land use

After much debate about whether a zoning bylaw can mandate behavior (specifically, requiring people to turn off outdoor lights after 10:00pm), the Dark Skies Subcommittee of the Planning Board finalized a draft of a bylaw amendment that would put more controls on outdoor lighting for new and substantially renovated buildings.

The board debated the matter at its March 10 meeting but postponed a vote on whether to endorse the measure until its next meeting on March 24. Residents will vote on the issue at Town Meeting on March 29.

The proposal is essentially identical to the March 4 version outlined in a March 8 Lincoln Squirrel article (“Dark Skies group tries again for limits on new outdoor lighting”) except for two added definitions and a wording change to make it clear that the requirement to turn off outside lights after 10:00pm applies only to lights at new or substantially renovated homes and not to new or replacement fixtures on existing homes.

The former condition would apply when exterior lighting after 10:00pm is not associated with an “active use,” meaning when lighting is required for ongoing or expected activity such as a planned arrival to a residence, unless otherwise approved by the Planning Board through site plan review or special permit.

The earlier time restriction would have applied to existing homes as well — something that Planning Board Co-chair Lynn DeLisi said she had a “philosophical objection” to. “I just don’t think this belongs in a zoning bylaw,” she said. However, the issue may come up again if the subcommittee proposes a future amendment to the town’s general bylaw, which does include behavior-based restrictions on things like use of gas-powered leaf blowers and noise in general.

Sherry Haydock, co-chair of the Dark Skies Subcommittee, said that the complaint they heard most often was “light trespass,” or bright lights shining onto someone’s property from a neighbor’s house.

“All these complaints are not going to be solved by this bylaw,” since the new rules would not apply to existing lighting, DeLisi remarked.

“That is true,” responded Haydock, acknowledging that “we can’t change those lights but we hope to change behavior through educational materials, public forums, mailings, and friendly letters” to owners of homes who are the subject of neighbor complaints. The caller from the subcommittee would explain the environmental harm done by excessively bright, misdirected, or all-night lighting. The hope is that those residents will voluntarily change to Dark Skies-compliant fixtures or at least install motion detectors or timers.

Some of that educational material is now available via the Dark Skies survey, which includes illustrations of bad lighting practices, lightbulb color temperatures, etc., and the group’s Jan. 12 Select Board presentation.

The Planning Board’s Dark Skies Subcommittee has drawn up amended zoning regulations for exterior lighting fixtures for new construction, and the issue will be on the agenda at two meetings this week: the Select Board on Monday, March 9, and a Planning Board public hearing on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:15pm.

The subcommittee has been trying since “dark skies” rules were first enacted in Lincoln in 2004 to update the regulations on outdoor lighting, which can be harmful to insects and wildlife (see their Jan. 12 Select Board presentation). An amendment proposed at Town Meeting in 2015 was hotly debated but ultimately went down to defeat. In 2025, the group drafted zoning and general bylaw amendments and initially got on the warrant for Town Meeting using citizens’ petitions but ultimately withdrew the items. This year, they had hoped to extend the rules to existing lighting but backed off at the suggestion of the Planning Board and Select Board.

“There’s often a misconception that this is making people have to makes changes in their current residence, and that is not the case,” said Sherry Haydock, co-chair of the subcommittee. If approved, the new rules will apply only to new and substantially renovated homes, though they will also apply to replacement fixtures (not just bulbs) on existing homes.

Members were also hoping to have new rules for streetlights and town-owned buildings, but those, too, will wait for another day. The two boards “really wanted us to do this in multiple stages,” Haydock said.

The 2004 bylaw says that outdoor lighting fixtures on new homes must be fully shielded light fixtures and have a color temperature of 3,000°K or below. The revisions that residents will vote on at Town Meeting on March 29 call for:

• A color temperature upper limit of 2,700°K (lower figures correspond to the orange end of the color spectrum, with bluer and whiter lights having higher color temperatures)
• Brightness limits of 450 lumens for walkway luminaires (lighting assembly consisting of a lamp/bulb, housing, etc.) and 900 lumens for all other exterior luminaires.
• Shielding that causes no direct light to be emitted above a horizontal plane of the lowest light-emitting part of the fixture
• Limits on “light trespass” onto environmentally sensitive areas and neighboring properties
• Time restrictions: lights must be “turned off when a property or use is not actively occupied or in operation” between 10:00pm and sunrise for private homes, and for non-residential properties, within one hour after the close of business or the end of the activity or use for which the lighting is provided. In both cases, motion-activated lights that conform to the other rules are acceptable.
• A detailed exterior lighting plan as part of construction proposals submitted to the Planning Board

The proposed regulations would exempt:

• Emergency lighting used emergency responders
• Temporary lighting used for construction, maintenance, repair, or special events for up to 30 days
• Temporary holiday lighting
• Lighting required by federal or state law
• American flag illumination
• Recreational and athletic field lighting (subject to Planning Board review)
• Streetlights on public ways

The next step for the Dark Skies group will be working to manage lighting used on streetlights and public buildings. Streetlights have become more of a problem since 2012, when the town got a grant to update all of its streetlights with energy-efficient LED bulbs. However, the new bulbs are brighter than the old ones, and they were installed on many streetlights that weren’t working at the time.

Officials were unwilling to see new rules at this pot that would cost the town money needed to change public building lights and streetlights, though they agreed to hire a lighting consultant to examine this issue. Ideally, the town should “consider turning off the streetlights that don’t serve a purpose or seeing if they can dim them or change the color temperature, but that might need to be done of a street-by-street basis,” Haydock said.

The Dark Skies subcommittee has also published a summary document about the issue as well as an online survey to gauge residents’ knowledge about lighting rules and their feelings about restrictions. “We’re trying to ascertain is what is it people don’t know,” Haydock said. For example, “there’s no scientific data showing that leaving lights on improves security;” motion-activated lights are actually more effective, she said.

The group’s other immediate focus is education about “the importance of dark skies on the hope that people will voluntarily turn off their lights or lower the intensity,” Haydock said. there will also be a system in place where residents who feel that a neighbor’s outdoor lighting is excessive can contact a subcommittee member and have educational materials sent to the neighbor.

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.

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:

• A prohibition on using Longmeadow Road for pass-through access to Waltham Road, which they said now occurs. 
• Construction of a sidewalk along Waltham Road at the school’s expense.
• Incremental annual step-ups in faculty and students using the Wayland campus over a period of seven years, with annual increases subject to traffic review by both Wayland and Lincoln.

“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)