The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

land use

Interactive website brings residents into South Lincoln planning

A screen shot of the South Lincoln revitalization website at courb.co/lincoln.

Using a new interactive website, residents can look at a map of South Lincoln, see some of the improvements being discussed, and add their own comments and suggestions.

The project page at courb.co/lincoln was created for the Lincoln Planning Board and the South Lincoln Planning Implementation Committee (SLPIC), which are working to make the area around Lincoln Station a vibrant, walkable and sustainable village center. Officials can post updates and respond to comments by residents as part of the public process, which also includes in-person workshops and events.

The project team behind the website can drop a “pin” on certain areas of the map to invite discussion. For example, when users click on one of pins, it opens a text box saying “If this underutilized green space next to Donelan’s and Lincoln Woods was revitalized, what events would you like to see held here?” Residents can then post and read each other’s responses, much like the comments section at the bottom of a blog post, or add their own pins to start discussion on another specific area of South Lincoln. Participants receive a notification when the project team replies.

The town was recently awarded a $400,000 Complete Streets grant for 10 projects in town, some of which include including signs, roadway markings, crosswalks, bike racks, and informational kiosks in South Lincoln. One of the website pins asks residents where they wold like to see these kiosks located.

The web platform was created by coUrbanize, a startup founded by urban planners from MIT with the goal of supplementing the traditional community process that planners use by connecting people online. “Traditional planning workshops are important, but they can be a challenge for many people to attend,” said coUrbanize co-founder Karin Brandt. “By using technology to reach people and lowering the bar to participation, we can ensure that more voices are heard.”

Roadside pasture getting ready for return of the cows

New fenceposts await installation in the pasture running along Route 117. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

The narrow pasture between Drumlin Farm and the railroad tracks along Route 117 is being cleared and fenced in preparation for the return of a quintessentially Lincoln sight: cattle grazing in roadside fields.

The area was historically known as the “night pasture” because it was where the cows were turned out to graze in the evenings, but then the fence deteriorated to the point where it couldn’t safely contain the cows. With no livestock, invasive plant species took over the field, said Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Manager Renata Pomponi.

Drumlin Farm is replacing the fence as part of a grant from the National Resource Conservation Service (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) to promote rotational grazing and invasives removal. The sanctuary has also invested in the clearing and fencing work as part of its ecological management plan, Pomponi said.

“Our staff have been working on that field for two years in preparation — a combination of physical removal (hard work!) and some limited chemical spraying to get rid of the black swallow wort. Our goal is to return cows to that field as soon as we can,” she said.

“The prospect of cleaning up that edge and having cows be the first thing people see in the early mornings and evenings as they drive into Lincoln over the railroad tracks has always been so appealing to me. We’re excited about restoring it to farmland use,” Pomponi said.

Lincoln property sales in August 2017

  • 18 Oak Meadow Rd. — Ann Helmus to Amrite Aniruddha and Prajakta Badri for $1,000,000 (August 1)
  • 213 Sandy Pond Rd. — Shawn Samuel to Todd and Sara Morneau for $1,250,000 (August 4)
  • 170 South Great Rd. — LV Realty LLC to 179 South Great Road LLC for $750,000 (August 9)
  • 190 Lincoln Rd. — UMB Bank NA, trustee to Lorraine and Theresa Hanley, trustees, for  $1,475,000 (August 11)
  • 14C North Commons — Kara Swanson to Alexander Pina and Lu Zhang for $379,9000 (August 18)
  • 34 Windingwood Lane — Robert Sutherland to Wayne and Elizabeth Ogden for  $651,000 (August 18)
  • 41 Todd Pond Road — Page Wasson to Susan Peacock for $419,000 (August 25)
  • 120 Lexington Rd. — Lexington Development Limited Partnership to Christopher and Susan Silber for $1,700,000 (August 31)

News acorns

Public hearings coming up

  • The Lincoln Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10 to review an application for a sign permit. The applicant, Sujit Sitole, proposes to construct a directory sign at 152 Lincoln Rd.
  • The Lincoln Historical Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. to consider the application of Ventianni, LLC to demolish two garden sheds at 144 Sandy Pond Rd.

DeCordova hosts after-school program, nursery school open house

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is offering a new Art + Nature After School
drop-off program on five Thursdays for kids ages 7–11 from 3:30–5 p.m. starting on October 12 and running through November 9. Join artist and nature educator Ann Wynne this fall as we are inspired by five artists’ processes and visions. We will play, move, build, and see like outdoor sculptors. Click here to see the deCordova’s calendar of fall family programs.

The Lincoln Nursery School (LNS) in deCordova’s grounds will hold an open house on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 9–11 a.m. Tour the studios and play areas on deCordova’s campus and meet LNS faculty. For families with children ages 2.9 to kindergarten.

