights be dimmed or turned off after 9:00pm, and limiting the height and intensity of walkway lighting. They also hope to apply these changes to existing outdoor lighting, not just new construction — but that would require an amendment to the town’s general bylaw in addition to the zoning bylaw. In a presentation to the Planning Board on December 9, the DSC proposed that existing properties must comply within a certain amount of time after the amendment’s passage (five years for larger properties and town-owned buildings, or 10 years for single-family or two-family dwellings.
The DSC’s general strategy includes not just amending the zoning and/or general bylaw, but also conducting education and outreach to improve compliance and “identifying solutions” for major light generators such as streetlights, the school, and other town buildings, as well as larger properties such as the mall, The Commons in Lincoln, and Oriole Landing.
DSC member Buzz Constable said that a general bylaw approach has advantages: it would have greater reach and applicability, and it might actually be easier to win voter approval, since general bylaw amendments require only a simple majority vs. the two-thirds required for zoning bylaw changes. (The general bylaw measure restricting use of gas-powered leaf blowers squeaked by in 2019 in a 112–106 vote.)
However, whenever you make a new rule, “there’s an obligation to enforce it,” and the building inspector has limited time for such activity, Constable acknowledged.
Though it took no action at its Dec. 9 meeting, the Planning Board was generally lukewarm about the whole idea. “There are so many important things this town has to do… there are priorities in the town,” board co-chair Lynn DeLisi said.
“I’d like to see a higher level of engagement” using a town-wide survey and/or a public forum sponsored by the full board to hear from more residents, “not just people who showed up for State of the Town,” member Susan Hall Mygatt said.
“It’s a question of how much you can do with the resources you have,” board co-chair Gary Taylor said. “We need to divide this thing into three or four steps rather than just trying to do a scattershot [approach].”
Taylor and board member Rob Ahlert suggested that the Dark Skies group start by thinking about how to deal with the biggest producers of outdoor lighting — town streetlights and larger properties such as the mall, The Commons in Lincoln, the school, etc., rather than pushing for more sweeping changes that would affect individual homeowners.
“If you focus on big-ticket items, everyone’s going to rally around that,” Ahlert said.
15 Blackburnian Road — Lynne W. Cybulak Trust to Patrick and Karen O’Hern for $1,644,000 (October 24)
9 Morningside Lane — Mark Conway to Kayla B. Maple and Jennifer Shehan for $1,650,000 (September 23)
0, 46, and 52 Winter St. — Nancy C. Hammond Trust to Philip Walsh and Susan Barba for $1,925,000 (October 16 and 23)
24 Oak Meadow Road — Lana Motch to Seunghyn and Seungyeon Lee for $1,470,000 (October 20)
49 Bedford Road — Lara S. MacLachlan to Anna and Christopher S. Wolf for $1,410,000 (October 18)
6 Emerson Road — Sandra Damirjian Trust to Lourival Santos for $709,500 (October 15)
244 Lincoln Road — Louise Bergeron to Emily Makynen Trust and Stephen Skolas Trust for $1,595,000 (October 15)
2 Tabor Hill Road — Don Bienfang to Dustin L. Cotliar and Timothy D. Mizell for $1,590,000 (September 30)
45 Farrar Road — Karen D. Sellers Trust to Alice McGrath for $740,000 (September 26)
79 Autumn Lane — Eri A. Buitrago to Robert Saxner and Kimberly A. Pittman for $1,250,000 (September 23)
43 Old Concord Road — Corinne E. Saxon Trust to James Calder Trust and Catherine Dipesa Trust for $2,022,500 (September 16)
138 Lexington Road — 138 Lexington Road LLC to Lexington Properties LLC for $400,000 (September 12)
46 Bedford Road — Jerry P. Coleman to John F. and Bettina G. Dee for $1,315,000 (September 3)
A map of southwest Lincoln showing the Waltham parcels being considered for rezoning in dark gray. The red dotted line indicates the Lincoln/Waltham border. Click image to enlarge.
The City of Waltham is considering rezoning a parcel of land abutting Lincoln to allow residential development in addition to the existing office park buildings.
The proposal, which was heard by the Waltham City Council on December 8, is for a “Mixed Innovation and Residential Redevelopment Overlay District” (MIRROD) on nine parcels on Winter Street and Old County Road. An abutter’s list shows about a dozen abutting Lincoln parcels on those roads as well as Forester Road and Old Conant Road.
It’s one of three proposals being considered in the city to overlay land currently zoned for commercial or industrial use with mixed innovation and residential redevelopment districts, according to the Waltham Times on Dec. 7.
