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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 Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.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.

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.

My Turn: “No for now” will lead to “yes together”

By Lynne Smith

Many people in town are aware of the emotions around the Housing Choice Act proposed zoning amendment. These emotions are a testament to the fierce love we have for Lincoln. We cherish its past, appreciate its current beauty, and imagine a rejuvenating future that builds on our values. People on both sides of the issue share these feelings but disagree over the path.

We all want to:

  1. Comply with the HCA
  2. Add new multifamily units at lower prices than existing housing
  3. Protect retail business and parking at the mall
  4. Minimize environmental impact and preserve green space
  5. Continue Lincoln’s practice of 15%+ affordable housing
  6. Recognize Lincoln’s past success in developing 800 multifamily units (40% of our existing housing)

I believe we all want to be thoughtful and thorough about this momentous decision.

One of the main issues that deserves further discussion is this: A yes vote at Town Meeting would permit 100 units of housing* to be built at the Lincoln Mall. The Rural Land Foundation, owner of the mall, has shown a preliminary plan with 40 units, but has stated that allowing only 40 units is “not economically viable.” Where would the additional 60 units be built? Unfortunately, due to the finite space available at the mall, the likely outcome would be the replacement of retail space with housing units — the demise of Lincoln’s retail center.

We are fortunate to have Lincoln resident Ben Shiller, an economics professor, engaged with this issue. He has created a video that explains the problems with large-scale development of the mall and you can watch it here.

Ben Shiller is part of a data-driven grassroots organization that has been analyzing the HCA rezoning since last September. This group has coalesced as the Lincoln Residents for Housing Alternatives, LRHA, which corrected flaws in the initial zoning proposed by the Planning Board. LRHA has put together an informative website that describes and illustrates HCA issues. You can review it here before making a final decision.

I’m voting no for now to get to yes together! We should pause before taking the irreversible step of voting yes on Article 3 at Town Meeting on March 23. It will pass if only a simple majority of voters who attend the Town Meeting in person vote in favor. This could leave much of the town deeply dissatisfied with the result as well as with the process for the development of the proposed zoning, which was rushed through ahead of the legally permitted timeline without adequate time for public input to be received and incorporated.

Lincoln has until December 2024 to submit the HCA proposal. With a nine-month runway, a collaborative working group could craft a proposal that would pass with a substantial majority. An ideal plan would allow representatives from the LRHA and from a working group appointed by the Select Board to sit down together, analyze the data, iron out differences, and create a better choice with more public input. Much work has already been done and residents are more informed. A direct dialog with reasonable people on both sides could quickly lead to a consensus. I believe this group could arrive at a first draft by the end of May, revise and share it with residents over the summer months, and then present it in September, well before the state mandated deadline of December 31, 2024.

Members of the Planning Board and the Select Board have said we have time to get this right:

Jim Hutchinson, Select Board (March 7, 2024)

“If you like Option C, you should be comfortable voting for it, but if you don’t like it and want us to go in a different direction, we’ll get everyone back to the table and come up with a compromise to consider before year end.” 

Ephraim Flint and Lynn DeLisi, Planning Board (March 6, 2024):

“…we need more time to bring people together to discuss a compromise solution that most residents of town can agree on. This too could be done by forming a new subcommittee of the Planning Board to help obtain consensus between opposing views.”

Please join me in making sure that we take the necessary time to unite our town and to get the HCA Right. Vote “no for now.”

*Current proposal zones the mall’s four acres at 25 units per acre.

“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.

News acorns

Tours of Hartwell pods this week

In preparation for the March 23 Annual Town Meeting, residents are invited to tour the Hartwell pods with Brandon Kelly, Lincoln’s facilities manager, starting at pod A on these dates:

  • Wednesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 21 at 9 a.m.
  • Friday, March 22 at 9 a.m.
  • Saturday, March 23 at 8 a.m.

Article 4 at Town Meeting asks if the town will fund construction of a community center to meet the needs of the Council on Aging & Human Services, the Parks and Recreation Department, and the Lincoln Extended-Day Activities Program. The community center would be built on the site of the Hartwell Pods. 

Indoor arts and farmer’s market on March 30

The third off-season indoor Lincoln Arts and Farmers Market will take place at Pierce House on Saturday, March 30 from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. There will be an Easter egg hunt (open to all, drop by any time to search), fresh cut flowers, spring potted plants, gift cards, crochet arts, alpaca yarn, honey and hot sauce, pottery, and photo opportunities. Click here to pre-book a sitting with photographer Jocelyn Finlay.

Kids invited to play Vernal Pool Bingo

Compete for the prize of an annual parking pass for all Massachusetts state parks worth $60 by entering the Vernal Pool Bingo contest. Contestants must be 18 or younger. The winner will be drawn at random from contestants who have completed two rows of tasks. Forms must be returned by April 28. Click here for more information on the contest and related upcoming events: a reading of The Noisy Puddle: A Vernal Pool through the Seasons on March 30 and a vernal pool walk on April 27. Sponsored by Lincoln Public Library, the Conservation Department, and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust.

Classes and events at Codman Community Farms

Codman Community Farms is offering several classes and other events this spring — click here for the full list, or click on a title below for details and registration.

Rep. Gentile schedules office hours

State Rep. Carmine Gentile (D-Sudbury) will hold virtual office hours on Tuesday, March 26 from 1–3 p.m. Any constituent who wishes to speak to Rep. Gentile can sign up for a 20-minute time slot by emailing his legislative aide, Ravi Simon, at ravi.simon@mahouse.gov. Please provide your full name, address, phone number, email, and discussion topic.

My Turn: How attractive is Lincoln’s village center to developers?

