In the calendar and the March 21 edition of “News acorns,” the registration link for “Three Unique Case Studies of Home Heating and Ventilation System Upgrades” on Monday, April 29 at 7 p.m. was incorrect. Those links have been corrected; click here to register.- In bullet point #7 in the April 1 story headlined “My Turn: What happened at Town Meeting?“, the editor’s insertion of a slash incorrectly implied that the “second HCAWG member” and “RLF chair” were the same person when in fact they were two different people. The article has been corrected.
news
Glass, Taylor defeat challengers in town election; community center vote fairly close
In the two contested races in the March 25 town election, Select Board member Jennifer Glass defeated Frank Clark to win a third term, 64%–36%, while Gary Taylor bested Sarah Postlethwait to retain his seat on the Planning Board, 58%–42%.
The ballot question on funding for the community center, which required a simple majority, passed by a margin of 57%–43%. The gap was much narrower than the corresponding Town Meeting vote two days earlier, when residents approved the measure 81%–19%, easily surpassing the required two-thirds threshold.
Voter turnout was 35% as 1,744 of the 5,018 Lincoln residents cast ballots.
| Precinct 1 | Precinct 2 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select Board (one opening) | |||
| Jennifer Glass | 705 | 382 | 1087 |
| Frank Clark | 407 | 196 | 603 |
| Write-in/blank | 39 | 15 | 54 |
| Board of Assessors | |||
| Edward H. Morgan | 836 | 429 | 1265 |
| Write-in/blank | 315 | 164 | 479 |
| Board of Health | |||
| Patricia Eileen Miller | 852 | 434 | 1286 |
| Write-in/blank | 299 | 159 | 458 |
| Cemetery Commissioner | |||
| Douglas Harding | 864 | 437 | 1301 |
| Write-in/blank | 287 | 156 | 443 |
| Commissioner of Trust Funds | |||
| Write-in | 69 | 43 | 112 |
| Blank | 1,082 | 550 | 550 |
| Housing Commission | |||
| Terry Perlmutter | 826 | 411 | 1237 |
| Write-in/blank | 325 | 182 | 507 |
| L-S Regional School District Committee* (two openings) | |||
| Catherine Bitter | 824 | 410 | 1234 |
| Maura Carty | 544 | 282 | 826 |
| Write-in/blank | 1,867 | 987 | 987 |
| Parks and Recreation Committee | |||
| Brianna Doo | 840 | 427 | 1267 |
| Write-in/blank | 311 | 166 | 477 |
| Planning Board (one opening) | |||
| Gerald Taylor | 641 | 311 | 952 |
| Sarah Postlethwait | 459 | 240 | 699 |
| Write-in/blank | 51 | 42 | 93 |
| School Committee (two openings) | |||
| Susan Taylor | 759 | 396 | 1155 |
| Yonca Heyse | 592 | 304 | 896 |
| Write-in/blank | 951 | 486 | 1437 |
| Trustees of Bemis | |||
| Miriam Borden | 830 | 424 | 1254 |
| Write-in/blank | 321 | 169 | 490 |
| Water Commissioner | |||
| Patrick Lawler | 847 | 426 | 1273 |
| Write-in/blank | 304 | 167 | 471 |
| Question 1 (community center funding) | |||
| Yes | 646 | 289 | 935 |
| No | 428 | 271 | 699 |
| Blank | 77 | 33 | 110 |
* Sudbury results were not available on Monday night.
My Turn: DeLisi’s version of HCA amendment events
By Lynn DeLisi
Editor’s note: DeLisi, a member of the Planning Board, originally posted the following as a comment on the March 25 Lincoln Squirrel story headlined “HCAWG, RLF were surprised by rumored amendment to zoning motion” and is being reprinted here with her permission.)
None of what is being reported here was shared with both Eph Flint and myself. In fact, let me set this straight: after Eph and I made it very clear that the Planning Board needed more time to address the many outstanding issues residents have raised, [board chair] Margaret Olson contacted me and suggested we do an amendment and told me that [Director of Planning and Land Use] Paula [Vaughn-Mackenzie] would help me. She further added that we could discuss it as a board and maybe then present a unified board to the town meeting instead of Eph and I supporting a “no” vote.