“These zoning districts will allow the developers to renovate current office spaces to fulfill purposes like multifamily housing, restaurants and commercial recreation facilities, research laboratories, and medical facilities after obtaining a special permit from the City Council. They would also allow municipal buildings in the new mixed-use districts by right, the Waltham Times reported.
The move is in response to Waltham’s rapidly growing property values along with a slowdown in commercial growth and reduced demand for lab space. A Nov. 25 Waltham Times article reported that Board of Assessors Chair Frank Craig “encouraged the city to find a use for unused commercial lots instead of letting them sit vacant and voiced support for mixed-use zoning overlay districts to attract occupancy.”
The document associated with the proposal can be viewed here. The City Council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee and the city Planning Board will meet on Dec. 15 and 17, respectively, to consider the proposal before making recommendations to the full council, which must render a decision by March 8, 2026.
A map showing where the electric school buses (light blue) will be parked. The red line is the trench for the charging stations. Click image to enlarge.
Workers have begun digging a trench at the east side of the Doherty’s Garage property to install charging stations for a new fleet of electric school buses.
As part of the project, the grassy area now occupied by cars awaiting repair will be paved, expanded, and moved 21 feet closer to the tree line, though only one tree will be taken down. The EV transformer will supply electricity on two different meters for Doherty’s and the public, which will have access to two new charging stations in the adjacent dirt commuter lot.
The Lincoln Garden Club’s plants in the area were removed but will be replaced, and there will be new plantings on the Lincoln Road side of the property to partially screen the school buses from view. The Planning Board approved the addition on October 28.
“It’s going to be a huge improvement. Right now it looks like a junkyard. The site needs to be cleaned up,” said Paula Vaughn-Mackenzie, director of planning and land use.
Board members asked why the buses need to be charged and parked full-time at that location rather than at the Lincoln School or the DPW on nearby Lewis Street where they’re now stored. Scott Rodman of the Green Energy Committee, who has been working with property owner Mike Callender and Highland Electric Fleets, replied that the school had neither access to enough power nor space to park the buses with sufficient turnaround room — “much to my chagrin, because I thought was perfect place for them, too,” Rodman said. “I tried everything humanly possible.”
The buses also can’t be parked behind the garage building because it’s too close to wetlands. As for the DPW, the town expects to rebuild the site at some point, and when that happens, there won’t be room for the buses there either. It wouldn’t make fiscal sense to install the EV chargers there and then later tear them out and reinstall them elsewhere, Rodman said. “These chargers are very expensive — you can’t do it as a sort of temporary thing.”
A 2019 town study said that the DPW would have to be replaced at what was then an estimated cost of $15 million. Consultants looked at several alternate sites in town and concluded that the current Lewis Street was the most suitable.
For now, Doherty’s will keep some of its diesel buses as backups and for use on field trips and longer athletic trips; eventually they will be phased out, Callender said. He asked the board to approve the plan right away to qualify for grant funding. The project needs to be up and running by January 1, 2026; “otherwise, several million dollars in federal and state funds may go elsewhere, and given the political climate, may not return,” he added.
Doherty’s and the school agreed earlier this year to amend their contract to allow introduction of the new buses, and the change will not cost the schools or town any additional money.
Though everyone agreed that electric school buses are a good idea though not without some grumbling about the fact that the application was submitted as a “minor change” to the property’s site plan.This meant that a public hearing was not required and some board members found out about the proposal rather late in the game, though Reid McIntire, project manager at Highland Electric Fleets, said they’d been working on the plan since April.
“I’m shocked that we just found out about this — you’re putting a gun to our head,” said board member Rob Ahlert. “I feel like it came out of nowhere, though maybe it’s all good.”
“On principle, I believe this is a major modification, but I also believe that this project needs to move forward,” said board member Susan Hall Mygatt, who urged the board to have a future discussion of what exactly constitutes “major” and “minor” changes to site plans. Ultimately, though, members unanimously approved the “minor change” designation and the project itself.
“This is a real chance to do something that would be unusual for a town as small as Lincoln,” board member Gary Taylor said.
The Carroll School’s existing Wayland campus (top) and proposed expansion. Click image to enlarge.
At the October 20 Select Board meeting, Carroll School officials presented plans and heard concerns about traffic relating to a proposal to expand their Wayland campus close to the Lincoln town line on Old Sudbury Road.
The Wayland campus of the Carroll School, a private school for students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities, serves about 50 students in grades 8–9, though grade 8 is split with Baker Bridge Road campus, which is also home to grades 6–7. Grades 1–5 are on Trapelo Road in Waltham just over the Cambridge Reservoir causeway from Lincoln. If the expansion is approved by Wayland, that campus will add more students gradually, with the goal of serving 250 students after three to four years.
