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land use

Letter to the editor: ConComm supports Wang project

letter

To the editor:

Over the past several weeks, the Conservation Commission has received several questions about the 100 Bedford Road project (also referred to as the Wang project), which will be going before Town Meeting on March 25. The Parks and Recreation commission has put together an excellent video describing the proposal, which has two major components:

  1. The creation of an athletic field
  2. Placing 7.1 acres of land into conservation protection

There is a third aspect of the proposal related to a solar power installation that will also be presented at Town Meeting. The purpose of this letter is to explain the decisions made by the Conservation Commission regarding the proposed solar project and the processes taken that informed those decisions. The Conservation Commission strongly supports the 100 Bedford Road project and believes it represents a major benefit to conservation efforts in the Town and to the Town as a whole.

The Conservation Commission strongly supports solar energy, and the state is a proponent of using town landfills to provide solar energy. The Green Energy Committee has done extensive work in identifying potential solar sites in town and concluded that the landfill is the optimal site for a significant photovoltaic installation. At the 1995 Town Meeting, the Town voted to “permanently dedicate and restrict exclusively for active and passive recreation and open space uses, consistent with and subject to the mandate and protections of Article 97 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts… the “Landfill Parcel.”

Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution grants “people the right to a clean environment and authoriz[ed] the Commonwealth to acquire conservation easements. Article 97 was intended to be a legislative ‘check’ to ensure that lands acquired for conservation purposes were not converted to other inconsistent uses.”

It is extraordinarily difficult to remove land from Article 97 protection, and to ensure that such removal is rare and to good purpose, the state has defined a rigorous series of steps that must be taken to effect removal. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) Article 97 Land Disposition Policy, commonly referred to as the “No Net Loss of Conservation Land Policy,” requires that the several steps be taken to effect removal of a parcel from Article 97 protection, including:

  • The Conservation Commission must vote unanimously that the parcel is surplus to municipal, conservation, and open space needs.
  • Town Meeting must support the disposition with a two-thirds vote
  • The state legislature must support the disposition with a two-thirds vote

Not surprisingly, the process that the Conservation Commission followed is also quite rigorous. I’ll go through each issue that was considered:

  1. Have all alternative sites in Lincoln not covered by Article 97 been considered and rejected as “not feasible and substantially equivalent”? The Green Energy Committee and Solar Design Associates identified approximately 25 potential sites for solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, with a ranking system for suitability. The work showed that the landfill is the most suitable and the consensus of the Commissioners was that there are not alternative sites that are “substantially equivalent.”
  1. Does the disposition and proposed use destroy or threaten a unique or sensitive resource? Rimmer Environmental Consulting was hired to prepare a Solar Site Assessment and Habitat Evaluation of the landfill site and that report was completed in June 2016. The evaluation found that the proposed use will not destroy or threaten a unique or sensitive resource, and the commissioners supported this finding.
  1. Is real estate of equal or greater fair market value, or value in use of proposed use, whichever is greater, and significantly greater resource value provided to the municipality? The Conservation Commission then considered the 7.1 acres of the 100 Bedford Road property as the property to be provided to the town in exchange for the removal of the landfill from Article 97 protection. The potential acquisition parcels have perimeter habitat, which the commission determined are of substantially greater value (with respect to both fair market value and proposed use) than the landfill. The 100 Bedford Road property offers valuable habitat, trail connections, and vegetated buffer to other uses. The commission contacted the EOEEA and town counsel about the swap, and both parties agreed that the proposed swap is appropriate.
  1. Is the conversion of the minimum acreage necessary for the proposed use and, to the maximum extent possible, does it continue to protect the resources of the parcel proposed for disposition? The commission has not been presented with a final construction plan for the installation of solar panels on the landfill site. Accordingly, the commission determined that it would condition its approval (if all the other above conditions are met) on conducting a review of the construction documents in order to ensure that the resources continue to be protected to the maximum extent possible. Items the commission will examine include staging and work sequencing, fence detailing for wildlife passage, and restoration plant specifications.
  1. Does the disposition serve an Article 97 or another public purpose? The commission concluded that the disposition does serve an important public purpose, namely the first major source of solar PV energy for the Town. The commissioners expressed their strong support for this public purpose.

