land use

By Alice Waugh

A proposal to rezone part of South Lincoln met with opposition last week as residents worried about ceding too much control to the Planning Board for building projects in that area.

More than 60 residents packed the Town Hall conference room for the second public forum on the rezoning proposals, which was hosted by a subcommittee of the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee (SLPIC). The group has been working with an outside consultant in drafting changes to the zoning bylaw to encourage a more dynamic “village center” around the train station with a greater variety of businesses and housing. This would result in a larger commercial tax base as well as options to stay in Lincoln for older residents and others in smaller households who are looking to downsize. 

The proposal builds on recommendations of several planning studies done in the past 20 years, including the 2009 Comprehensive Plan.

As outlined in the forum last May and the State of the Town meeting in November, the proposal would create a new South Lincoln Village District consisting of two subdistricts: Village Business, which emphasizes commercial or mixed use, and Village Residential, which provides a variety of housing options close to transit and retail amenities. That area would also allow buildings up to three and a half stories if they’re farther back from Lincoln Road.

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• See the slide presentation from the February 5 forum

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Units that combine living and working space for a yoga studio, artist, architect, or designer, or bed and breakfast would be allowed in the entire village district, while uses such as an artisan bakery or a microbrewery would be allowed in the business district. 

Under the proposal, projects that have up to six units per acre and no more than 25% lot coverage would require only a site plan review by the Planning Board. “Lot coverage” takes height into account, so if a building’s footprint occupies 15% of the lot’s square footage but has two stories, it would have 30% lot coverage.

These criteria are still quite restrictive, however — “that’s not going to get anyone’s juices flowing,” Planning Board chair Margaret Olson said at the February 5 forum. The expectation is that developers would prefer more density, which would require them to apply for a special permit as well as the site plan review. With a special permit, projects could be up to 20 units per acre and have a greater maximum lot coverage (60% for residential and 100% for business). The developer would also have to include “density bonuses” such as outdoor play areas or gardens, sidewalks and seating, and at least 10% of the housing would have to qualify as moderate income.

Getting a special permit would require a public hearing, notices to abutters, traffic and environmental analyses, input from other town boards, and other conditions. However, Town Meeting approval would not be required unless a proposed project exceeds the special-permit density. 

Recently added to the rezoning proposal is a circuit-breaker provision that limits the total number of residential units that can be created at Lincoln Station over time. Once that number is reached, the hurdles become steeper for developers, and Town Meeting could also amend the cap at any time.

Town Meeting discourages developers

For developers today, the Town Meeting process is “lengthy, costly, and unpredictable,” so many potential applicants in Lincoln simply go elsewhere, said Olsen. The town would be better served by a rigorous Planning Board review using new regulations and guidelines, which includes a series of back-and-forth discussions with the developer, she added. This is “poorly suited to the Town Meeting process, and frankly, if you want to lean on a developer, it helps to have had practice.” The result would be a more comprehensive, predictable and efficient process for permitting, according to an FAQ sheet created by SLPIC.

Another stumbling block for existing South Lincoln businesses is that many do not meet current zoning, and, as a result, require a special permit to operate. Special permits can require renewals if there is a change in tenant or for any improvement to the building.

“Building owners stated that such uncertainty in the permitting process made it difficult to find suitable tenants because small local businesses or their lenders would not expend time and up-front money with the risk that permits might not be issued. Consequently, some existing businesses are not making improvements to their properties due to the current permitting process,” the FAQ sheet says. 

Additionally, under current rules, any modification to the mall other than minor changes must be approved by a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting. The mall and restaurant/post office building are owned by the Rural Land Foundation and sit in the South Lincoln Overlay Zone.

“With Town Meeting, there’s no rules… [Developers] have very little idea of whether [the project] met the town’s expectations,” Olson said. “If we want to achieve the goals of 20 years of master planning, we need a set of rules we can communicate about what is and is not acceptable in our town.”

