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

land use

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.

Two commercial properties moving toward next chapter

By Alice Waugh

Two prominent commercial properties in South Lincoln will see some changes—and perhaps new tenants—in the coming months.

152 Lincoln Rd., formerly occupied by the Cambridge Trust Co. until the branch closed its doors last year, was purchased in November by Cambridge West Partners for $1,015,000. Meanwhile, the new owners of the mansard-roofed building at 2 Lewis St. are continuing renovations they began after they bought it from Sejfi Protopapa in November 2015 for $850,000.

152 Lincoln Rd.

The new owner at 152 Lincoln Rd. has hired KeyPoint Partners to find a replacement occupant for the 3,375-square-foot space in a building that is also home to Barrett Sotheby’s International Realty and other tenants. Decades ago, the Community Store, Lincoln’s grocery store before the mall across the street was built, occupied the entire building, which was faced with pink stucco.

Although the Cambridge Trust Co. is obviously set up as a bank, many kinds of businesses would work there, said KeyPoint’s Michael Branton. “Because it’s a fully built-out bank branch with teller stations and a drive-up window, a financial services tenant could move in easily. However, the property is suitable for a variety of uses, from retail to professional services to office,” he said.

The distinctive Lewis Street property, also known as the Wyman Cook House dating from 1870, currently has four commercial tenants, though one of them—a field office of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)—will leave in the spring now that its work overseeing the Route 2 project is almost complete. The other three businesses (the Lincoln Barber Shop, Lincoln Town Cleaners and the Travel Station) are tenants at will, and “everyone can stay as long as they’d like to,” said Christina Van Vleck, who co-owns the building with her husband David Nydam Jr.

Back in South Lincoln’s commercial heyday, the building was home to a post office and general store. More recent tenants have included a ski and bike shop, a cafe, and educational software company Lexia Learning Systems.

2 Lewis St.

The top two floors have been vacant for years, and the Van Vlecks are renovating it with the goal of moving their family into the 2,800-square-foot space. They’re also planning some work on the exterior, including exterior paintwork to change the familiar mint green. “We will definitely paint it a new color, which will be a welcome change for everyone,” Van Vleck said with a laugh. Depending on budget, future plans may include replacing the vestibule that was “pasted in the front of the building” with a more traditional front porch, and replacing the aluminum siding with wood or fiber cement siding.

Once the Van Vlecks and their three-year-old move in, “we hope to participate more actively by being landlords and helping foster businesses,” said Van Vleck, a graphic designer who works out of her home.

The Van Vlecks are talking to potential tenants for the 1,900-square-foot space currently occupied by MassDOT and hope to have one in place by early summer. “We very much hope that the building provides space for business owners living in Lincoln or neighboring communities to work close to home and, ideally, provides a service that meets a need within the local community,” Van Vleck said.

November land transactions

(Editor’s note: this list does not include the sale of several parcels of land formerly owned by An and Lorraine Wang that are still going through the state Registry of Deeds.)

  • 102 Concord Rd. — Twelve Miles West Development to Joseph Adler and Preety Kaur Sidhu for $605,000 (November 1).
  • 82 Virginia Rd. #A101 — Mary Dirrane to Mildred Timberlake for $399,000 (November 16).
  • 152 Lincoln Rd. — 152 Lincoln Road LLC to Cambridge West 2 LLC for $1,015,000 (November 16).
  • 41 South Great Rd. — John Neister to James Laplante and Deborah race for $765,000 (November 23).

Town’s hazard mitigation plan updated

A summary of Lincoln’s existing hazard mitigation measures (click to enlarge and click on resulting image).

The Lincoln Hazard Mitigation Plan is being updated to help the town to reduce its vulnerability to natural hazard events such as flooding, hurricanes, winter storms, extreme heat, fire and wind. The town held a series of public meetings and is about to submit the plan to the Massachusetts and federal emergency management agencies.