This evaluations described above were conducted over approximately one year and involved the Conservation Commission, conservation director, conservation planner, Green Energy Committee, and several consultants. On December 14, 2016, the Conservation Commission voted unanimously to remove the landfill parcel from Article 97 protection for conversion to a site for solar energy. The removal was conditioned on (1) that the 100 Bedford Road land swap, and (2) Conservation Commission approval of the solar construction plans.

In my personal opinion, the town made an intelligent decision in 1995. By putting the landfill under Article 97 protection, our citizens made it difficult for later generations to remove the land from protection without having exceptionally strong reasons. As a direct result, the outcome of this lengthy exercise will provide major victories for the town: more valuable conservation land and a large solar power installation. And we should not lose sight of the fact that the driving force behind the 100 Bedford Road acquisition is a new playing field, filling a long-felt need for the town. The solar benefit is real and the processes to enable it are complex, but to be clear, the solar benefit was a positive side effect of the playing field acquisition, not the driver of the 100 Bedford Road project. All of these positives would be gained with no additional tax burden, a serendipitous sequence of events and outcomes for the town!

Sincerely,

Richard Selden, MD, PhD
Member, Conservation Commission and Community Preservation Committee

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

Video explains financing and plans for Wang land purchase

The site of the Wang land just south of Bedford Road’s intersection with Route 2.

Lincoln residents will be asked at Town Meeting to approve a total of $2 million for land purchase and construction that will yield the town’s first new athletic field in more than 50 years as well as new conservation land. However, because of the type of financing that’s being considered, the expenditure will not result in any additional tax burden.

The Rural Land Foundation (RLF) and the Birches School teamed up to buy the 16-acre Wang property off Bedford and Oak Knoll Roads in November 2016. The Birches School will use four acres (including an existing 12,000-square-foot house at 100 Bedford Rd.) for its new headquarters plus a public parking lot that will also serve the adjacent athletic field. Residents will be asked to approve the purchase of the other 12 acres using Community Preservation Committee (CPC) funds.

CPC funds come from a 3 percent property tax surcharge and a partial match funds from the state (26 percent last year). The fund replenishes annually by about $950,000, and the town proposes to borrow $1.3 million over 15 years against this income. Another $500,000 will come from the general balance. The purchase will have no impact on the town’s bonding ability going forward, according to an informational video about the project distributed by the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Artist’s rendering of the new athletic field.

The total cost of $2 million breaks down to $800,000 for purchase of the land (three acres for the athletic field and nine acres for conservation) and $1.2 million for construction of the field. The town will also get a permanent easement on the parking lot that the Birches School will build—something that will save the town $500,000. Users of the field will also have access to a school bathroom.

Another benefit of the town acquiring the land is that it can be used as a “solar swap.” By adding new acreage to the town’s inventory of conservation land, it can take an equal amount out of conservation for a municipal array at the capped landfill.

The town’s current athletic fields on the school campus are in poor shape due to overuse and lack of irrigation. Assuming all goes as planned, the new field will be built by September 2017 and ready for use in August 2018. Conservation officials also plan to make trail connections from the new conservation land to adjacent parcels.

After the Park and Rec video was released, the committee answered questions posed by residents on LincolnTalk. Those answers are reprinted below.

Would putting synthetic turf in help with heavy field usage? 

Yes, artificial or synthetic turf is much more durable than natural grass fields. Community Preservation Act funds, however, can’t be used to pay for an artificial turf field. There are also a number of growing concerns with artificial turf, including high temperatures for children, off-gassing of the materials as well as the fact that there are still ongoing maintenance costs. While cost savings have been highlighted as among the benefits of an artificial turf field, the life expectancy and costs savings for artificial turf fields are now being questioned.

