Codman Community Farm is about to go “net zero” in terms of energy use, thanks partly to the rooftop solar panels now being installed. It’s the first town building to host a solar project, though certainly not the last — the renovated Lincoln School will also be net-zero. Click here for more photos, and see the Lincoln Squirrel articles on April 7 and May 13, 2019 for more background.
Several organizations in Lincoln are offering music outdoors this summer.
The Park and Rec summer concert series kicks off with Dadda on Wednesday, June 26. Each concert features a cookout to benefit Cops For Kids with Cancer. Concerts begin at 6 p.m. at the Codman Pool. Pool use for nonmembers during the show is $5 per person. Concerts will be cancelled or rescheduled for rain; check www.LincolnRec.com for updates.
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary’s Friday evening music series invites people of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate local music, local food, and community-based environmental action starting on Friday, June 28. The eclectic mix of folk, bluegrass, Americana, and rock throughout the summer is sure to have something for everyone.
In addition to live music, the concert series will feature various lawn games and climate-related activities for kids and adults to learn how they can make a difference in their own communities. Concert goers are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs, and a picnic dinner to relax on the lawn and enjoy the music. Ice cream and nonalcoholic beverages will be available for sale.
All shows are from 6–9 p.m. (the lawn opens at 5:30). Tickets are $15 for adults age 13 and older and free for children 12 and under (maximum $45 per family). Click here to purchase tickets.
Music in the Courtyard features music in the sculpture park’s Café Courtyard on Thursdays starting July 11 from 6:30–8 p.m. (doors at 6:00). Sip some wine, savor a brew, enjoy a snack, and enjoy performances by local musicians Tickets are $5 for members and $10 for nonmembers. In case of rain, performances will take place inside the café. Outdoor seating is limited to 50, so advance purchase is recommended.
(Editor’s note: click here for the complete set of slides and explanatory notes discussed at the Property Tax Study Committee forum.)
By Alice Waugh
To soften the blow of the imminent property tax increase, a town committee has suggested two options: a means-tested circuit breaker program and a residential exemption for certain properties.
The Property Tax Study Committee was formed last winter amid worries that some homeowners will not be able to afford the tax increase that was approved to pay for the $93 million school project. Figures released in February projected an average increase of 12.7% for fiscal 2020. The group has been gathering information for several months on the financial demographics of property owners, what tax mitigation programs currently exist, and what other towns and the state have done to help squeezed taxpayers.
As it tried to gauge financial need in town, the group found that about 25% of Lincoln households are defined as “cost-burdened” when it comes to housing costs, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income for housing. The town’s stock of affordable housing will increase once Oriole Landing opens, but there is currently a three-year waiting list for affordable rental units in Lincoln Woods, Selectman Jennifer Glass said at the committee’s June 18 public forum.
The most heavily used tax relief program in Lincoln is the senior/veterans work-off program whereby qualified residents can earn reductions of up to $1,500 by working for the town, Glass said. Homeowners and renters 65 and older can also qualify for the state’s Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit program. Residents can also receive financial, food assistance, and social services from other town programs. The St. Vincent de Paul/St. Joseph food pantry is serving about four times as many clients as in 2011, and the Parks & Recreation Department has also seen an increase in demand for financial aid, Glass said.
One option is for the town to expand on the state circuit-breaker program, which aims to ensure that residents over 65 do not pay more than 10% of their income on property taxes. That program, which is available to both renters and homeowners who meet income, asset and property value limits, has a benefit limit of $1,100. However, in towns like Lincoln with high property values and taxes, that benefit is often not enough to bring the tax bill down to 10% of income.
Three area towns — Sudbury, Concord, and Wayland — have applied for permission from the Commonwealth to create extension programs to bridge that gap. Such programs require approval from the legislature as well as Town Meeting. (Click here for a comparison of state and town programs.)
In Lincoln, 577 of the 1,940 single-family residences qualify for the existing state circuit breaker by virtue of having owners 65 or older who have lived in town for at least 10 years. The property tax committee estimated that anywhere from 224 to 466 properties might qualify under a circuit-breaker extension program, depending on income and assets.
The second option, a residential tax exemption would make property taxes more progressive and to try to preserve moderate-income housing by providing tax relief regardless of age or income. In this scenario, the Board of Selectmen would set an exemption of zero to 35% of the town’s average property value. That exemption would be translated into a dollar amount and become a fixed deduction from the assessment of every owner-occupied residential property.