The next day, I contacted Paula; she convinced me not to go below 15 units per acre in the mall and had Utile approve the numbers I had. She asked me to get Eph’s approval, which I did. Margaret then called a special Planning Board Meeting for last Saturday, March 16, but since I was to be out of town then, it was postponed to be discussed at the Tuesday, March 19 Planning Board meeting. However, Eph and I never understood why it was taken off of the agenda and we were not aware that Paula had mentioned it at a [Housing Choice Act Working Group] meeting.
We both talked to many other town residents in the few days before Town Meeting and decided that an amendment was not the way to go — even though it was a step in the right direction and relieved some of the density we feared at the mall. The reason is that there were many other issues not yet discussed and still not, and there has been no consensus yet in town about how to do this right. Nor, most importantly, have the current residents of the Lincoln Station area been consulted about their views for the rezoning in some cases of their own properties. We wanted more time to reach a true compromise in a democratic way. We wanted representatives of different viewpoints to sit at the same table with the Planning Board to discuss what is most important and how to zone for it.
The reporting of the Working Group meeting by Alice Waugh is a good illustration of why that working group needs to be disbanded. Their discussion was never reported to us as Planning Board members and should have been.
I am extremely dismayed by the events of the last few weeks in our beloved town and hope our leadership can find a way to obtain a consensus among all of us for the sake of future generations of residents of Lincoln. I am also outraged that Eph and I were treated as “black sheep” and not allowed to present our wishes for the town at the podium.
I have been a member of the Planning Board for a decade and have never seen such an awful set of circumstances such as these develop — ultimately leading to a very weak and divided vote. I call now for a real vote at the polls.
“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.
Correction
The March 21 edition of “News Acorns” listed the wrong day of the week and time for the memorial for Susan Sugar. It will be held at the First Parish Church on Saturday, April 6 at 2 p.m. The original post has been corrected.
Anonymous mailbox flyer argues against Housing Choice Act
Ratcheting up the tension even further, one or more people left unsigned anti-Housing Choice Act flyers in mailboxes around town on the night of Tuesday, March 19, stirring disgust and police complaints by some of the recipients.
“It got to the point that multiple people were calling,” said Acting Police Chief Sean Kennedy. He cited calls from residents on Codman Road and Wheeler Road, “but in talking with the dispatcher, it sounded like it was all over town.”
The flyer lays out arguments for voting against the HCA rezoning measure, but contains a number of factual errors:
- It says the state is requiring affected towns to put in “many low income” housing units, when in fact the law does not have any such requirement and in fact limits the portion of affordable housing in HCA districts to 10%.
- It says that Lincoln has never applied for a state grant other than for the school, when in fact it has applied for and received several grants in recent years, including regional planning grants and $400,000 for designing expansion of the Lincoln Woods wastewater treatment plant.
- It incorrectly states that “we are looking at 800 units” and assumes those units will be filled with families of at least three people all at the same time, leading to a “sudden massive 50% increase in the town’s population” and a $30.8 million budget deficit for the town.
The flyer also implies that illegal immigrants could occupy some of the new housing.
One of the flyer recipients said other residents had sent him copies of a different flyer expressing similar anti-HCA sentiments that was left in mailboxes, though it’s unclear if the two versions were produced and distributed by different people.
After word spread about the incident, several residents — including several who oppose Lincoln’s HCA measure that will be voted on at Town Meeting on March 23 — decried the act on LincolnTalk.
Kennedy said he would speak with Lincoln’s postmaster, since leaving non-U.S. mail in people’s mailboxes is technically illegal, though there is no law or bylaw specifically forbidding it. He added that police had identified a person of interest who was seen putting papers in mailboxes on Wheeler Road. “We’re following up with a party to let them know that the postmaster doesn’t want them doing that,” he said.
Editor’s note
A reader took issue with the March 19 headline “LRHA proponents demand podium time at Town Meeting” in a story comment and emails to the Squirrel asked that it be changed, particularly the verb: “The use of ‘demand’ is prejudicial and indicates a negative view of the petition signers, many of whom are my neighbors who simply want more information. They are not members of LRHA but just people who want to learn about the opposition to Article 3 before they vote. Are you playing to a perceived audience? I hope not!” The original headline has been changed.