A few residents at the forum spoke in favor of the rezoning proposal. “There are needs for more housing and more diverse economic availability for people. I’m concerned that my children won’t be able to live in a generational town or afford to retire here,” said C.J. Doherty, a Lincoln resident who co-owns the Twisted Tree Cafe. “As a business owner, having more people living around my business would certainly help. We need businesses to make a town. Change is painful and disruptive, but I don’t think it should preclude us from even considering it.”

Potential applicants in the past have asked if they would have to go to Town Meeting for a specific project, and when they learn they do, “that ends the conversation,” said Allen Vander Meulen, a member of the Housing Commission.

At a Town Meeting, “there are maybe 200 people who actually know anything about the particular question. [Other attendees] haven’t researched it. They just vote a straight yes or no on housing or school funding or whatever,” resident Paul Rice said. “My faith is in the [Planning] board, and if we’re putting the wrong people on the board, that’s a whole different question.”

Voice in opposition

But others protested what they saw as taking voting power away from residents and giving too much power to the Planning Board.

“Town Meeting is the ultimate arbiter of our town collectively, not just one five-person committee,” Peter Braun said. Under the rezoning proposal, “all we have is a ‘trust us’ kind of dimension to it. This is radical change in how we’re governing ourselves.”

“If we allow Town Meeting to keep having the final say on every single project, there will be no projects,” Olson said.

“If it’s the right project, it will pass,” replied Braun, noting that voters approved The Commons in Lincoln and Oriole Landing (albeit with the help of a $1 million grant from the Housing Commission for the latter).

Others said SLPIC has not gathered enough input from renters and homeowners in the areas that would be subject to rezoning, and that they do not have a representative on its planning and zoning subcommittee. Olson said that the Planning Board will consult town counsel about the legality of opening up more seats.

“Any steps in being less transparent as citizens as a town is the wrong direction. Part of what I love about Lincoln is having Town Meeting and having that say,” said Greenridge Lane resident Lisa Parker.

Along with official handouts at the forum were flyers produced by United Residents for Responsible Redevelopment touting its website, StrongSouthLincoln.com, that argues against the rezoning proposal. One member of the coalition, Jessica Packineau, said after the meeting that she supports mixed-use redevelopment, especially for the mall. 

“I think there are strategic ways to do it,” said Packineau, who lives at 148 Lincoln Rd. behind St. Joseph’s Church. “I love the goals of increasing [train] ridership and I think attention to parking is critical, but we should look at it holistically across the town. There are a lot of tweaks we could make to the zoning code that would advantage homeowners in what they could do to create more value on their lots.”

If the current proposal were to be enacted, “it could have been very lucrative for us,” Packineau added, noting that her property would be eligible for denser development. “I’m not being Nimby about it — I think it’s just wrong philosophically and politically.”

The rezoning proposal was originally slated for a Town Meeting vote next month, but officials didn’t complete all of their impact analysis in time, Olson said, so the vote will be postponed until a Special Town Meeting next fall. One of the provisions that might change is the 20-units-per-acre maximum that would be allowed with a special permit but not a Town Meeting, she said.

Should Lincoln try to ease the burden on taxpayers with a shift in property tax policy, and/or encouraging more commercial and housing development in South Lincoln? Residents got a chance at last week’s State of the Town meeting to discuss both ideas, and will likely have a chance to vote on then in the spring.

In the wake of the big tax increase resulting from the school project, the Property Tax Committee has been studying two ideas to help reduce the strain for some Lincoln homeowners: a local version of the existing state circuit-breaker program, and a residential tax exemption. Both ideas were also discussed at a public forum last month.

A circuit-breaker program would limit the percentage of income a homeowner would have to pay in property taxes based on their income, assets, length of time in town (10+ years), and age (65+). Funding would come from a small across-the-board tax rate increase. A residential tax exemption would exempt a certain percentage of the value of everyone’s property, meaning that the tax burden would shift toward those with higher-valued homes to benefit those with homes at the lower end of the range.