The effect would be to reduce taxes on eligible properties with valuations below a given “break even” point. For 2019 in Lincoln, anyone with a home value under $1.14 million would pay less and the rest would pay more. It would not apply to commercial properties or to developments, such as Lincoln Woods, that are not owner-occupied.
Unlike the circuit-breaker extension programs, a residential exemption would not require new revenue, but it would shift the tax burden to more expensive properties. “As you go up to the more expensive homes, it goes up quite dramatically,” Glass noted.
Because the deduction would reduce the amount that can be taxed, the tax rate would have to increase on the remaining property value in order to raise the total levy amount needed to fund the town budget. For example, with a 5% exemption, the tax rate per $1,000 of property value would need to increase to $16.50; with a 35% exemption, it would have to rise to $22.20 per $1,000 (for fiscal 2019, it’s currently $14.03 per $1,000).
Sixteen cities and towns in Massachusetts have residential tax exemptions ranging from 10% to 35%. They include cities with a large commercial tax base (Boston and close suburbs) as well as several towns on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard with expensive vacation homes that are not owner-occupied year round.
Lexington studied the residential exemption idea but decided against it. There is often resistance to the fact that it is not means-tested, and that there can be significant additional tax burden on higher value properties, Glass said. It might also hurt renters when their landlords pass on the tax increase in the form of higher rents for market-rate units.
Other possibilities for tax relief include prioritizing and funding other supports such as social services and rental assistance, Glass said. (Click here to see a comparison between the circuit breaker and residential exemption concepts.)
The committee will give another report at the State of the Town meeting on November 2 and may recommend a measure for voters at the Annual Town Meeting in spring 2020. In the meantime, the group urged residents to share thoughts and reactions by taking this online survey. The feedback form will stay open until the next forum in the fall on a date to be announced.
Join the National Park Service, Walden Woods Project, and naturalist Peter Alden in a mega-bio-blitz on Saturday, July 6 from 2–4 p.m. at the Hartwell Tavern lot area, 106 North Great Rd., Lincoln. Observe and identify plants, birds, insects, amphibians, and other living organisms, and learn to use the iNaturalist app and contribute to our goal of recording 2,000 species in a day. Naturalist-led tours in the park depart at 2 p.m. from the Hartwell lot. For more information, visit www.waldenbioblitz.org.
The Lincoln GearTicks “Rover Ruckus” machine.
There’s now video available of the Lincoln GearTicks robot that recently competed at the FIRST World Championship in Detroit. Students from teams all over the world had to design robots that could deliver “minerals” (gold cubes and whiffle balls) from a “crater” into the “lander” (an elevated box with separate containers). Click here to watch on YouTube (the GearTicks segment begins at 1:23:00 and the GearTicks “Rover Ruckus” robot is labeled 6055), or click here to download a 30-second video. The original story has been updated to include these link.
The Lincoln Public Library will be open on Saturdays during July from 10 a.m.—1 p.m. (weekday hours remain the same), and the library will be closed on Saturdays during August. Regular Saturday hours (10 a.m.—5 p.m.) will begin on September 7.
Picture This: Your Great Outdoors, the Lincoln-based Mass Audubon’s annual statewide photo contest, invites shutterbugs of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience to share the natural beauty of the Bay State through their photography. The competition, which continues through September 30, has two age divisions (18 and older, and under 18) and six subject areas: people in nature, birds, mammals, other animals, landscapes, and plants and fungi.
Contestants may submit up to 10 images apiece. Photographs must have been taken any time prior to or during the 2019 contest period, but must have been shot in Massachusetts or at Mass Audubon’s Wildwood Camp in Rindge, N.H. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded a $250 gift card and will be featured in Mass Audubon’s member newsletter, Explore. Eleven winners will receive $100 gift cards, and at least six honorable mentions will receive $50 gift cards. Additional honorable mentions may be awarded at the discretion of the judges. To enter and to review contest information, including rules and how to submit photos online, visit massaudubon.org/picturethis.
The Flint homestead on Lexington Road.
By Alice Waugh
One of Lincoln’s founding families is hoping to maintain their centuries-old farmstead for years to come by raising money to turn it into a museum and education center — an effort that will launch with a public event in September.
