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

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Help guide the future of housing in Lincoln

houseThe Lincoln Housing Commission invites residents to participate in a survey about the town’s new five-year Housing Plan—and it’s also looking for new commission member.

The Housing Commission wants to understand what residents think Lincoln’s housing priorities should be and what kinds of housing needs should be addressed in the new plan. Results from this survey will help make the plan appropriate for Lincoln and realistic for implementation over the next five years.

For purposes of the survey, “affordable housing” means a home that moderate-income people can own or rent at a monthly housing cost that’s approximately 30 percent of their gross monthly income. In Lincoln’s area, a family of four with an annual income of $65,000 per year qualifies as moderate income.

The housing survey is now available online and in hard copy at the Council on Aging, the Lincoln Public Library, and other locations around town. The online survey is also linked to the Town of Lincoln home page.

The commission is seeking a new member for a three-year term to help make a significant contribution to the future of affordable housing in Lincoln. The group meets twice a month on the first and third Fridays at 8 a.m. Please call Pamela Gallup at 781-259-0393 to learn more.

School project survey announced

By Alice Waugh

How do you really feel about the school building project? The Lincoln School District is surveying town voters to find out what they like and don’t like about the plan that was voted on in November—and what would garner more support for the project.

Registered voters may complete the survey online or fill out a paper version that will be mailed to all Lincoln households, though each voter is asked to fill out only one version. The completion deadline is February 1. Results will be used by the School Committee and School Building Committee (SBC) as they discuss the future of the project. It’s still unclear to what extent the approved plan can be changed while still qualifying for $21 million in state funding, but the town has until February 28 to tell the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) how it plans to proceed.

The survey asks voters what they think are the top three problems and/or benefits of the project. The problems offered on the survey are:

  • Not clear that the existing building has significant structural, systems, and/or educational needs
  • The site design (parking, roads, fields) of proposed project was worse than the existing site
  • The layout of proposed building was worse than the existing building
  • The proposed project tore down the Smith Gym and classrooms built in 1994
  • Not sure the project provided value for Lincoln’s portion of the cost ($29 million)
  • The project would have raised Lincoln’s taxes too much
  • Lincoln needs other non-school community facilities

The survey also asks residents if they agree, disagree, or aren’t sure about these statements:

  • The Lincoln School building has significant systems and repair needs
  • Having a kitchen and cafeteria would benefit the entire Lincoln community
  • If asked again, I would vote for the MSBA-approved project as presented at Town Meeting
  • I would vote for the MSBA-approved project if changes were made to the site design (e.g., parking was less visible; more of center field is preserved; more trees saved)
  • I would vote to spend $29 million on a project that keeps the current (“L-shaped”) layout of the building
  • I would vote to spend MORE than $29 million IF the project keeps the current (“L-shaped”) layout of the building
  • It is acceptable to have students in temporary trailers during construction
  • The school should do minimal repairs as needed and avoid code compliance triggers as long as possible
  • The building should be handicap accessible and brought up to present-day fire & safety codes
  • The Lincoln portion of the MSBA-approved project ($29 million) increased taxes too much

Future meetings

The SBC also announced a change in location for one of the upcoming meetings about the school project. The January 22 meeting to plan the two community charrettes will be held in the Hartwell multipurpose room rather than Reed Gym at 7:30 p.m. Residents are invited to attend one of the two identical charrettes:

    • Sunday, January 27:  1-4 p.m., Hartwell multipurpose room
    • Thursday, January 31:  7-10 p.m., Reed Gym

On Wednesday, February 6, the SBC will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Reed Gym to plan its response to the MSBA, which told town officials in a December 14 letter that the project could retain the promised $21 million in state funding only if the school district “determines as a result of its community outreach that the same project as proposed and approved by the MSBA is the preferred direction.”

Residents ask for more financial, community use considerations in school project

By Alice Waugh

Heeding the School Building Committee’s call for more public input on what the school building project should look like, dozens attended a January 9 SBC workshop and asked for a building that considered the needs of the broader community and was closely connected to its surrounding natural environment.