Open Studio library exhibit reception

There will be an artists’ reception at the Lincoln Public Library on Tuesday, Oct. 12 from 4:30–7 p.m. as part of the Lincoln Open Studio exhibit being shown in library’s main gallery until October 28. Offered through the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, Open Studio meets weekly for a five-hour block. The group welcomes newcomers of all skill levels and media (except turpentine-based oils). We meet during the school year on Thursdays from 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. in Hartwell B-10. For more information, call Lincoln Parks and Recreation at 781-259-0784), or email Sarah Chester (schester636@gmail.com) or Joan Seville (joanseville1@gmail.com), and stop by at noon on Thursdays to say hello.

Apply for Lincoln Cultural Council grants

The Lincoln Cultural Council (LCC) invites applications for its 2017-18 grant cycle. Proposals for community-oriented arts, humanities, and science programs are due by Monday, Oct. 16. These grants support artistic projects and activities in Lincoln including exhibits, festivals, field trips, short-term artist residencies, performances in schools, workshops, and lectures. The Lincoln Cultural Council is especially interested in receiving grants to support performances and programs about local history and environmental issues.

The LCC is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils serving 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which then allocates funds to each community. This year, the Lincoln Cultural Council will distribute about $4,400 in grants. Application forms and more information are available at www.mass-culture.org. For local guidelines and complete information on the LCC, contact council Chair Julie Dobrow at jdobrow111@gmail.com.

Board approves study of DPW site

The 2014 study by the Planning Board identified four quadrants in South Lincoln as defined by the railroad tracks and Lincoln Road: (1) Codman Farm, (2) the mall, (3) Ridge Road, and (4) Lewis Street. Parcels in red are town-owned land.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to authorize a study of the Department of Public Works site on Lewis Street that would look at options for repurposing the site as part of a potential South Lincoln rezoning effort.

Before the vote, several residents spoke against the study, fearing that the DPW will eventually be relocated to the transfer station site off Route 2A in North Lincoln.

Objections to the proposal by the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee (SLPIC) first arose publicly over the summer. Residents expressed concern about the cost or cleaning up the DPW site, which is used for trucks, road equipment and school buses, as well as the environmental sensitivity of the transfer station site.

Gary Taylor, a member of SLPIC and the Planning Board, asked selectmen to authorize $9,800 to hire civil engineering firm Weston & Sampson to assess the DPW’s functions and needs as well as potential site consolidation (e.g., leaving the DPW on Lewis Street but shrinking its footprint to repurpose some of the land), opportunities for relocating some or all of its functions to another location, and the potential for combining resources for some DPW functions with neighboring towns or MassPort.

Lincoln’s 2010 master plan reiterates a 1999 recommendation to consider redeveloping the DPW site to support housing and commerce, and to “see if it makes sense to include the DPW site in efforts to rezone, revitalize and redevelop in South Lincoln,” Taylor said. The 2014 South Lincoln study also “identified an opportunity to create additional transportation-oriented housing by redeveloping the existing light industrial properties and relocating DPW garage,” he added.

“I think this is a very necessary due diligence as part of any thoughtful planning. I think you have to take a look at this four-acre parcel and see what all the options are,” said Selectman James Craig.

Oakdale Lane resident Keith Hylton repeated the concerns he voiced to the board in July about possible well water contamination from vehicles at the transfer station site and its proximity to the Minute Man National Historical Park (MMNHP). Weston recently built a new DPW faculty that cost $15 million, he said.

“Whatever site you look at, there’s got to be procedures for meaningful involvement by stakeholders early on,” Hylton added.

Some residents wondered why the amount requested was just under the $10,000 threshold that requires the town to solicit competitive bids. Meanwhile, others including MMNHP Resources Program Manager Margie Coffin Brown speculated that $9,800 might not be enough to do a thorough study of the DPW and alternative sites.

The study “really is all about whether or not the land could be put to better use and whether or not it’s feasible to relocate it or consolidate,” Taylor said. Any future rezoning proposal would come only after “a lot of further study” on costs and impacts, and would not occur for at least five to seven years, since the town faces major school and community center projects in the near future, he added.

Letter to the editor: CCPPDC offers updates

letter

To the editor:

“Community Center Preliminary Planning and Design Committee”—with a name like that, we can’t help but succeed in our mission to bring a preliminary design to the town for consideration when discussing the current state of and future goals for the Ballfield Road campus. The townfolk spoke and the town representatives heard you: there should be collaboration between any and all committees striving to improve the nature and service of the Ballfield Road buildings.