A few years ago, Tom Flint and his sisters — the 12th generation of Flints who’ve farmed and lived in Lincoln — inherited the original Flint home on Lexington Road, along with about $125,000 earmarked for that building’s property taxes and maintenance. They’re direct descendants of Thomas Flint, who arrived in 1636 as one of the first European settlers in what would later become Lincoln. Some time around 1700, Ephraim Flint built the house on the west side of Lexington Road next to Flint’s Field. Tom and his wife Eri and young daughter, together with his mother Margaret and sisters Sarah and Sue and Sue’s husband Corey, live in a larger 100-year-old farmhouse across the road.
Over the last 400 years, Flints have been central to Lincoln’s history. But now the original home is in dire need of repairs. A study done five years ago said it would cost about $300,000 to get the house and barn (which dates from about 1750) to “a maintainable minimum level to keep it surviving,” said Flint, a filmmaker and educator. “This is not to renovate or restore it for modern living — just repairs and maintenance.”
Meanwhile, after a few of the most urgent repairs were done, the estate’s maintenance fund had dwindled to about $60,000, and rental income covers only about half of the building’s annual costs. “By this time it’s become pretty much a white elephant, unusable and virtually uninhabitable,” said Rick Wiggin, a Lincoln historian who has spoken at events outlining the homestead’s past and possible future.
The Flints hope that future includes a new life for the homestead and barn as a nonprofit entity devoted to educational programs on history, agriculture, and land conservation that includes a museum and antiques shop, and might also serve as a destination for weddings and other events. The family hopes to maintain its direct connection to the property, perhaps with a long-term lease arrangement, but the legal and fundraising issues are complex.
“There are a lot of pieces for this, and frankly we’re still trying to fit them all together,” Wiggin said.
Last October, the Flints hosted a pumpkin-picking event at the farm as a way to “strengthen our connection to the community, a growing portion of which is unaware of the unique history that has helped mold the town into what it is today,” Flint said. The success of that venture inspired them to move forward with bigger plans for making the property more accessible.
On September 15, the family will open up the homestead, barns, and fields for free public tours and attractions, including a reenactment by the Lincoln Minute Men. There will be an antiques market in the barn selling some of the thousands of family belongings that have accumulated over the centuries, ranging from farm equipment and furniture to alligator purses and top hats. There may also be an auction, but the Flints will keep a selection of historic items for future public display and as “props” for use by groups that rent the property for events.
Flint envisions a museum that will illustrate the evolution of a house, farm, and family over hundreds of years by exposing structural elements, furnishings, and even layers of wallpaper from many different historical periods (with echoes of the Tenement Museum in New York’s Lower East Side), as well as pointing out features that need repairs. “I want to preserve this historical and cultural relic for both my family and the town of Lincoln,” Flint said.
“We believe the Flint Farm is the oldest farm in New England and perhaps anywhere in the nation that has been continuously farmed and owned by the same family dating back to the 1600s land grants,” Wiggin said. “This property and the family that’s farmed it represent the heart and soul of the town of Lincoln — the living link between the town’s origins and the modern day.”
1636 — Thomas Flint arrives in America and settles in Concord in 1640s on about 1,000 acres of land that would eventually become Lincoln’s town center (now Five Corners), as well as Flint’s Pond.
About 1700 — Ephraim Flint builds the farmhouse near the end of the North Field, west of Lexington Road.
1745 — Edward Flint donates land for a meeting house. Shortly thereafter, his nephew Ephraim Flint donates land for a village cemetery next to what is now Bemis Hall.
1754 — The town of Lincoln is incorporated from parts of Concord, Weston and Lexington. Ephraim Flint is elected town clerk, selectman, and treasurer at the first Town Meeting that year.
1775 (April 19) — Mary Flint Hartwell (wife of Samuel Hartwell, a farmer and Lincoln Minute Man) plays a crucial role in passing the word about the British troops marching from Boston. Ephraim Flint and his son John march from their homestead to fight the British and return at end of the day with a British prisoner of war. Five dead British soldiers are buried in Lincoln’s cemetery.
19th century — The Flint farm grows and sells produce for the Boston market.
