The Lincoln Squirrel

News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

land use

Corrections

  • The agenda for the October 20 State of the Town meeting posted in the Squirrel on October 9 was incorrect. Here is the correct agenda for the meting, which will take place in Brooks auditorium from 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.:
    • Campus building projects (10:30–11 a.m.)
    • South Lincoln planning (11–11:30 a.m.)
    • deCordova bylaws (11:30a.m.–noon)
    • Open forum (12–12:30 p.m.)
    • Post-meeting table session (12:45–1:15 p.m.)
  • A photo caption in the October 10 story headlined “Sales of dolls, antiques providing big share of MCC budget” was initially incorrect; the second person in the photo is Erica Gonella, the MCC’s treasurer and director of annual giving.

Both posts have bene updated to reflect these corrections.

Town Meeting and election information

(Editor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect the corrected agenda for the State of the Town meeting.)

Special Town Meeting and State of the Town

On Saturday, Oct. 20, there will be a Special Town Meeting vote on the status of marijuana businesses in Lincoln starting at 9 a.m., immediately followed by the State of the Town meeting at 10:30. During the Town Meeting, residents will be asked to vote to:

  • Extending the current town moratorium on marijuana-related businesses from Nov. 30, 2018 to June 1, 2019.
  • Amending the zoning bylaw to prohibit all marijuana establishments (retail, cultivation, testing, research, product manufacturing, etc.).

Click here for the warrant. Previous Lincoln Squirrel articles: 

State of the Town

There will be no votes at the State of the Town portion of the morning, but officials will present updates on the following:

  • Campus building projects (10:30–11 a.m.)
  • South Lincoln planning (11–11:30 a.m.)
  • deCordova bylaws (11:30a.m.–noon)
  • Open forum (12–12:30 p.m.)
  • Post-meeting table session (12:45–1:15 p.m.)

Early voting hours set

Early voting for the November 6 election will be offered in the Town Clerk’s office from Monday, Oct. 22–Friday, Nov. 2. Hours:

8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 23 and 30, and Thursdays, Oct. 25 and Nov. 1

9 a.m.–3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Voting on Election Day takes place in the Smith gym from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone who has not registered for the election must do so by Wednesday, Oct 17. Click here for a specimen ballot.

Property sales in August

14 Oak Meadow Rd. — Theofanie Mela to Mohammed Movassaghi for $959,000 (August 31)

265 South Great Rd. — Edmund Neuhaus to Alexander Tallett for $640,000 (August 31)

138 Tower Rd. — Blair Galinsky to Theofanie Mela for $886,500 (August 31)

0 baker Farm Rd, — John Adama Trust to Walden Woods Project for $100,000 (August 17)

25 Page Rd. — John Braasch tp Kennth Bassett and Mary Lorenz for $1,050,000 (August 15)

202 Concord Rd. — Tamas Oravecz to James and Li Kent for$1,080,000 (August 13)

62 Beaver Pond Rd. — Linda Menkis to Tamer Khafagy for $1,100,000 ((August 9)

35 Sandy Pond Rd. — John Veague to Richard and Christine Chesworth for $1,885,000 (August 3)

 

 

Public hearings coming up

Planning Board

There will be a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. on two proposed changes to the zoning bylaws relating to marijuana businesses in Lincoln. Residents will be asked to vote on the measures at a Special Town Meeting on October 20.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board of the Appeals will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. to hear and to act on the following petitions:

  • Myra Ferguson, 14 Baker Bridge Rd., for transfer of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • Richard Hermann, 25 Bypass Rd., for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • Alex MacLean, 23 Conant Rd., for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.

Hearing focuses on marijuana businesses in town

The Planning Board will be conducting a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at Town Offices for the purpose of reviewing two marijuana-related bylaw proposals that will be voted on during a Special Town Meeting on October 20.

The first of the two bylaws proposes to extend the existing recreational marijuana moratorium from November of this year until June 2019, to provide the town with more time to complete public education and outreach, to develop alternative bylaw proposals and to schedule the required town meetings and election.

The second bylaw asks the town to consider enacting a ban on all forms of commercial recreational marijuana, including cultivation, retail sales, manufacturing, and testing. This requires a two-thirds majority to pass. The vote on the proposed full ban will occur first because:

  • The results of a town-wide survey last spring indicate that a strong majority favors a full ban.
  • In the event the full ban fails to achieve the required two-thirds majority, we will have time to prepare partial ban alternative bylaws for a vote in March.
  • A total ban could be reversed by a future vote of Town Meeting.
  • Operating under a full ban would provide time to learn from the experience of other communities.

