land use

The Hanscom Field expansion area is outlined in red. Lincoln’s approximate town border to the south is indicated by the green dashed line.

North Airfield Ventures offered details of its plan to greatly enlarge hangar space at Hanscom Field to the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission on February 20. It was the first of several public sessions scheduled before developers file their environmental impact statement next month, according to a February 21 story in the Bedford Citizen.

While the parcel under consideration lies in the town of Bedford, an expansion of the airport’s capacity will increase air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions — an argument cited by opponents including Stop Private Jet Expansion as well as local and state officials including the Lincoln Select Board.

The project’s proponents say that additional hangar space will reduce the need for “ferry flights” to and from full Hanscom hangars to other storage areas, but the idea that “adding 90 football fields worth of space would reduce emissions from aircraft struck me as hard to believe,” Select Board member Jim Hutchinson said in February 2023.

Four 20,000-gallon jet fuel tanks and one 5,000-gallon tank for aviation gas are planned. Fuel deliveries are expected once or twice a day in 10,000-gallon tank trucks, the Bedford Citizen article notes. Although the plan has been scaled down from 27 to 17 hangars, the total size will remain at around 495,000 square feet, the article added.

The environmental review is not a permitting process. Under state law, once the impact report is submitted, there will be a 30-day comment period. If the content is not accepted by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the developers must prepare a supplemental report, the Bedford Citizen explained in an earlier article.

150 Lincoln Rd. — Prince Teabo to Wombat Real Estate Invest LLC for $801,000 (October 31)

25B South Commons — Brett Cramp to Merna Sorial and Marcus Luke for $272,000 (October 31)

13 Oak Meadow Rd. — Debra Peattie to Christopher Hallett and Cara Slaby for $1,400,000 (October 28)

172 Bedford Rd. — Debra Orr Trust to Michael Sonier Revocable Trust for $1,499,000 (October 27)

10 Hiddenwood Path — Edward F. Koehler Trust to Wonho and Youngsheen Jhe for $790,000 (October 19)

11A South Commons — Marisa Gregg to Judith Wong for $551,000 (October 18)

2 Concord Rd. — Andrew H. David Trust to Walden Woods Project for $1,300,000 (October 17)

20R Indian Camp Lane — Gary Davis Trust to Abbie Paley and Jatinder Gill for $700,000 (October 16)

19 Conant Rd. — Nancy M. Harris Trust to Dudley Hollow LLC for $1,355,000 (October 10)

91 Weston Rd. — 91 Weston Rd. Realty Trust to 91 Weston Rd. Realty LLC for $1,775,000 (October 5)

39 Old Sudbury Rd. — David R.W. Harris Trust to Manley B. Boyce II Trust and Karen K. Boyce Trust for $850,000 (October 2)

181 Bedford Rd. — Benjamin Shiller to James and Caroline Gately for $1,415,000 (September 20)

203 Concord Rd. — Laurence D. Herthel Trust to  Mary Garlock Living Trust for $675,000 (September 6)

35 Sandy Pond Rd. — Richard Chesworth to Marc Bazin and Jennifer Lachey for $2,500,000 (September 1)

71 Sandy Pond Rd. — Jamie N. Atkins Trust to Jisuo Jiang and Yangcai Li for $1,598,000 (August 29)

11 Farrar Rd. — Norma Barkamian to Marlen Morgus and Benjamin Bolotin for $1,760,000 (August 23)

73 Old County Rd. — Janna P.Hadley Trust to Dabid Barron and Kristin Budde for $900,000 (August 7)

66 and 70 Davison Dr. — Seventy Plus LLC to Hallie Ransone for $2,180,000 (August 4)

96 Page Rd. — David Kahn to Yaojun Li and Xin Guo for $1,550,000 (August 1)

Town officials will review two new Housing Choice Act rezoning options at a Planning Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The town has already forwarded Option C — which clusters all the rezoned subdistricts in South Lincoln — to the state for a pre-adoption compliance check. But at a well-attended multiboard meeting on October 10, residents expressed a desire to see new options that would allow less multifamily housing in South Lincoln while also allowing some in the areas of Battle Road Farm and/or the Lincoln North office building.

Two earlier options (A and B) included those North Lincoln areas, but they were drawn up before the state changed its guidelines to allow towns to “count” multifamily housing permitted in areas with some commercial use as well, such as the mall property.