Has anyone studied the projected traffic onto Bedford Road and Route 2? 

Yes, Birches School and the Rural Land Foundation hired MDM Transportation to perform a traffic study of the area. They found that “the expanded Birches School and adjoining soccer field use will be accommodated along Bedford Road at operating levels that are well below capacity under full enrollment and during soccer field use periods (weeknights and Saturdays).” There will be a number of site improvements made to the area, including improving sight lines and widening the existing driveway to enable two exit lanes and one entry lane.

You mention that the Selectmen, FinComm, CapComm and School Committee are supporting this project. Is the Planning Board in support? 

We specifically approached the Selectmen, the Finance Committee, the Capital Committee and School Committee for their support of the project, but did not ask the Planning Board. We, however, did receive site plan approval for the project.

Has the Chief of Police signed off on this project? 

The police chief is aware of the project and has not expressed concern, although his formal approval was not part of the site plan approval process. The fire chief has signed off on emergency access to the property and our highway superintendent, and the town’s consulting engineer (not the project engineer) have reviewed our traffic study and are informing our site management plans.

Will there be any neighbors to whom the field and parking lot will be visible, who formerly saw only woods?

There is one immediate abutter, and we have worked closely with them to make sure that they are not negatively impacted, using landscape and fencing to ensure privacy. In addition, we met early on with the immediate neighborhood to not only share the initial announcement with them, but also to solicit their questions and concerns. The current site plan reflects their feedback.

The Carroll School on the Wayland/Lincoln border is creating new athletic fields. Is it possible to rent those? 

The Carroll School will not be renting the fields to area towns or schools in response to neighborhood concerns.

Have you looked at any other single-family lots in Lincoln on which to build a field? 

We have been actively looking for the past 15 years at all opportunities; however, for a number of reasons these other lots have not panned out. The Wang property at 100 Bedford Road works for several reasons, including access from Route 2 and the center of town; low impact on neighbors; and the partnership with the Rural Land Foundation, which makes the potential acquisition feasible since they are in essence providing the town with a bridge loan, giving us the time we need to examine the transaction in the Town Meeting framework; and the partnership with Birches School provides a number of cost savings related to the parking lot and restroom facility.

Why can’t the town build an athletic field on the flat lot abutting the school by the Smith building? 

The agricultural field behind the Smith School is privately owned and mostly in conservation. Taking land out of permanent conservation designation is an extremely difficult process. It requires permission of the land owner and then involves finding a lot with comparable conservation value to swap. Approval from the Conservation Commission, Town Meeting and the Commonwealth is also required. In the 15 years that we have been searching, we have not been able to find a lot that would be large enough to accommodate a field of this size with adequate parking, let alone a flat, open parcel.

Wetlands boardwalk opening set for April 2

The new wetlands boardwalk (click to enlarge).

Town officials will open a new wetlands boardwalk on Sunday, April 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the result of six years of planning and fundraising.

Several years ago, Lincoln School science teacher Terry Green and others envisioned a new boardwalk behind the school as a great learning experience for students. (An old boardwalk had fallen into disrepair and was pulled out.) The boardwalk is reached from a trail from behind the Smith playground running north to the town muster field at the intersection of Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge Roads. It includes an outdoor “classroom space” where groups can gather to learn about the wetlands.

The project was funded by the Lincoln Public Schools, the Lincoln Community Preservation Committee, the Lincoln School Foundation and the Lincoln Cultural Council.

Attendees at the opening  may park in the Smith parking lot; the boardwalk path begins behind the green playground.

Conservation Commission hearings on Wednesday

The Lincoln Conservation Commission will hold public hearings on Wednesday, March 8 at the following times:

  • 8:30 p.m. — regarding Notice of Intent from Joseph and Dana Robbat for conversion of an existing garage into an accessory apartment and associated landscape features at 151 Old Concord Rd.
  • 9:15 p.m. — to review a proposed change clarifying the definition of “structure” in the buffer zone regulations, implemented under the Lincoln Wetlands Protection Bylaw.