Before voting on the full ban during the October 20 Special Town Meeting, voters will hear a presentation from the Marijuana Study Committee that explains the law and the pros and cons of the various options.

Officials urge interested citizens to attend the public hearing to hear a presentation from the Selectmen’s Marijuana Study Committee. Also on the group’s website is an FAQ document and a link to the video of an April 2018 public forum on the issue of marijuana businesses.

Property sales in July

  • 9 Stratford Way — Neil H. Aronson trust to Demetri and Marie Pascale Sideras for $1,870,000 (July 31)
  • 270 Lincoln Rd. — Andre Coleman to Pierre-Guy Douyon and Celine Yang for $750,000 (July 30)
  • 9 Birchwood Lane — Roger Stoddard to John and Catherine Crabtree for $630,000 (July 20)
  • 243 Aspen Circle — Robert H. Curtiss Trust to Mitchell G. Eckel III Trust for $579,000 (July 19)
  • 10 Sweet Bay Lane — Kristina Ryan to Michael Chang and Joanne Lyons for $1,900,000 (July 19)
  • 8 Sweet Bay Lane — Kristina Ryan to Michael Chang and Joanne Lyons for $575,000 (July 19)
  • 24 Old Sudbury Rd. — Lawrence Kroin Trust to Tristan Rooks for $1,000,000 (July 18)
  • 233 Concord Rd. — Lynn B. Weigel Trust to 233 Concord Road LLC for $662,500 (July 17)
  • 23 Brooks Rd. — Massimo Grasso to Anasuya Mitra for $928,000 (July 17)
  • 1 Cedar Rd. — Timothy Callahan to Adela and Kimberly Palencia and Adam Doffini for $580,000 (July 16)
  • 27 Tabor Hill Rd. and Old County Rd. — William C. Carey to Christopher and Asako Csendes for a total of $2,447,500 (July 16)
  • 11 Stratford Way — Ian Blumenstein to Walter McCarty for $1,950,000 (July 16)
  • 0 Weston Rd. and 75 Weston Rd. — George Hibben to Reuven and Orli Klier Avi-Yonah for $1,450,000 (July 11)
  • 44 Greenridge Lane — Joan Platt Dolinsky to Timothy Brunelle for $455,000 (July 10)
  • 17 Giles Rd. — Robert S. Orgel Trust to Diana Jong for $1,350,000 (July 10)
  • 10 Linway Rd. — George A. Coleman Trust to Andrew and Sandra Coleman for $900,000 (July 9)
  • 32 Greenrridge Lane — Johannes Perkins to Elizabeth Slater for $494,000 (July 2)
  • 4 Morningside Lane — Anne Marie Rose Previte Trust to Heather Sheridan and Phyllis Wampler for $990,000 (July 2)

Public hearings coming up

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Aug. 2 at 7:30 p.m. to hear and to act on the following petitions:

  • John Briedis, 27 Canaan Drive, for renewal of an accessory apartment special permit.
  • Shu Chen, 117 Lincoln Rd., for transfer and renewal of an accessory apartment special permit.
  • Center for Dental Medicine and Reconstructions/Cambridge West 2 LLC, 152 Lincoln Rd., for special permit for change of tenant and use.
  • Apolinaras Sinkevicius, 124 Tower Rd., for a special permit to add a raised wooden deck and add a new room above the garage.
  • Neil B. Middleton, 45 Weston Rd., for a special permit to install a new higher-pitched roof, add exterior insulation to walls, and install a new entry canopy.

Historical Commission

The Lincoln Historical Commission will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7 to consider the following applications:

  • James Dwyer, to demolish the existing structure at 233 Concord Rd. 
  • Christopher Eliot and Patricia Stuart, to demolish the existing attached garage at 124 Bedford Rd.

Special Town Meeting vote on marijuana businesses planned

The town will schedule a Special Town Meeting this fall to vote on extending the current moratorium on recreational marijuana businesses in Lincoln and whether to seek a full ban on such businesses.

Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2016, but individual cities and towns can choose to opt out of marijuana growing, processing, testing or retail businesses. Lincoln narrowly voted to legalize recreational marijuana in the state election in 2016; as a result, any future partial or full ban in Lincoln must be approved by a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting and by a simple majority at a later ballot vote.

In March 2017, Lincolnites approved a temporary moratorium on cannabis businesses while residents decided on a permanent course of action. That moratorium is set to expire on November 20, but the town has the option of extending it for a limited period of time. This fall’s Town Meeting vote will seek to extend it until June 30, 2019.

At the fall vote, residents will also be asked if they want to institute a full ban on all cannabis businesses. If two-thirds say yes, the town will seek to affirm that vote at the ballot box after the spring 2019 Annual Town Meeting. “We’re fairly close to two-thirds now in terms of support for a full ban,” Selectman James Craig noted at the board’s June 19 meeting, referring to results of a town-wide survey mailed to residents in April.

If the two-thirds bar isn’t met, the Marijuana Study Committee will seek more feedback with another survey “so we can really drill down on what appetite the town has for commercial development ore retails sales” of cannabis products, Craig said. The Planning Board would then draw up proposed zoning amendments to regulate businesses and would bring them to a Town Meeting vote in spring 2019.

If the town does nothing, the state could begin issuing licenses to marijuana-based establishments in Lincoln once the moratorium has expired, as noted in the FAQ document posted by the committee in April.

Selectmen emphasized that any town-wide action on cannabis businesses will not affect the personal rights granted under the 2016 statewide legalization of recreational marijuana. Under the new law, Massachusetts residents 21 and older may use, grow and possess marijuana products. Individuals may possess under 10 ounces of marijuana inside their homes and under one ounce in public, as well as grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes (or 12 plants in households with two adults). Public consumption and driving under the influence of marijauan remain illegal.

There will be another public forum on marijuana businesses in Lincoln in October. “We want to make sure people understand what they’re voting on” at the Special Town Meeting later in the fall, Craig said.

Property sales in June

82 Virginia Rd. #B411 — Debra Taylor to Carol Bickford for $420,000 (June 29)

5A South Commons — Ronald Golay to Kathleen Sullivan for $460,000 (June 26)

17 Stonehedge — Henry Cretella to Joseph Soucy and Norana Cavanao for $1,315,000 (June 26)

3 Smith Hill — Gita Srinivastava to Piyush and Gari Srinivastava for $1,150,000 (June 26)

84 Davison Drive — Belinda Gingrich Trust to Xiaoran Fu and John Carr for $1,492,500 (June 22)

102 Lincoln Rd. — Steven Tanabe to Ephraim Lessell for $590,000 (June 22)

97 Lincoln Rd. — Susan Jones to Timothy Clark and Kate Johnsen for $1,400,000 (June 22)

10 Twin Pond Lane — Roger Cody to Antje and Sebastian Barreveld for $2,288,000 (June 21)

12 Hiddenwood Path — Carolyn L. Buckler Trust for Elana McDermott and Michael DiGiando for $865,000 (June 18) 

7 Linway Rd. — Herman Michael Tannert Trust to Jonathan and Elizabeth Everitt for $885,000 (June 18)

55 Old Bedford Rd. — FFMS Lincoln North LLC to RCS-Bedford (DM) (Parks IDE) LLC c/0 Arsenault Holdings LLC for $19,550,000 (June 15)

# Goose Pond Rd. — Patricia Gray to Robert and Anne McGarr for $1,285,000 (June 13)

 

 

Property sales in May

79 Lincoln Rd. — Elizabeth Levey Trust to Winthrop Estates LLC for $1,535,625 (May 30)

117 Lincoln Rd. — Creighton Alexander to Chen Shu for $1,139,000 (May 29)

256 Lincoln Rd. — Joseph Boyce to Alexandra McLean and Padraic O’Reilly for $1,290,000 (May 23)

11 Lexington Rd. — Zeis Lincoln One LLC to Katherine and Brian Coverdale for $2,700,000 (May 18)

5 Stonehedge — William C. Mason Trust to Manoj and Kiran Manandhar for $729,900 ( May 18)

5 Hawk Hill Rd. — Deutsche Bank National Trust to David Knoerr for $624,000 (May 17)

72 Winter St. — Aliza Wheeler to Edward and Mary Ann Babrich for $1,300,000 (May 3)