The draft of the plan includes current mitigation measures, primarily a combination of zoning, land use and environmental regulations as well as infrastructure maintenance and drainage infrastructure maintenance and  improvement projects. Infrastructure maintenance. The plan was prepared for the town  by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council under the direction of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Any comments on the draft should be submitted ASAP to Jennifer Burney, Director of Planning and Land Use, at burneyj@lincolntown.org.

Correction

In the January 4 article listing upcoming public hearings, the item about a January 10 Planning Board hearing about amending bylaws for solar installations was mistakenly followed by a link to an earlier Lincoln Squirrel story about a possible solar installation at the town landfill that was not related to this hearing. The link has been removed in the original article.

 

Public hearings coming up

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board of the Appeals  will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Office Building to hear and to act on the following petitions under the Zoning Bylaws:

  • Seppo Rinne, 93 Tower Rd., for transfer and renewal of an accessory apartment special permit.
  • Randal Briggs, 31 Morningside Lane, for changes to the original approved special permit for renovations to the existing home.

Historical Commission

The Lincoln Historical Commission will hold public hearings at the following times on Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the Town Office Building to consider the following applications:

  • 7:30 p.m. — Joseph and Dana Robbat, to demolish more than 25 percent of the roof of an accessory structure at 151 Old Concord Road.
  • 7:45 p.m. — St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church, to demolish the dwelling at 149 Concord Road.
  • 8 p.m. — Ventianni, LLC, to demolish the dwelling at 144 Sandy Pond Road.
  • 8:30 p.m. — Birches School, to demolish a garage at 100 Bedford Road.

Planning Board

There will be public hearings at the following times on Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the Town Office Building to review the following proposed changes to the Lincoln Zoning Bylaw:

  • 7:40 p.m. — to amend Section 13.6 to revise the requirements for solar energy installations.
  • 8 p.m. — to amend Sections 6.1, 6.2, and 23 to allow certain commercial agricultural activities by right and commercial agricultural activities that generate annual sales greater than $5,000 per acre or more by special permit on parcels of 80,000 square feet or more. See “Small-scale agriculture expansion discussed at SOTT.”
  • 8:20 p.m.— to amend Section 14.3 to clarify the process and procedure regarding accessory apartments and to add a process and procedure for an accessory apartment that is affordable to low and moderate income households, as defined by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (“DHCD”), and that meets DHCD requirements for inclusion in the town’s subsidized housing inventory. See “Residents hear about affordable accessory apartment proposal.”
  • 8:40 p.m. — to adopt an amendment to the Zoning Bylaw that would establish a temporary moratorium on the use of land or structures for recreational marijuana establishments through June 30, 2018 to allow time to study the issue and develop appropriate bylaws and ordinances.

Tree Warden

On Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln DPW Office, 30 Lewis St., a public hearing will be held by the tree warden, deputy tree warden and/or their designees to consider the removal of the below trees in the public right-of-way. This meeting is consistent with the requirements of the Shade Tree Act (MGL,c.87) and Scenic Road Act. The trees have been marked with a hearing notice and are being considered for removal because they are dead, in decline, or otherwise posing a safety or operational hazard. Anyone with questions may contact the Department of Public Works Department at 781-259-8999.

 

The year in review (part 2)

Site of the former Aka Bistro, soon to be Lincoln Kitchen.

December

November

October

September

August

July

Town mulling options for Complete Streets funding

New street markings and signs, safety improvements for bicyclists and even underground pedestrian tunnels were some of the ideas discussed at a public forum earlier this month.

The forum summarized  input from an earlier forum in October, an online survey, and comments about roadways and traffic at the State of the Town meeting last month. Town officials are gathering this information in preparation for applying for a grant of up to $400,000 under the state’s Complete Streets program, which targets local improvements to benefit drivers, bicyclists, public transit users and and pedestrians. These grants can help fund eligible projects after a municipality has developed a Complete Streets policy and a prioritization plan of desired improvements. Lincoln already received an initial $50,000 grant earlier this year to pay for the consulting work presented on December 7.

The town could apply for specific project funding after the new year, but the deadline for actually completing any 2017 projects is the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2017. Thus, any initial projects must already be “shovel-ready” and must not require any town funding above the $400,000 maximum grant, because the capital planning process is too far along. However, in future years, the town may seek grants for projects that would require funds (including design work) in excess of $400,000, with the balance paid by the town.