School officials told the Selects that the new traffic pattern would be modeled on that of the Lincoln campus, which does not cause backups on Baker Bridge Road. They also said they would maintain the existing setback as well as trees and shrubs that provide screening.
A traffic study that the school submitted along with other documents to the Wayland Planning Board says the number of car trips would eventually increase by more than 900 (about 450 each way) on school days. The expansion will not result in added congestion at the intersection of Old Sudbury Road and Route 117, Ken Cram of traffic consultant Fuss & O’Neill told the board.
But in an October 6 letter to the Select Board, residents of 18 homes on Longmeadow, Old Sudbury, and Linway Roads expressed fears about neighborhood traffic and said the town should enter into an intermunicipal agreement with Wayland on a binding traffic management plan. They also asked for:
“It is not reasonable to place the burdens of fundamental changes to the neighborhood’s character, aesthetics and safety on the broader community,” they wrote. “The Carroll School’s praiseworthy mission does not provide entitlement to have such a disproportionate and negative impact on the community.”
When the Wayland campus was first proposed in 2016, “it was described as being for 40 students. We never really envisioned something like this,” Longmeadow Road resident Colin Sullivan said at the Select Board meeting.”There is a feeling of breach of trust.”
“We’re not going to feel safe with the little children on our streets,” said Gina Arons, also of Longmeadow Road. “We don’t want to be [back] here after somebody gets hurt.”
17 Long Meadow Road — David C. Brush to Eli B. Cutler and Tania S. Benjamin for $1,700,000 (August 28)
276 Cambridge Turnpike — Thomas J. Aprille Jr. to Henry Donham for $705,000 (August 26)
17 Storey Drive — Lee A. O’Brien to Joshua M. and Allyson H. Joseph for $2,224,000 (August 26)
141 Old County Road — Charles E. Sizer to David Sozanski for $1,300,000 (August 22)
8 Old Winter Street — Owen Beenhouwer Trust to Margarita Rabinovich and Michael Harradon for $1,460,000 (August 15)
6 Stratford Way — Gregory H. Salvucci Trust to Haihua Feng and Ying Xu for $2,950,000 (August 12)
104 Tower Road — Albion P. Bjork Trust to Samuel Simmer for $1,250,000 (August 13)
Carroll School’s property in Wayland. The Lincoln/Wayland town line is shown n dark red. (Click image to enlarge)
Lincoln officials are closely monitoring plans by the Carroll School to significantly expand its site in Wayland abutting the Lincoln town line and has invited the school to the board’s next meeting on October 20.
The biggest worry for Lincoln is an increase in traffic at a campus on Waltham Road (which becomes Old Sudbury Road in Lincoln) that would eventually be able to accommodate five times the number of students it now does, if current plans are approved. A traffic study the school submitted along with other documents to the Wayland Planning Board says the number of car trips would increase by more than 900 (about 450 each way) on school days.
“It appears to us that the traffic study didn’t extend into Lincoln,” which risks having traffic queues at pickup and dropoff times, Town Administrator Tim Higgins said at the October 6 Select Board meeting. The board has invited leadership team to its next meeting on October 20 to discuss its proposal.
“Given the potential impacts on Lincoln’s adjoining roadways to include Old Sudbury Road, Linway Road, and Longmeadow Road, it would seem sensible to coordinate traffic mitigation strategies,” Higgins wrote in an email on October 7 to Wayland Town Planner Robert Hummel
“I anticipate that we will be submitting initial reactions and suggestions for your consideration shortly after our meeting with the school.”
The Wayland Planning Board will hold a hybrid public hearing on the proposal on October 15, which is expected to continue on October 29 and perhaps November 12.
The Plaut property on Old Winter Street.
The Planning Board on September 23 gave the go-ahead for owners of an Old Winter Street property to use blasting to dig a utilities trench through rocky underground ledge. The owners, Timothy and Madeleine Plaut, sought permission for the alternative method after neighbors complained about weeks of noise from rock drilling and hammering.
Neighbors within 500 feet of the blasting area accepted an offer to have pre-blasting surveys done on their property so they could have evidence of previous conditions in case the blasting caused cracks. Maine Drilling & Blasting assured them and the board that any damage was highly unlikely but promised to pay for repairs if necessary. This mollified neighbors including Tim Christenfeld, who said, “I would whole-heartedly encourage” the board to give approval.
The company expects to do two “shots” of blasting per day over a period of five to seven work days.
The board also OK’d other changes to the plan they originally approved in May, including exteriors lights that comply with the town’s “dark skies” rules that were approved in 2016, as well as a larger driveway turnaround for fire trucks and a relocated septic field that’s necessary because of poor soil conditions in the original location