On November 13, another three-board meeting will select one of the two new options created by consultant Utile (D1 and D2) to continue exploring. Before that, there will be two public forums on November 8: one in person at Town Hall from 8–10 a.m. and one on Zoom from 7–9 p.m. At those forums, officials will review option C as well as D1 and D2, take questions and ask for feedback on which of the new options people prefer.

Two final options — Option C plus either option D1 or D2 — will go before residents at the Special Town Meeting on December 2 for an informal “sense of the town” vote by paper ballot. On December 4, another multiboard meeting will confirm one final option to put before voters at the Annual Town Meeting in March. 

Several attendees at an October 16 meeting of the Select Board, Planning Board, and Housing Choice Act Working Group were worried about excessive development in South Lincoln resulting in a village center resembling the reconfigured mixed-use Wayland Center, which “most of us consider to be ill-conceived and not very attractive,” Select Board member Jennifer Glass said. She assured everyone that the town is not thinking of expanding business use in the mall but “just supporting the bit of commercial that we have.” 

Part of what will make the mall more financially sustainable is having the “cross-subsidy” from housing on the same parcel, in effect “de-risking the property” for a developer, said Michelle Barnes, chair of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust/RLF Board of Trustees, which owns the mall.

Additionally, any development proposed for either of the two commuter parking lots adjacent to the railroad tracks would have to go before Town Meeting because they are owned by the town, not the RLF, Town Administrator Tim Higgins noted.

If people want to offer opinions and feedback on Options D1 and D2 between the October 24 presentation and the November 8 public forums, they can email Glass at jlrglass@mac.com or, if the comment is specific to the mall, to Barnes at la_vise@yahoo.com. A number of comments and questions on the HCA have been posted by residents to LincolnTalk, but Glass warned that “we can’t engage in dialogue on LincolnTalk without running afoul of the Open Meeting Law.”

The December 2 Special Town Meeting will feature official votes on a preferred community center option, and on whether to amend the overlay district zoning at The Commons in Lincoln to pave the way for a proposal to add 28 independent living units.

By Trish O’Hagan and Alex Chatfield

Lincolnites were out in force at a State House rally that one of us (Alex) MC’d on Monday, Oct. 2 and took part in presenting Gov. Maura Healey with a petition opposing private jet expansion at Hanscom Field or any airport.

Over 10,000 Massachusetts residents from around the state signed the petition expressing their opposition to the Massport plan to build 26 new private luxury hangars at Hanscom covering 500,000 square feet.

We reminded the crowd of 240 people that “we are here today supporting our governor, who has promised to be our climate protection champion. We are in here in solidarity with her administration, because we need her to show us that protecting the climate was not just a promise for her campaign, but an essential principal that will guide every decision she makes while she is in office.”

From the steps of the State House, speakers including State Sen. Mike Barrett (click here to read his remarks), Chuck Collins from the Institute for Policy Studies, Diane Proctor of the Concord League of Women Voters, and Chris Marchi of East Boston’s nonprofit advocacy group AIR, Inc., explained how Massport’s plans are a direct and immediate threat to Massachusetts’ efforts to combat climate change.

Perhaps the most compelling speaker was Lexington fifth-grader Kalea Foo, who also presented the printed petition to Gov. Healey’s staff. Speaking on behalf of the next generation, she reminded the adults that they need to do everything possible to preserve a safe climate and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

For people wondering “what’s next” in the process, there is a draft environmental impact report expected from the developers this fall, possibly in October. It will be reviewed by the administration, and there will be a public comment period. In the meantime, citizens can help by contacting the governor and urging her to use her all her power and authority to get Massport to cancel the plan.

For more news coverage on the rally, see this WGBH article. Background can be found in the Lincoln Squirrel (February 12 and February 5), the Bedford Citizen (numerous articles and opinion pieces), and this September 29 editorial in the Boston Globe, as well as the Stop Private Jet Expansion web site.

Want to help? Join the coalition, donate money, and show up to our Tuesday afternoon “stand-outs” at the Paul Revere Capture Site in the Minute Man Historic Park on Route 2A. We are there every Tuesday from 4–5 p.m. We have signs and banners, so just bring yourself!

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

A sketch showing where new units (in yellow) and surface parking (purple) are proposed at The Commons. Additional parking not shown will be located under new units. Click image to enlarge.

The Commons in Lincoln is proposing to add 28 independent living units to its campus, down from 47 it sought in 2022. The earlier proposal was withdrawn in February 2023 after vehement protest from current Commons residents, who said they were blindsided by the plan and wanted significant input on how (or even if) to expand.