Property transactions in January

  • 20 Brooks Rd. — John B. Collins to Erik Larsen and Jeannie Chun for $935,000 (January 17).
  • 118 Lexington Rd. — Patrick T. Davis to John Yee and Chung-Yee Mia for $1,460,000 (January 18).
  • 28 Old Concord Rd. — Clifford C. Cort to Keith M. Gilbert for $2,430,000 (January 31).

Letter to the editor: DeLisi running for Planning Board reelction

letter

 

To the editor:

I am enthusiastically running for re-election to the Planning Board of the town of Lincoln.

I am an academic psychiatrist and during the day work outside of Lincoln, mainly treating veterans with serious mental illnesses and conducting research projects that hopefully will improve the quality of life of all people with these illnesses.

Some time back, I decided that it was time to devote a portion of my life to public service that extends beyond my relatively small circle of colleagues sharing my work interests. I thus volunteered for an opening on the Planning Board when it was advertised because I love the uniqueness of Lincoln and enjoy its surroundings so much that I wanted to contribute to the lives somehow of my neighbors and the wellbeing of the town in general.

Thus, during my four years on the board, I had a steep learning curve to be able to understand the town zoning bylaw and how to protect it. I was tutored extensively by my fellow board members on how to protect our wonderful environment that is filled with rich farmland and wildlife of all kinds. During these years, I actively participated in several issues and task forces, including serving on the committee that recruited a new director of planning for the town (Jennifer Burney), and composing a report with recommendations for revitalizing the center of South Lincoln. I was also involved in several controversial decisions that affected residents and their neighborhoods in major ways.

Finally, I worked with the new director of planning to change and simplify some of the burdensome processes that new homeowners find in dealing with the Planning Board. Hopefully, when you now come before the Planning Board, you will see a changed atmosphere and a desire of all of us to help you with your building projects and expedite their progress, yet still responding to and respecting  the requests of abutters.

In the next three years, I will continue to advocate for the preservation of our unique Lincoln environment, and the sponsorship of new regulations if needed to preserve that atmosphere. I will, most of all, be sensitive to the needs and concerns of the town and its residents during these changing times.

I believe in preserving the beauty of our historic district. I believe in the highest quality of education available to our children and in the modernizing of the facilities in which their education occurs. I believe also in a safe and supportive set of facilities and functions for our senior residents. I would like to see a vibrant community center for all. Most important, I stand for maintaining the peacefulness and natural environment of our residential neighborhoods and the health and safety of our residents.

I hope you will consider allowing me to continue to serve you as a member of the Planning Board over the next three years. I welcome comments, suggestions, and requests at any time. You can email me at DeLisi76@AOL.com or call me at 781-257-5046.

Lynn E. DeLisi
South Great Road

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

Minuteman High School prepares for hearings and looks for artifacts

Jennifer Banister and Colin Stevenson of PAL sift soil form the archeological dig near Minuteman High School.

Public hearings with two town boards are scheduled for the new Minuteman High School project starting this week. Meanwhile, a recent archeological dig at the site of the new building in Lincoln did not turn up any historically significant artifacts.

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing for site plan review on Tuesday, Feb. 28 (time TBA). The board will also conduct a preliminary site plan review on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The Conservation Commission will hold its first public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. All meetings are in the Town Office Building.

Because Minuteman High School is an educational institution, it is largely exempt from local zoning rules for the building itself. However, the two boards will have a say on matters such as parking, landscaping, visual screening and wetlands.

Minuteman documents on file for the Planning Board can be found here, and those for the Conservation Commission are here. Given the size and complexity of the project, the town plans to hire a consultant to assist with the reviews.

Pending permitting by the town, the Minuteman district hopes to break ground this spring and open the new school to students in the fall of 2019.