Under the local circuit-breaker scenario, “everyone pays a little bit more in order to provide significant benefits to those with identified need,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said at the November 2 town-wide meeting. Homeowners in Sudbury, which has a program like this, have seen an average increase of about $73 a year as a result, she added.

Glass acknowledged that some residents are unhappy with the idea of another tax hike for some property owners so soon after the big increase, seeing it as a “bait and switch” move. The median tax bill in fiscal 2020 rose by 12.7%, and the tax rate went up from $14.03 to $15.36 per $1,000 of assessed property. Of that new total, $1.95 is earmarked for the school project, she said.

Neither idea will be implemented without a town-wide vote; “it’s too big a policy decision to make without consulting the town,” Glass said, urging residents to fill out a short survey to express their opinions.

Residents at the October 15 forum were open to the circuit-breaker idea but mostly negative about a residential tax exemption. Sentiment was much the same for the few residents who spoke last Saturday.

“A residential exemption would have been a great discussion three years ago and might have factored into the decision-making process” about the school, former Finance Committee member Peyton Marshall said. “Now we’re encountering buyer’s remorse [when] people who didn’t show up in December opened their tax bill.” As a result, the town is in a “period of disequilibrium” when some are thinking of selling their homes either soon, or after the school project is finished.

“We should consider all this in three to five years after people have made their housing decisions… It’s really explosive” to discuss it now, Marshall said.

South Lincoln zoning

In an effort to make Lincoln more attractive to residents and businesses and perhaps boost the tax base, rezoning part of South Lincoln around the commuter rail station was also discussed at an earlier public forum.

At the State of the Town meeting, Planning Board members presented the proposal to replace the B-1 and B-2 districts in South Lincoln and create a new South Lincoln Village District zone with two subareas: Village Business and Village Residential (VB and VR). Handouts included a draft of bylaw language (created with the help of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council) that will be up for a vote at the Annual Town Meeting in March 2020.

In both subareas, the proposal would allow (by special permit) multifamily housing, with a “density bonus” in return for amenities and affordable housing. It would also expand the parameters of projects that would be allowed by right, and would set out design guidelines for the Planning Board to apply when evaluating projects. Mixed-use buildings could be up to 2.5 floors high along Lincoln Road, with residential structures up to three floors father back from the road.

A recently completed mixed-use project in West Concord is “something on the order of what we want to see,” Taylor said. That project includes 74 housing units and 36,000 square feet of commercial space, and is located very close to the commuter rail station, village center, and rail trails.

The rezoning proposals come from a subcommittee of the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee. As detailed in this presentation by Planning Board chair Margaret Olson, SLPIC’s goals include promoting the area as a vibrant public gathering place; encouraging business and professional services; offering a broader range of housing options; and supporting more sustainable transportation through MBTA station improvements, better parking, and regional shuttle services.

Former board member Robert Domnitz worried that the changes won’t get Town Meeting approval if residents didn’t retain veto power over individual projects. However, the current path for getting town go-ahead is “a very cumbersome process that makes development a lot harder,” said board member Gary Taylor.

“It’s clear what we’re asking you to do is place some confidence in the Planning Board. It’s a more streamlined process and that’s intentional,” Taylor said. “It’s very difficult to shape projects on the floor of Town Meeting.”

One of the goals is to make South Lincoln more attractive as a place to shop for Lincoln residents and others who already drive through town without stopping, while also encouraging everyone to use the commuter rail and underground parking. However, some residents said there will be more cars and traffic in the area if more housing is available, regardless of whether the commuter rail is more heavily used.

“We’re not lowering traffic in the sense of absolute numbers, but there will be less traffic impact going forward than there would be otherwise,” Taylor responded.

Resident Sarah Mattes urged officials to expand and publicize the commuter parking that’s already available before considering “drastic zoning changes.” Others questioned where there was real demand for more commercial and transportation services in South Lincoln from residents who already live there.