“In that first round, we’re not going to get to the issues that people are frankly excited about,” said Town Administrator Tim Higgins.

“Low-hanging fruit” that might be targeted for early 2017 includes roadside path improvements and links, signs, street markings and resurfacing, and crosswalks, said Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney.

The town could supplement future grants with capital planning or Community Preservation Act funds, other state funding programs or bonding. However, Higgins tempered expectations by noting that “historically, roadways and path improvements have not been high on the community’s priority list for funding” and that the town is already facing major expenditures for a school project and possible a community center.

Specific suggestions

Based on public input thus far, residents want to see improvements at various problematic intersections:

  • Lincoln Road and Codman Road
  • Route 2 and Bedford Road
  • Old Winter and Winter Streets
  • Lincoln Road and Route 117
  • Routes 126 and 117
  • Five Corners

Possible safety measures include better signal timing/phasing, flashing lights, stop signs, enhanced pavement markings, new guardrails, improved sight lines, relocated utility poles and/or speed humps.

Crosswalks were also suggested for Lexington and Trapelo Roads, Page and Trapelo Roads, Baker Bridge and Concord Roads, and Codman and Lincoln Roads. Other ideas that surfaced included a safer Bedford Road crossing at Route 2 involving a bridge or tunnel, and seeing if the public could use an existing tunnel under Route 117 owned by Mass Audubon.

Other types of projects suggested for Lincoln that are eligible for Complete Streets grants include:

  • Lincoln Station improvements such as signage, seating and/or a shelter for the commuter train stop, and paving the residents’ commuter parking lot.
  • Connecting some conservation trails, improving signage and allowing more types of usage
  • Improvements for bicyclists such as bike lanes and shared-use paths, shoulder maintenance (fixing debris and cracks), widening shoulders to a consistent 18 inches, and widening roads back to the original pavement where dirt and weeds have crept in

Burney and other officials will present a list of recommended projects and a draft Complete Streets policy to the Board of Selectmen in January.

More information:

 

ConsComm approves ‘land swap’ for solar installation

In this map, the blue outline represents the former Wang land proposed for conservation, the green outline would be for a new town athletic field, and the yellow outline is where the Birches School hopes to relocate. Click to enlarge.

A solar power installation atop the former town landfill moved one step closer to reality when the Conservation Commission voted last week to remove seven acres from conservation status and replace it with some of the purchased Wang property, contingent on voter approval.

After examining 25 possible sites in town, a consulting firm hired by Lincoln’s Solar PV Working Group concluded earlier this year that the best spot for a municipal solar array is the old landfill. However, there was a hitch. After it was capped years ago, the landfill site was designated as conservation land; by state law, it can’t be used for any other purpose unless the town substitutes another parcel equal in size and quality as part of its conservation inventory. Officials had hoped that part of the Hargreaves-Heald property purchased by the town earlier this year could be used for this purpose, but the state said this was not acceptable.

However, an alternative presented itself when the Rural Land Foundation and the Birches School purchased 16 acres of land off Bedford Road belonging to the late An and Lorraine Wang in November. If all goes as planned, residents will approve spending $850,000 to purchase 12 of those acres—roughly five acres for a future athletic field and seven acres to be set aside for conservation in place of the landfill piece. Those seven acres comprise three lots owned by the Wangs—one on the east side of Bedford Road abutting Route 2 to the north, and two on the west side of Oak Knoll Road.

The Conservation Commission noted that the Wang land meets the state’s conservation-substitution criteria because it offers “a significantly greater resource value” than the landfill acreage owing to its habitat, trail connections and vegetated buffer. In its unanimous vote, the commission also stipulated that it will review the solar-array construction documents prior to installation to ensure the continued protection of the landfill parcel’s resources, and that the land may be used only for a solar installation.

In a 2015 report, BlueWave Capital said a solar installation on the landfill site could produce more than 50 percent of Lincoln’s municipal electricity.