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

My Turn

Planning Board candidate forum on June 11

Lincoln resident Sharon Antia will host a forum on Zoom with the three Planning Board candidates running for two openings in the June 15 election on Thursday, June 11 at 7 p.m.

If you have a question you’d like to ask one or more of the candidates, please email it to sharon.antia@gmail.com and she will compile and ask as many questions as possible. Alternatively, on the evening of the forum, we will accept questions via the chat function in Zoom as time allows. Questions that have already been suggested include:

  • How will planning in Lincoln be influenced by the new world order? How will Lincoln’s relationship with Massachusetts, the nation at large, and the world influence any planning decisions? Do current events suggest we have any responsibility to think about the world at large when we think about planning in Lincoln?
  • How will the town support our local restaurants through this pandemic?
  • Is there anything the Planning Board can do to support social distancing and community building? 
  • What about housing, the transfer station, the DPW, and South and North Lincoln? What is the Planning Board’s role, and how should they collaborate with other boards and commissions?
  • And what about the school? Some people are worried that the refurbished building may be obsolete in a few years, or are wondering if we should reconsider the tax burden on residents What, if anything, can or should the Planning Board do to review the current school plans and potentially suggest alternatives?

Link to join the candidate’s forum:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86813510489?pwd=akR2WVZKWUY2djE3OFAyTlBCaTExZz09

  • Meeting ID: 868 1351 0489
  • Password: 310709

Click here to learn about early voting and voting by absentee ballot, and to obtain forms for either option. You can also vote in person on June 15 from 12–4 p.m. at Town Hall.

More information:

My Turn: Robert Domnitz on why he’s running for Planning Board again

(Editor’s note: Following is a statement submitted to the Lincoln Squirrel by Robert Domnitz, who is running in the only contested race in this year’s local election. He was included in a roundup of Planning Board candidates published on March 5. In 2015, he narrowly lost a race for reelection to Gary Taylor.)

By Robert Domnitz
Why I’m running for Planning Board (again!)

I previously served on the Lincoln Planning Board for 12 years, from 2003–15. I’m hoping to come out of “retirement” because I think our current Planning Board is heading in the wrong direction regarding revitalization of the Lincoln Station area. They are developing a complex revision to the town ‘s zoning bylaw which they believe will foster increased business activity and greater housing density.

Although this goal deserves town-wide consideration and debate, a key feature of their proposal is that they — and they alone — will have authority to approve large-scale development proposals without review by our Town Meeting. This is a dramatic departure from our traditional reliance on Town Meeting for major decisions. It will allow a five member Planning Board to make unreviewable decisions about changes to one of Lincoln’s most important and diverse neighborhoods.

As a member of the Planning Board, I will work to ensure that our Town Meeting continues to play the central role in Lincoln’s decisions about land use. I believe that the Planning Board’s current effort to foster revitalization of Lincoln Station without meaningful participation of Town Meeting is needlessly divisive. Conversely, with Town Meeting’s participation, we have the opportunity to welcome projects that appeal to neighbors, business owners, and the Town at large.

My core values: preserve the town’s character, strengthen our community

Our Zoning Bylaw is an expression of these same core values, allowing us to manage growth and change responsibly while respecting our historic and rural heritage. We benefit in Lincoln from the farsighted, altruistic actions of residents who conserved large tracts of land and adopted strategic preservation-oriented zoning. We are all stewards of this precious legacy.

My background
  • Public sector (municipal): Lincoln Planning Board; Lexington Planning Board; Hanscom Field Advisory Commission; Route 2 Oversight Committee; Battle Road Scenic Byway Committee.
  • Private Sector: president (retired), Technical Collaborative, Inc., an electronics R&D firm.
  • Education: B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT,  J.D. from Boston College Law School,
  • Contact: 781 259-1080, electbobpb@outlook.com

”My Turn” is a forum for Lincoln residents to offer their 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.

My Turn: Minneapolis police conduct is offensive to the values of our department

(Editor’s note: This statement was published on the Lincoln Police Department’s Facebook page on May 29, 2020 and is reprinted here with permission.)

By Kevin Kennedy

To the Lincoln community:

Today, I join my fellow Massachusetts Police Chiefs and law enforcement across the country in condemning the actions and inactions of the four Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of Mr. George Floyd on May 25, 2020.  Our thoughts and sympathy are with the Floyd family. 