But let’s start with introductions. Your CCPPDC members are Owen Beenhouwer, Sarah Chester, Doug Crosby, Jonathan Dwyer (for the Board of Selectmen), Steve Gladstone, Margit Griffith (vice chair, Parks and Recreation Commission), Eric Harris, Ellen Meyer Shorb (chair), Dilla Tingley, Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Director of Council on Aging Carolyn Bottum, and Director of Parks and Recreation Dan Pereira.

We have been tasked with providing the town with a community center design on the Ballfield Road campus in answer to the Lincoln community’s desire for a cohesive, cost-effective and community-spirited plan for Lincoln. We hope to provide enough information to help answer questions such as:

  • What is the realistic cost of a serviceable community center?
  • What does a community center do differently from other town spaces, and why is this important? (Much of this already addressed by prior studies, and we’re happy to review.)
  • Is it feasible and fiscally responsible to build the school and community center simultaneously or sequentially?
  • Can/should the same architect and/or construction company build both?
  • May the school and community center be built at the same time, or does the school need to keep current Hartwell buildings intact for alternate classrooms during the school build? Or are there other factors?

…and we hope to answer the questions you and we don’t know about yet!

The CCPPDC met a few times over the summer and has opened the request for quotes from architectural firms to work with us, reviewed their quotes, and is scheduling interviews. Our next step will be to choose a firm with which to work and to introduce them to you, the School Building Committee (SBC) and the architect they have chosen (if different)… which leads to a first response to the question “can we use the same architect?”

Well, yes and no. School buildings are very specialized structures and the architectural firms who design them tend to be quite focused on just that type of building. An architectural firm that promises they can do anything from a storage shed to a 20-story building probably isn’t the firm we’re hoping will design our next school building. Similarly, community centers tend to be a bit of a different creature and some firms make these designs their specialty. The SBC and CCPPDC have made it very clear to all parties that this is a collaborative effort by our two groups and we are requiring similar collaboration if the selected firms are different.

You will be hearing from the CCPPDC as we progress. You are always welcome to attend our open meetings and we hope to have a few community feedback events as plans develop. We will be at the SBC visioning meetings on October 3 and 17—will you? Once a month, a joint update will be provided by the SBC and CCPPDC, and you will likely see brief updates about one committee in the updates from the other. We’re also working on a CCPPDC page on the town website and hope to make more informative very soon.

Sincerely,

Margit Griffith on behalf of the CCPPD

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.

Public hearings coming up

Planning Board

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. to review an application for Site Plan Review. The applicant, Robert Domnitz, 21 Mill St., proposes to add a ground-mounted solar array.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board of the Appeals of the Town of Lincoln will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. on the following petitions:

  • Wendy and Richard Finnerty, 7 Old Farm Rd., for a special permit to replace an existing carport with a garage.
  • Joshua and Cailin Gidlewski, 54 Tower Rd., for a special permit for a chicken coop.
  • Natalie Miller, 107 Old County Rd., for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • DeNormandie Farm Real Estate Trust, 65 Trapelo Rd., for renewal and transfer of name of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • Stephen and Emily Nohrden, 14 Old Cambridge Turnpike, for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • Sandra Bradlee, 259 Old Concord Rd., for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.
  • Martha DeCesare, 244 Concord Rd., for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment.

 

Public hearings coming up

 

Historic District Commission

The Historic District Commission will hold public hearings on Tuesday, Sept. 5 starting at 7:30 p.m. to consider the followng applications:

  • Michael Barnicle and Anne Finucane for a Certificate of Appropriateness for a new structure known as a sleeping cottage at 20 Trapelo Rd.
  • John and Lara MacLachlan to replace 15 windows and a side door at 49 Bedford Rd.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board of the Appeals will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. to hear and to act on the following petitions for renewal of a special permit for an accessory apartment:

  • Erin Kelly and Lionel McPherson, 2 Forester Rd.
  • Sarah Cannon Holden, 60 Weston Rd.
  • Andrew Pickett, 12 Longmeadow Rd.
  • Kelly and Lincoln Greenhill, 12 Page Farm Rd.
  • William Churchill, 6 Horses Crossing
  • Peter Von Mertens and Dea Angiolillo, 16 Tower Rd.

The ZBA will also hold a public hearing that night to hear and act on two more applications:

  • Charlene McCart Jackson, trustee of McCart Realty Trust, 14-16 and 22-24 Lewis St., for an extension of an existing special permit for the expansion of non-conforming residential use in a B-2 District.
  • James Pingeon and Elizabeth Graver, 47 Old Sudbury Rd., for a special permit to extend the roof to cover the landing outside the front door.