It is true that the word “demand” has a different connotation than the word “request,” so the verb in the headline has been changed. However, the Lincoln Squirrel feels it is disingenuous to think that a sizable portion of the 300+ signers of the letter cited in the article have not made up their minds, as opposed to “[simply] wanting more information,” so we have let stand “LRHA proponents” (which include Smith, according to the organization’s website). The text of the letter to the Select Board is below.
“These registered voters of the Town of Lincoln request of the Town Meeting Moderator, Planning Board and Select Board: Ten (10 ) minutes at the podium at the March 23, 2024 Town Meeting to present the perspective of the Lincoln Residents for Housing Alternatives (LRHA). As the LRHA proposal garnered a substantial percentage of the vote in the previous Town Meeting, and in light of the Planning Board’s 3-2 split vote on February 26th, we respectfully ask that the democratic process be honored. As such, we request a designated spokesperson be allowed to present the perspective of the LRHA to Article 3.”
My Turn: Vote no on the “bluntest instrument” for HCA compliance
By Randy Harrison
I am planning to vote no (for now) on Option C. Here’s why.
The Housing Choice Act (HCA) has given us a unique generational challenge and opportunity. At this point in the process, I’m hearing lots of winner-take-all, us-versus-them sentiments coming from all sides: “If you vote yes, you don’t care about Lincoln’s love of the environment and history of stewardship of the land” and “If you vote no, you are anti-development, anti-transit, and anti-diversity,” etc. Having lived in town for 30 years, raised our son, and gotten to know so many wonderful folks here, I’m hard-pressed to believe that either assumption is correct.
I originally thought that Option C might be the best solution, but with the information now at hand, the clarity I have personally sought has been elusive. Option C now appears to me to be the bluntest instrument to meet our HCA obligation. Even the Planning Board is split on this issue, which indicates that we still have work to do.
No matter what the outcome, don’t we and the generations that follow deserve to know that we have done everything we can to find a solution that embraces and unites the best of our community? This is where my “No (for now)” vote comes from and why I will be voting for Sarah Postlethwait for Planning Board.
“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.
My Turn: Vote “yes” on HCA zoning and “no” on community center
By Ken Hurd
With apologies to all those who have worked to bring a new community center to Lincoln, I once again feel compelled to voice my strongly held opinion as an architect concerned with what we build in Lincoln, and I want to remind everyone why I and so many others believe we should not build a community center on the school campus. I still believe the Council on Aging component should be located in Lincoln Station and let the LEAP and the Recreation Department be located at the school.
First and foremost, I believe that a $25 million investment by the town should be deployed where it would have the greatest positive impact — namely in the Lincoln Station area. For nearly 14 years since Town Meeting approved the Comprehensive Long-Range Plan, in which the revitalization of Lincoln Station was overwhelmingly one of the highest priorities, the area has lain dormant and in serious need of a catalyst to jumpstart its transformation into the compact, vital, walkable village center that was a stated goal at the time. Unless Lincoln is proactive in embracing change, the area will continue to decline.
Equally important, I believe that many of the decisions and commitments that led to the current community center proposal were well-intended but somewhat myopic, and to make matters worse, they now predate the new realities of post-pandemic life in the 21st century. Chief among these is our increased awareness of the effects of climate change as warmer winters, hotter summers, and earlier springs dominate our lived experience, suggesting that anything we can do to minimize our dependence on the automobile should be a very high priority.
I also never bought into the idea that mixing octogenarian driving skills with children on a playing field was anything but an accident waiting to happen. And in the new age of the AR-15, I would remind everyone that school shooting incidents in the U.S. have skyrocketed since 2015. In 2023 alone, there were 198 shooting incidents at K-12 schools, six of which involved active shooters. Of course, everyone believes it won’t happen here, just as everyone believed it wouldn’t happen when and where the shootings did occur. Why we would even consider locating an adult facility on a school campus in such an era of random and unpredictable violence is beyond me.
From a planning standpoint, the economic disruption caused by the pandemic combined with the dramatic increase in wealth inequality over the last decade has put increased pressure on the need for more housing in the region. For economic reasons, many seniors who might want to downsize are somewhat locked into staying in their larger homes until there are reasonable housing alternatives from which to choose. Thanks to the HCA, we are bound to see at least some increase in housing in the Lincoln Station area, and most professional planners I know would consider this a golden opportunity to locate the COA in the middle of such a potential concentration of housing. Doing so would not only create a symbiotic relationship among the multiple uses desired, but also between the primary users and the facility should the right mix and size of units be offered.