As a police department, we have embraced the six pillars of the President’s Task Force on 21st-Century Policing. We are committed to our standards of professional conduct, community policing, procedural justice, constitutional policing, and treating everyone with respect, dignity, empathy, and compassion.

The conduct of the officers involved was offensive to the values of our department and our  community. 

Sincerely, 

A. Kevin Kennedy
Lincoln Chief of Police

”My Turn” is a forum for Lincoln residents to offer their 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.

Letters to the editor: Hanscom jet plans

letter

Following are two letters to the editor from Lincoln residents Kati Winchell and Jim Hutchinson concerning a Conservation Commission hearing on a Hanscom Civil Airport application. Letters to the editor must be signed and must be about a Lincoln-specific topic. They may be edited for length, grammar/punctuation, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Send letters via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com.

To the Editor: 

A private luxury jet facility at Hanscom Civil Airport has filed plans with Lincoln Conservation Commission to expand into Lincoln wetlands buffer zones–and in the process expand the airport’s footprint. Lincoln residents should take heed of this latest move by Massport to grow Hanscom Airport.

Jet Aviation’s plans include a new hangar (40,000 square feet, twice the size of the one being replaced), new ramp space (2.1 acres), and a new landside access road. All these features would run within or through Lincoln wetland buffer zones. Jet Aviation maintains that this wetlands area is of “low quality” and can therefore be developed. The fundamental question is: Why should Lincoln set aside its wetlands protection standards to support a development that’s designed to attract and grow one of the single most destructive environmental polluters—private luxury jets?

The facility’s proposed changes are intended to attract and accommodate Gulfstream 650s, the largest private jets made for international travel. Gulfstream 650s are touted as being more fuel-efficient than their smaller cousins. The fact is, however, that a single round trip to China from Hanscom would consume enough fuel to power a Toyota Prius for approximately one million miles. It would generate approximately 400 tons of CO2 equivalent—which is equal to more emissions than a typical family in India generates in an entire lifetime. And that single round trip would carry a maximum of eight passengers.

On Wednesday, February 19 at 8:15 p.m. a public hearing on Jet Aviation’s proposal is being held by the Lincoln Conservation Commission at the Town Offices, Donaldson Room. Lincoln residents will be able to comment on whether the Con Com should approve or deny Jet Aviation’s plans to develop in Lincoln’s wetlands buffer zones. Please come and let your voices be heard.

Sincerely,

Kati Winchell
227 Concord Road

To the Editor:

Lincoln residents should be deeply disturbed by Massport’s latest plan to grow Hanscom Civil Airport, particularly as it comes on the heels of yet another development. Last year, the historic Hangar 24 was demolished and is currently being replaced by a huge 90,000 sq ft private luxury jet facility. This year, Jet Aviation (an existing private jet facility) has plans to grow that would involve incursions into Lincoln wetlands buffer zones.

Though the plans involve Lincoln wetlands, they have potential far-reaching impacts for all four Hanscom-area towns (Bedford, Concord, and Lexington, and Lincoln) because the Jet Aviation proposal would expand the Airport footprint – just as the Hangar 24 development has in Concord. As the Airport footprint expands, so do operation levels, and with them noise and air pollution. This incremental expansion of the Airport doesn’t end here; there are more plans in the wings.

Hanscom Civil Airport is located in the heart of one of America’s highest concentrations of historic and natural resources. It is the only airport in the nation that abuts both a national park (Minute Man Park) and a national wildlife refuge (Great Meadows). Growing the Airport in these unique and sensitive surroundings is inappropriate. Growing it into a Town’s wetlands buffer zone should be out of the question. It would be the height of irony were Lincoln’s wetlands protection standards set aside to facilitate the growth of private luxury jet use, one of the least environmentally-friendly activities In existence.

Next Wednesday, Feb. 19, there will be a hearing on Jet Aviation’s expansion plans at the Lincoln Town Offices at 8:15pm. All Lincoln and Hanscom-area residents are encouraged to attend and voice your concerns about trading protected wetlands buffer zones for private luxury jet use.

Sincerely,

Jim Hutchinson
Stonehedge Road