Property tax classification hearing

The Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. for the purpose of determining for fiscal year 2018 the percentage of the real estate property tax burden that shall be borne by the residential and commercial classifications of property respectively. General inquiries prior to the hearing may be directed to the Assessors’ Office, 781 259-2611.

Letter to the editor: DPW proposal generates important questions

letter

To the editor:

I was heartened to read the story (“Residents wary of planned study on relocation of DPW,” August 14, 2017) about the July 31 Board of Selectmen meeting where several Lincoln residents voiced strong objections to the proposal within the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee (SLPIC) to relocate the DPW facility to the undeveloped 37-acre parcel on Mill Street that houses the transfer station.

I spoke in opposition to the proposal, noting that the 37-acre Mill Street parcel is an environmentally sensitive site. Although some have referred to the parcel as the “transfer station site,” the transfer station actually takes up a very small portion of the parcel. The vast majority of the 37 acres are in a natural state and could easily be mistaken for Lincoln conservation land. The area is residential. Moreover, the Mill Street parcel sits well within the Cambridge Reservoir watershed.

Almost all of the many residents living near the Mill Street parcel are on well water. The activities of the DPW facility, fueling and maintenance of heavy equipment and storage of hazardous waste, would impose a risk to the water sources of homeowners in the vicinity of the parcel if the DPW were to be relocated there. In addition, the DPW activities would impose a risk of contamination to an important source of Cambridge’s water.

As a town, we owe a duty to our own residents to avoid subjecting any group of them to a substantial risk of harm through the actions of our elected officials. In addition, we owe a duty to the people of Cambridge to protect their water sources from contamination by pollutants.

Although I spoke of the Mill Street area at the meeting, the point I urged on the Board of Selectmen applies with equal force to every community in the town. The DPW facility has proven itself to be environmentally harmful. I asked the selectmen to adopt a resolution either prohibiting or strongly discouraging the relocation of the DPW to any area within the town that is substantially more environmentally sensitive than its current location. I happen to be aware of the sensitivity of the Mill Street parcel, but there may be other areas under consideration by SLPIC that are also sensitive (e.g., because of similar well water dependency). So far, SLPIC has not revealed any other alternative sites under consideration.

There are many other issues noted by North Lincoln residents who attended the Board of Selectmen meeting (a video recording can be found here).

One such issue is the enormous price tag of the proposal. Weston recently constructed a new DPW facility at a cost of $15 million. The remediation costs (at the current site) alone would run into the millions, and cannot be estimated precisely until the current facility is destroyed and remediation requirements fully evaluated. The overall expense would contribute to an inordinate tax burden and could crowd out other projects such as the new school building or the community center.

The enormous relocation costs (to any area) might be acceptable if all town residents would benefit greatly from adopting the proposal. However, the goal of the relocation proposal is inconsistent with the town’s history of development—as a zero-sum scheme, it would disadvantage one part of town to offer a phantom benefit to another part. In addition, the proposal would result in the taxpayer subsidization of a private commercial developer. Why should Lincoln residents incur a burden of tens of millions of dollars to subsidize a private developer?

I hope town residents will urge SLPIC to present a careful and thorough examination of the costs and benefits of the relocation proposal before asking the town to give $9,800 to a consulting firm to study the feasibility of relocation. The current request for funds from SLPIC—a vague, one-page letter that appears to assume that the selectmen are all on board—is completely silent on the potential taxpayer costs of the proposal, the potential for environmental harm, and even a justification for the ultimate goal. Why spend scarce public resources studying the feasibility of a proposal that has not been adequately justified and most likely would be harmful to the town if implemented?

Sincerely,

Keith Hylton
5 Oakdale Lane

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.

Lincoln property sales in July

  • 140 Lincoln Rd. (a Ryan Estate unit) — Daniel Hertzel to Robert L. and Ruth Mozzi for $463,000 (July 31)
  • 29 Lincoln Rd. — Paul M. Blanchfield to Jane K. O’Rourke and Ursula A. Matulonis for $1,325,000 (July 27)
  • 3B South Commons — John C. Hessler to Abbey B. Salon for $360,000 (July 19)
  • 65 Winter St. — Darlene Mula Trust to David Johnston for $992,000 (July 17)
  • 140 Lincoln Rd. (a Ryan Estate unit) — Robert T. Ferguson Sr. to William N. and Haekyung K. Weir for $475,000 (July 13)
  • 263 Concord Rd. — Paul C.R. Edwards to Nicholas and Gretchen Covino for $920,000 (July 13)
  • 8 Boyce Farm Rd. — Ren Dahai to James C. Anson for $850,000 (July 12)
  • 20 Birchwood Lane — Myrna J. Beecher Trust to Sharla F. Levine for $599,000 (July 6)