The Commons is owned by New England Life Plan Communities, which bought it in January 2022 from Benchmark Senior Living, though Benchmark was retained for day-to-day management of the facility. 

NELPC wants to build 14 two-bedroom units in the Flint building, six one-bedroom units in the Russell building, and eight new cottages. Plans also call for adding 77 surface and garage parking spots for a net gain of 52 after 25 are removed. A 1962 house near the Cider Lane entrance would be demolished to make room for one of the new structures. The community garden will also be reduced in size, though smaller plots will be created in other parts of the campus to compensate, and walking paths will be added in various places.

The work would start with the parking additions (in particular, spots cut into the hillside facing the main entrance) to alleviate congestion as much as possible during construction. Eight of the 30 units in Flint house are affordable, and the project would add four more of that type. The new cottages will be built to follow the latest opt-in building code.

The project is necessary to “increase long-term financial stability” and make previously planned capital improvements in other parts of the campus; the project “expedites that work,” said Ryan Herchenroether, senior project manager with owner’s representative OnePoint Partners. Independent living units are the bread and butter of continuing care communities like The Commons, he noted. The project would increase the proportion of those units from 65% to 69%, which is still less than Brookhaven at Lexington (82%) or Waterstone of Lexington (74%).

Because The Commons is in a zoning overlay district with specific conditions, a two-thirds majority approval is required at Town Meeting for the plan to go forward. NELPC will also need a special permit from the Planning Board and signoff from the Historical Commission and Conservation Commission. “If we’re under construction a year from now, that would be a success,” Herchenroether said.

Proposed new walking paths are shown in bright green. Click image to enlarge.

Officials from The Commons said at a well-attended October 3 multiboard meeting that they had listened to residents and would make every effort to minimize disruption during construction. However, “I don’t want to portray that every single resident is on board with this plan,” Herchenroether acknowledged.

Dozens of those residents and their family members attended the meeting via Zoom to express their displeasure. Some whose units adjoin the proposed additions protested the loss of windows or unobstructed views (“It looks as if my sunset years will be minus the sunsets,” quipped Mark Byers), while others questioned the financial necessity for the project.

“Without accurate financial reporting, it’s impossible to evaluate the true state of the community,” said Michael Kaminer, son of a Commons resident. He read from a letter signed by many family members of Commons residents that was sent to the Planning Board and asserted that there were many others against the proposal who were afraid to speak up due to fear of “retribution” from staff. He also said that the dining and cleaning services “are already understaffed and the quality of service has decreased” and wondered how the organization would fix those problems while also adding space and capacity.

Joyce Phillips, whose Russell Building unit would be directly affected by the project, said that staff had offered to move her temporarily to another unit while work was under way and then returning her to the original one afterwards. “I have no interest in moving. I moved to The Commons so I wouldn’t have to move again in my lifetime,” she said, adding that she and others are “too old to live through the noise, dust, and construction.”

Earlier in the meeting, Select Board member Jim Hutchinson asked if NELPC might offer inconvenienced residents the right of first refusal to buy one of the new units — something Herchenroether said they would look into.

“There’s a minimum unit count that would make it feasible to help pay for refurbishments and updates to the Flint Building,” said Ryan Larkin, a financial analyst with OnePoint Partners. The added revenue generated from the new Russell units and cottages “can be reinvested across campus… Independent units boost our operating margin and give us more cash [for operations] and make us less reliant on entrance fees.”

Judy Foster, president of the Resident Council at The Commons, agreed that the 2022 proposal “was like a bomb hit the community. Everyone was up in arms… they couldn’t have done a worse job if they’d tried.” Since then, there have been numerous meetings with the council as well as the Steering Committee and more than two dozen other resident groups and clubs  to explain ideas and solicit feedback.

“The expansion will impact many of our residents, some more than others,” she said. “I’m so sorry that everybody couldn’t come out of this unscathed,” but the benefits from deferred-maintenance projects and other improvements will make it worthwhile.

“You say there’s a lot of cash flow but residents see deferred maintenance and services. And you say there’s lots of demand. I’m confused — there’s plenty of money, there’s not enough money…” said Becky Regan, who has a parent at The Commons. “I want much clearer financials before the hearing.”

As of Wednesday night, OnePoint had not replied to questions sent by the Lincoln Squirrel after Tuesday’s meeting. 

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the proposal on November 21. There will also be a public session at the Lincoln Public Library on Wednesday, Oct. 11 from 10 am.–2 p.m.