Lastly, we learned at the recent informational session on March 7 that the current proposed zoning regulations for the HCA overlay district contain no language that would prohibit such a use. We also learned that the RLF has never been asked by the town if they would be amenable to incorporating the needed COA spaces into any development they do.
Frankly, if the COA component of the community center were incorporated in the RLF’s plan for redevelopment, it would represent a plus to any potential developer’s pro forma — namely, to have a confirmed tenant for an active community use in a purposely designed ground-level space. This strategy would minimize the cost to Lincoln in upfront financing for design and construction, and it would replace public project inefficiencies with professional development expertise. Doing so may make the new community center facility far more affordable to the town’s already stressed taxpayers.
So, my hope is that voters will vote YES for Article 3 and vote NO on Article 4.That way, I believe it opens a door for the RLF and the town to work together on an overall masterplan that addresses many of these larger issues in a much more holistic fashion, ultimately helping to transform Lincoln Station to its full potential as a truly vital, walkable village center. Remember, we humans shape our environments at a moment in time, and then they shape us for decades to come.
“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.
Correction
In the March 18 article headlined “My Turn: Meet your Article 3 neighbors before you vote,” there were words missing at the end of several sentences. The post has been corrected.
My Turn: An explanation of the ballot vote on community center
By Lynne Smith
At Town Meeting on March 23, the Community Center Building Committee will present slides illustrating a new building proposed to house the Council on Aging & Human Services, the Parks and Recreation Department, and the LEAP after-school program. While the renderings of any new building are always exciting to preview, I caution you not to get too excited.
At $24 million, the building is expensive. I recently received my paper ballot and looked at the March 25 election question we will vote on if the community center vote passes at Town Meeting. Here is what it says:
Question 1:
Shall the Town of Lincoln be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition Two-and-One-half, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds issued for the purpose of paying the costs of designing, renovating, rebuilding, constructing, equipping, and furnishing a new Community Center to be located in the Hartwell Complex of the Ballfield Road school campus, Lincoln MA, including payment of costs incidental or related thereto?
Yes___ No____
The language baffled me: it did not mention the $24 million cost and it seemed to suggest a tax increase was somehow “exempt”!
As I read the warrant prepared for Town Meeting by the Finance Committee and discussed it with my husband, we came up with this explanation:
- Proposition 2½ limits the amount our tax levy can increase each year (2.5%) without requiring an override with a supermajority of voters.
- But the law provides for so-called “exclusions” for capital or debt to allow residents to vote for one-time projects that are outside (above and beyond) of the Prop 2½ levy limit.
- Those exclusions require a supermajority vote at Town Meeting (March 23), as well as a simple majority at the ballot box (March 25).
So residents voting yes on this ballot measure are permitting a one-time exemption (exclusion) from the 2.5% annual levy limit increase imposed by Prop 2½. The fact is, this one-time exclusion will result in taxes over the next 30 or so years during which the bond is repaid. The $94 million school was also a one-time exclusion. We aren’t calling it an override even though it will increase our taxes and draw down our stabilization fund. Instead, it is an exclusion.
But wait, there’s more!
To minimize a residential tax increase for the community center, the Finance Committee recommends using $2 million of tree cash that would otherwise go to our stabilization fund plus $4.75 million from the current stabilization fund balance (see the bottom of page 2 of the warrant book.)
In total, $6.75 million from saved taxes will be used to fund the community center. The stabilization fund is used for unplanned but necessary expenses and the so-called free cash comes from the 2.5% tax increase that Lincoln residents pay every year, whether or not the budget requires it. We are paying it forward! Despite raiding both the free cash and stabilization funds, the cost of the debt for a new community center building will increase our taxes substantially.
While I appreciate the efforts of the Finance Committee to fund all the projects we ask for, I am definitely voting no at Town Meeting and on the paper ballot on March 25. I would rather use our stabilization fund to adapt existing buildings for new uses, not demolish serviceable ones.
“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.