Early 20th century — The Flints are still farming and serving in leadership roles in Lincoln. They build four greenhouses to expand the growing season, but two are destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938 and a third by another hurricane in the 1940s.
1960s — Faced with development pressures and the economic decline of family farms, Warren Flint Sr. and the town create the Rural Land Foundation, selling some of the Flint land to the town to preserve it for agriculture and conservation. Ten lots are also sold privately
1989 — Two parcels now known as Flint Field are donated or sold to the town.
2003 — The Flint homestead is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the family agrees to preservation restrictions on the homestead property. The original home is occupied by Henry Flint, who continues to live there and farm the land until some time before his death in 2012 at the age of 95.
2014 — A study funded by the town’s Community Preservation Act produces a large maintenance and repair to-do list with cost estimates. Using some of the money left for this purpose by Henry Flint, a few of the most urgent repairs are made, including the roof of the 1750 barn. Still high on the triage list: $184,000 for basic repairs to the homestead and $155,000 for the barn, whose floors are unstable. If the homestead is opened to the public as a nonprofit, it will need lead paint removal, new wiring and other work costing more than $1 million.
2019 — The Flint family looks into turning the homestead and barn into a nonprofit entity that would serve as a museum and historical education site, an antiques market, and a location for weddings and other events.
Emily Morrison, the town’s social worker.
Lincoln residents of all ages can now consult with a social worker at several locations in town and get free 45-minute appointments with a mental health counselor.
Social worker Emily Morrison was hired in January and works alongside Council on Aging (COA) co-assistant director Abby Butt, who primarily handles issues with seniors age 60 and older. “About a year and a half ago, we began to notice a significant increase in households with people of all ages in crisis,” COA Director Carolyn Bottum said. Many were at risk of homelessness or having their utilities shut off, insufficient food, and issues with family dynamics. The COA caters only to seniors, “but because we’re the only social service department in town, everyone was coming to us.”
Morrison can refer residents to the many area services that are available to them at little or no cost, such as emergency housing, fuel assistance food stamps, etc. Residents can also see a counselor from Eliot Community Health Services to discuss issues related to anxiety, depression, joblessness, loss, or any other issue. The counselor can also make referrals for longer-term treatment. Eliot may be able to bill insurance, but clients are not responsible for any copays if they can’t afford them (the Board of Health provided a small grant for copays and fees for those without insurance).
The social worker position was created with the help of grants from the First Parish in Lincoln, St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, and the Ogden Codman Trust. The funding will allow the clinics to run for two or three years “while we gather data show how important they are; then we hope to go to another source for more stable funding such as the town or a group of private citizens,” Bottum said.
Morrison began working in Lincoln in January after earning her social work degree after being a stay-at-home mother for her five children. She did her internship at the Belmont COA and is particularly interested in disability and inclusion, older adults, and hospice.
Morrison is available from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month and Tuesdays from 8–11 a.m. at Bemis Hall. She also has hours on the other two Mondays of the month at Lincoln Woods, at Battle Road Farm, and (during the school year) at LEAP for parents picking up their children after school. Call her at 781-259-8811 to set up an appointment with her or a mental health counselor.
Care Dimensions volunteers at Drumlin Farm (click photo to enlarge).
More than a dozen Care Dimensions employees recently volunteered at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm in Lincoln to plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers that will the farm will go to CSAs, farmers’ markets, and cafeterias. The farm day was part of the company’s employee volunteer program in which selected employees volunteer with a community organization located within the company’s service area. Last year, the Care Dimensions company opened an 18-bed hospice house in Lincoln, and it also has offices in Waltham and Danvers.
Summer is a particular time of need for donations to the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry. During the school year, students can get free or reduced-price lunch at school, but now that the academic year is over, more food is needed to compensate for the loss of these lunches. Please donate canned goods, cereals, spaghetti sauce, diapers, snack foods, etc. The pantry is always looking for healthy treats, gluten-free, and reduced-salt items as well. Bring items to St. Joseph Church (side door, basket on the floor) or the Parish Center at St. Julia Church (374 Boston Post Rd., Weston).
Summer is actually spring-cleaning time at the Lincoln Public Library, where summer interns help process discarded books for the public to pick up for free. The library scans selected books to see if its used book re-seller will take them, then offer put them on the discarded books cart in the library’s lower stack level downstairs. Some of the books are in good condition; others have been well loved and will be replaced by newer copies. Note: The books aren’t meant to take the place of our Friends Book Sale Cart — those books are all in good condition, and sales support the library programs.