Archeological dig

Minuteman commissioned a four-member crew from the Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL) of Pawtucket, R.I., to survey the future construction site for artifacts, but researchers came up empty, finding just one shotgun shell and one piece of broken glass, both of recent vintage.

The survey was undertaken because the site’s proximity to Battle Road, wetlands and water sources meant it might contain items from pre-European Native Americans or colonial-era residents. The work was not required by a government agency but was ordered by Minuteman Superintendent Edward Bouquillon to ease any concerns about the site’s potential historical significance and to ease his own mind about building a school there.

“This area is rich in Revolutionary War history. I had no idea what we might find out there, but I’m glad we did this. It was the right thing to do,” he said. The archeological survey cost the district $15,000, a small fraction of the school project’s $144.9 million total cost.   

The PAL team spent more than 150 hours digging 90 cube-shaped shovel test pits, each about feet on a side, and then used a screen to sift the soil for items for interest.

“No artifacts were identified as part of the survey, which is a little surprising, but I think it has a lot to do with the shallow ledge that covers most of the area,” said senior archeologist Holly Herbster. “Our testing coverage was thorough and we targeted areas that were most likely for pre-contact as well as historic sites, so it appears this area just wasn’t utilized as neighboring areas were.”

Even though no artifacts were found, the dig offered an educational benefit for Minuteman students. Social studies teacher Tracey Sierra brought her sophomore classes out to the site to see the direct connection between science and history, and students they also learned about career pathways they didn’t know existed.

Sometimes PAL has the chance to explore a significant archeological find. The firm recently helped document the discovery of a 19th-century schooner buried deep in the mudflats in the Seaport district in South Boston. The shipwreck was found during excavation on a construction project.

Town Meeting warrant article list published

The list of articles for the 2017 Annual Town Meeting on March 25 includes 42 articles that will ask residents for a “year” or “nay” on numerous issues that have been in the news in Lincoln over the past year or more.

Below are links to previous Lincoln Squirrel stories about some of the items. The Squirrel will also publish new stories about Town Meeting articles in the coming days and weeks as more details become available.

Wang property acquisition (article 11)

Accessory apartments (articles 12-14)

School project (articles 33 and 34)

Community center feasibility study (article 35)

Landfill solar initiative (article 36)

Agricultural bylaw amendment (article 38)

Land transactions in December

  • 69 Page Rd. — Deborah Hawkins, trustee, to Narayan and Melanie Nallicheri, trustees, for $3,850,000 (December 1)
  • 63 Todd Pond Rd. — Karen Kirsten-Shaw to Alfred Hunt and Tobin Ayres Hack for $1,375,000 (December 2)
  • 61 Sandy Pond Rd. — Stacy Osur to Paul and Rebecca Blanchfield for $1,950,000 (December 5)
  • 17 Birchwood Lane — Anne Marie Healey to Lawrence and Diane Climo for $559,000 (December 5)
  • 21 Bypass Rd. — Martha Drake, trustee, to Carolyn Congee and Brian Fong-Murdock for $390,000 (December 12)
  • 65 Oxbow Rd. — John MacNeil to Gerhard and Patricia Sollner for $1,407,000 (December 12)
  • 5 Hilliard Rd. — Frank Schultz to Andrew and Anita Spieth for $1,250,000 (December 23)

Public hearings coming up

The Zoning Board of the Appeals of the Town of Lincoln will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Office Building to hear and to act on the following petitions under the Zoning Bylaws:

  • Nunzio Domilici, 22 Deer Run Road, for transfer and renewal of an accessory apartment special permit.
  • Holly Hedlund, 21 Morningside Lane, for extension of time on original approved special permit.

The Lincoln Historical Commission will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Town Office Building to consider the application of Massachusetts Audubon Society to demolish the existing structure known as the “Education Building” at 208 South Great Rd.

A complete list of public notices for the town of Lincoln can be found here.