The workshop’s goal was to reexamine the guiding principles and evaluation criteria that were used in developing the school project. Residents broke into groups and contributed ideas that were then written on poster paper hung on the walls of Reed Gym.

The SBC will decide on a final consolidated set of criteria at its January 22 meeting.

[Read more…] about Residents ask for more financial, community use considerations in school project

School, LEAP beefing up security

The Lincoln After-school Extended-day Program (LEAP) has begun keepings its door locked at times, and this week the Lincoln Schools will announce measures to increase security in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

When the children are indoors doing homework or other activities, LEAP visitors must now ring a doorbell and be admitted by a staff member. The door will not be locked when children are playing outside under staff supervision, said Susan Callum, program administrator at LEAP, adding that the locked-door policy was put in place after discussions with the Lincoln Police Department.

It’s a minor inconvenience to ring the bell and wait at the door rather than walk right in as before, “I think the parents understand,” Callum said, adding that eventually she hopes to replace the doorbell with a keypad system.

Many other Boston-area school districts have increased their security measures since the tragedy in Newton, Conn., when a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and six staff members on December 14, 2012.

Lincoln School District officials and staff have also been meeting with Lincoln police to review security procedures at the Lincoln and Hanscom schools, Superintendent Becky McFall said on Friday. At the Lincoln School, all teachers must wear a visible plastic badge. Visitors are required to sign in at the office and wear a paper name badge, though this policy is not always strictly enforced.

Each teacher has a quick-reference “flip book” crisis manual of procedures to follow in the event of a school evacuation, lockdown, bomb threat, suspicious package or other potential danger, McFall said. There will be an afternoon of additional training for teachers and staff as well as more frequent lockdown drills while school is in session, she added.

The School Committee discussed the issue in executive session at its January 19 meeting, McFall said. She plans to send a letter to parents this week outlining what security measures are already in place, as well as any new steps to tighten security, McFall said.

Déjà vu?

From the editor:

I had an oddly sad feeling when I picked up my Lincoln Journal yesterday and saw that the only “pure Lincoln” story was a piece about the transfer station swap table that I wrote back in July 2012. This was a “tryout” story the editor had assigned me to see if I could be a freelancer for the paper, though it was never published and I more or less forgot about it. Obviously they still had it, and they apparently ran it  at a time when this was their only available Lincoln story. (As an aside, I did end up writing several stories for the Lincoln Journal; they’re reposted chronologically here in the Lincoln Squirrel starting in October 2012.)

This is not a snarky attack on the Journal, which is in the same fix as thousands of other newspapers bedeviled by free Internet sites for news and advertising, as well as rising printing and distribution costs. Having worked for several small newspapers myself, I truly sympathize with what’s left of their staff in the wake of acquisitions and cutbacks. Sadly, this just shows that the product eventually suffers when you cut too much. The news business is still looking for a new business model that works for them and for readers, but trying to maintain the status quo isn’t working, though I have no knowledge about the situation at Lincoln Journal other than the fact that for some time now, they have not had a full-time editor or writer, but have had to share those resources with sister newspapers in the area.

I started the Lincoln Squirrel because I like doing local journalism and I thought Lincoln could use some additional coverage. I view myself as fortunate that I don’t depend on income from a newspaper or a website to pay my bills, and I feel downcast for the newspaper employees who are doing the best they can with insufficient resources and the readers who aren’t getting the coverage they need.

Any far-reaching suggestions on how to fix the news problem? Your comments are welcome. Meanwhile, here’s some more background and food for thought:

Crucial meetings on school project begin Wednesday

The School Building Committee this week kicks off a series of meetings to ratchet up communication between residents and the SBC about what the school project should look like—or whether it should go forward under the current scenario at all.