The Lincoln Planning Department is updating its services to include online applications for building permits. Applicants may click here, create an account, and apply for a permit. Only building permit applications are available online, but electrical, plumbing and gas will be added in the future. Anyone with questions regarding the system may call Lincoln IT Director Michael Dolan at 781-259-2702.
“Sunday, Sitting on the Bank of Butterfly Meadow” by Wardell Milan.
Two new sculptures were recently unveiled at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and will be on view until the end of December. In “PLATFORM 24: Wardell Milan, Sunday, Sitting on the Bank of Butterfly Meadow,” New York artist Wardell Milan adapts one of his lush, intricate photo-dioramas to a monumental scale. Working with photography, sculpture, drawing, and collage, he stages intricate maquettes of found imagery to create compositions of pastoral landscapes populated by bodies of diverse genders and racial identity. The PLATFORM series at the deCordova includes one-person commissioned projects by early- and mid-career artists that engage with deCordova’s unique landscape.
“Kitchen Trees” by B. Wurtz.
“Kitchen Trees” is the first large-scale, public work by B. Wurtz. Its trunk is composed of blue colanders stacked in a slender column with thin metallic branches leading to overturned pots and pans, out of which plastic fruits and vegetables appear to fall. The sculpture’s form is partially inspired by the bulbous bronze fountain in New York’s City Hall Park where “Kitchen Trees” was first displayed alongside four other sculptures from the same series. At deCordova, the whimsical piece evokes a tropical palm tree, in striking contrast to the towering pines and elegant beeches that thrive in New England.
The Lincoln Squirrel is now the only news source solely dedicated to our town, because the Lincoln Journal no longer exists (see the Lincoln Squirrel, June 11, 2019). Although the weekly Concord Journal will carry a few Lincoln items, that paper has no dedicated Lincoln reporter or editor, and it now costs $95 a year. To keep informed about what’s going on in Lincoln with near-daily updates for half the price, subscribe to the Lincoln Squirrel and get a discount until July 4.
If you’re not a subscriber and are reading one of your three free articles a month, or if you have a friend or neighbor who might be interested in subscribing, now’s the time. Until July 4, 2019, subscribe to the Squirrel for one year for only $43 (regular price: $48), or become a monthly subscriber for $3.99 per month and get your first two months FREE.
To subscribe online using your credit card:
To subscribe via check:
Alice Waugh
178 Weston Rd.
Lincoln MA 01773
Thanks, and happy reading!
Alice Waugh
Editor, Lincoln Squirrel
Philip DeNormandie turns to watch his hay baler spitting out a new block of hay as he and his family mow their field at the corner of Trapelo and Silver Hill Roads.
Philip DeNormandie, Nick Bibbo, Penny and Tom DeNormandie, Kate McCarey, and Vicky LoChiatto with their new tractor (a John Deere after “generations of Internationals,” Tom said). The deNormandies put up about 350 bales of hay in Lincoln annually. This year, a woman from the North Shore who rescues donkeys and draft horses bought the first fields’ bales right out of the field, he added. (Photos by Alice Waugh)
To the editor:
We are writing to invite you to join Lincoln’s Annual Fourth of July parade. This year, our quintessential small-town parade will be led by Parade Marshal Becky Eston, who’s retiring as a Lincoln School teacher and community treasure for the past 39 years. This is our chance to honor her dedication, compassion and talent as an educator, so please join us to send her off in style.
We expect the parade to include well-loved traditional groups such as the Lincoln veterans, the Fire and Police Departments, the Lincoln Minute Men, and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, to name a few. But this year we also encourage new participation — we’re talking to you parade newbies! Come up with something you want to promote, something the town should be aware of or proud of, and roll on out! Not sure if you have a good idea? Please give us a call and run it by us!
Download a parade application and return it either electronically to dpereira@lincnet.org or by mail to the Parks and Recreation Department at 16 Lincoln Rd. You’ll then receive detailed instructions about the event. Most importantly, on the morning of July 4, please meet on Ballfield Road before 9:30 a.m. We look forward to seeing you in the parade!
Sincerely,
Lindsay Clemens and Ingrid Neri
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