By Tom Walker

Setting aside the RLF mall, how financially attractive is developing multi-unit housing in Lincoln’s village center? This is an important question that keeps coming up and has been raised again most recently on LincolnTalk. Some research I did back in November to inform my own choice before the State of the Town meeting may add some useful information to the ongoing conversation.

In November, I reached out to a developer I know who’s been involved in small and large projects around Boston for many decades. My concern was that if Lincoln’s village center is financially very attractive to developers under the HCA, it probably would make sense to err on the side of constraining multi-unit housing development opportunities there (i.e., zone for fewer units). My research led me to a different conclusion.

It turned out that my developer contact, who knows Lincoln well, owns several buildings in neighboring towns similar to Lincoln that he is evaluating for development under HCA. He was kind enough to talk me through the detailed financial analysis for one of these buildings and his analysis provides useful insights into the likelihood of development for properties (in Lincoln’s village center. His potential project involves a relatively large building (>100 units) in a town that borders Lincoln. The building provides reasonable economies of scale and already has sewer and water connections, parking, and adequate stormwater controls.

For the Lincoln village center properties, by way of contrast, parcels would need to be assembled to achieve scale economies, sewage treatment is challenging, parking is constrained, stormwater infrastructure is problematic and facing increasingly stringent state regulations. All these issues would make development in Lincoln substantially more complex and expensive.

Even with the economic advantages afforded the multi-unit housing project in the neighboring town development of the project under HCA turns out not to be financially very attractive. This is due primarily to high construction costs — besides high material and labor costs, the developer pointed to other incidental costs, such builders’ insurance, that have risen dramatically in recent years. Affordability requirements imposed by towns add to the cost. High interest rates and a pullback by lenders have also created real barriers to development. The financial analysis ultimately indicates that a developer would be just about as well off leaving his or her money in the bank as investing in this HCA development project.

While this is just one example, it suggests that development in Lincoln’s village center may not be the path to riches for developers that is sometimes claimed. Yes, lower interest rates will improve the profitability of projects. But the remaining challenges of assembling parcels to achieve scale economies, solving the septic, parking and stormwater issues, addressing affordable housing requirements, and navigating the general complexity of Lincoln’s bylaw and design guidelines all make multi-unit housing in Lincoln’s village center expensive and probably less attractive than opportunities for larger developments in other towns in the region.

Given this state of affairs, my own conclusion back in December was that an option providing the largest number of opportunities (Option C) in the village center maximizes the likelihood that Lincoln gets at least some multi-unit housing, although I’m not at all convinced that the economics will result in much actual building. In the intervening months, I’ve seen no information, data, or analysis that changes my view.

“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: Jennifer Glass for Select Board

By Jonathan Dwyer

Many times, I have witnessed Jennifer’s wisdom, skill, and thoughtfulness from the upper rows of the Harriett Todd Lecture Hall in Donaldson Auditorium, from the seat beside her at our board meetings, in the parlor room at Bemis Hall, and on the grass at Pierce Park. She is everywhere in town, and wherever she goes, she is taking care of business and bringing people together. 

I remember in 2012 when Jennifer was chair of the School Committee, she pursued the most fiscally responsible decision the town could make: a $49 million school project that would only cost the town $29 million after state funding. Her knack for designing inclusive processes that promote community input showed in the many forums and charettes ahead of the town vote for the project. That vote failed, but Jennifer immediately invested effort, resourcefulness, and persistence into restarting the process.

Incredibly dedicated, she volunteered for School Building Committee #2, that resulted in the recently finished school project. I remember watching Jennifer and her committee colleagues, over many cycles and numerous hours, debate options for reducing inflation-driven cost projections back in line with budget. 

Concurrently with SBC #2, she was on the Select Board where she led the town’s Property Tax Study Committee. Anticipating that school building costs might exceed the financial means of some residents, this committee researched ways to provide relief. The committee’s proposal was approved at Town Meeting and submitted to the state for approval. 

When the Water Commission needed a temporary member, she volunteered to serve as a commissioner and assist the commission in identifying financially responsible options for implementing essential upgrades to the filtration system, as required by regulators.

Jennifer wants you to be informed and works hard at it. She has been instrumental in connecting Select Board members to residents, with meetings in locations beyond Town Hall. There have been regular Ask a Select Board Member drop-ins at Bemis Hall, Lincoln Woods, Battle Road Farm, PTO meetings, Parks & Recreation concerts, and summer camp drop-off time. She is the editor-in-chief of the Select Board Newsletter you receive in the mail.

We saw her at Pierce Park commemorating Memorial Day, July 4th, Black Lives Matter, Pride Progress, and standing behind a table providing information on Lincoln’s committees.

In so many ways, she visibly demonstrates how much she cares about Lincoln, its schools, municipal services, infrastructure, and people. She has a long history of pursuing inclusive processes and long-term value for our tax dollars.

Jennifer cares about you, and our town. I respectfully ask that you join me in voting her back onto the Select Board on March 25.

Dwyer served two terms on the Select Board from 2017–2023.

“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.

Clarification

The headline and some of the text in the March 7 article headlined about the March 4 Select Board meeting on two major issues has been edited to clarify that the board did not offer a full unconditional endorsement of the amended zoning bylaw as they did for the community center measure.

“Our letter basically says, ‘the Housing Choice Act Working Group and the Planning Board did a good job. If you like Option C, you should be comfortable voting for it, but if you don’t like it and want us to go in a different direction, we’ll get everyone back to the table and come up with a compromise to consider before year end’,” Select Board Chair Jim Hutchinson summarized in a March 8 email to the Lincoln Squirrel.