The SBC is trying to regroup after the project failed to garner a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting on November 3. Members are treading a fine line, trying to learn what changes in the project will garner enough resident support while also knowing that if the town comes back with a “different project” than what the Massachusetts School Building Authority previously approved, a promised $21 million MSBA grant is off the table and the town must start the process from the start. Still to be determined is the extent of resident-supported tweaks to the plan, if any, that the MSBA will accept without considering the project to be “different.”

The town has until February 28 to inform the MSBA of how it wants to proceed.

The SBC will host a “Guiding Principles and Evaluation Criteria Workshop” on Wednesday, January 9 from 7-10 p.m. in Reed Gym. “Two years ago, the SBC reached out to the community to develop a set of guiding principles and criteria that were used to develop the school building project. Are they still the right criteria? Are there others that should be added? We need as many people as possible to participate in the upcoming series of meetings. The workshop on January 9th is an opportunity to review the educational and other criteria that were used to develop the school building project,” the SBC said an email to Lincoln School parents and others.

The SBC email also included these details about the meetings:

Wednesday, January 9
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND EVALUATION CRITERIA WORKSHOP

Wednesday, January 16
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
CONSIDERING SITE AND DESIGN CONCERNS AND IDEAS
The SBC is soliciting site and design ideas from the public. If members of the community have ideas that require presentation time, please contact the School Committee at schoolcomm@lincnet.org by January 11 (date extended). There will also be an opportunity for the public to generate ideas and to discuss ideas that have been raised.

Tuesday, January 22
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
PLAN FOR COMMUNITY CHARRETTES
Using the guiding principles and evaluation criteria from the January 9 meeting, evaluate several scenarios. To reach as many citizens as possible, the same event will be offered at two different times.

Community charrettes—two identical sessions to evaluate several scenarios:

  • Sunday, January 27
    1-4 p.m., Reed Gym
  • Thursday, January 31
    7-10 p.m., Reed Gym

Information from the two events will be compiled by the SBC in order to determine its response to the MSBA.

Wednesday, February 6
7:30-10:30 p.m., Reed Gym
PLANNING THE RESPONSE TO THE MSBA

Happy new year!

Happy 2013 from the Lincoln Squirrel! I hope everyone behaved themselves on New Year’s Eve, unlike my friend here…

 

Do you have some random squirrelly video, picture or text you’d like to submit? I’ll post stuff like this from time to time, and you can find them in the “just for fun” category. Shoot me an email at lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. And don’t forget to “like” the Squirrel on Facebook to get updates in your Facebook news stream:

https://www.facebook.com/LincolnSquirrel

Roadside trees marked for culling

Dead trees including this one on Weston Road have been targeted or removal by the DPW. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

By Alice Waugh

The Department of Public Works will host a December 19 public hearing to discuss the fate of several roadside trees that have been slated for removal for public safety purposes.

Twelve of the 28 trees within the town’s roadside rights of way have been targeted because they interfere with sight lines at the intersection of Route 117 and Lincoln Road, where 12 are targeted adjacent to 203 Lincoln Rd. Others were tagged because they are dead. The specific trees are listed on the notice of the hearing, where residents with any comments or objections to the removals may speak. The hearing will be held at 8 p.m. at the DPW headquarters at 30 Lewis St.

Any trees cut down by the DPW will be brought in segments (unsplit) to its Lewis Street site, where residents are welcome to take them for firewood or other purposes. If a contractor is hired, that company will haul away the wood, said DPW head Chris Bibbo.

Branches from trees as well as many others that were removed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and other storms are also available in the form of wood chips at the DPW. Anyone with a Lincoln transfer station sticker may take wood chips and logs.

Town Office Building renovations coming along

The Lincoln Town Office Building

By Alice Waugh

Officials and workers have been pleasantly surprised at the craftsmanship they’ve discovered inside the walls of the century-old Town Office Building, whose renovation project is proceeding on schedule.

At  a November 16 Council on Aging presentation, Richard Thuma of project manager Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc. and Assistant Town Administrator Anita Scheipers showed photos of the building’s interior wall structure with angled braces between the vertical studs, which is not something found in modern buildings. [Read more…] about Town Office Building renovations coming along