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

Voters give the go-ahead to school project and community center planning

(Editor’s note: Additional stories about the March 25 Annual Town Meeting will be published this week.)

Lincoln will move ahead with feasibility studies for both a locally funded school project and a community center as a result of votes at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting.

Residents voted unanimously to release $750,000 that was put aside in 2015 for a new feasibility study that will lead to another town-wide vote a year from now on a specific project to pursue. The money was originally allocated for a project that specifically would have included state funding; in the wake of repeated denials from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Saturday’s vote means the money can now be used for a project funded solely by the town.

As a result of the vote, residents passed over another warrant article that asked whether Lincoln should apply once again for MSBA funding. School officials have said that the chances of Lincoln getting invited into the funding pipeline again were extremely slim because the Lincoln School is not structurally unsafe or severely overcrowded.

“There seems to be a growing sense of community readiness to move forward,” School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass said. “This will also provide clarity for other decisions in town” such as the community center.

Glass and Finance Committee Chair Peyton Marshall reviewed information they presented at multi-board meetings on January 30 and March 8 about why a major school project is needed, how much it might cost, and the tax implications of various levels of borrowing to pay for it. Consultants Dore and Whittier said in 2014 that basic repairs and required code upgrades for safety and handicapped accessibility will cost at least $30 million.

“That’s a lot of money, but there really is no ‘do nothing’ option,” Glass said; that level of spending would result in a building that’s “safe, accessible, has better air and light, no leaks and comfortable temperatures” but has no other improvements. Depending on what additional options are chosen such as educational upgrades, cafeterias and site work pr even an entirely new school, the project could cost up to $68 million.

“The point of the feasibility study is to narrow [cost estimates] down to some number that we bring to the town, and the town votes on which one of these project concepts to we develop into a real project” at a vote in spring 2018. After that, detailed plans and costs will be finalized and the project will come up for a bonding vote perhaps as soon as Fall 2018, Glass said.

Asked by a resident whether the town could simply reuse the 2012 feasibility study, Glass said, “I recommend not doing that.” That study resulted in a plan that failed to win a two-thirds bonding majority in 2012 for various reasons, including cost and the layout of the new school building and campus. This time around, residents will have a chance to choose form one of two or three design concepts before the funding is put to a vote.

The silver lining of the 2012 defeat is that “we’ve learned some things since then—how to be even more creative with spaces in the building and a sense of how the campus maintains a feeling that everyone is happy with,” Glass said.

Community center vote

With only a handful of “nay” votes, residents also voted to spend $150,000 for a feasibility study for a community center to house the Council on Aging and the Parks and Recreation Department as well as other town groups. A 2015 report by the Community Center Study Committee and its consultant said that a two-story, 22,000-square-foot facility on the Hartwell side of the school campus would cost about $13 million.

The $150,000 appropriation must also win a simple majority at the March 27 town election to move forward.

The feasibility study would result in a conceptual site plan and an updated cost estimate, but there is no timeline for when construction might start. However, the school and community center building committees and architects would work closely together to coordinate planning for the two projects as much as possible. This collaboration would ensure that a community center “can be added to the campus at the right time and in the right location and configuration,” and its construction would “follow at a time that is fiscally responsible,” Selectman James Craig said.

Asked if the two building committees would join to hire a single architect, “the answer is a big maybe,” Glass said. Such a firm would need to have expertise in both types of projects “and they’d have to be a good fit for our endearing and occasionally idiosyncratic town. “If two different firms are used, town and school officials can make collaboration between those firms “a foundational requirement for getting hired,” she said.

Several residents recommended combining the feasibility studies as well as using a single architectural firm. Staff members at a school and community center provide many of the same teaching and counseling functions, said Doug Swain. “Their educational and quality-of-life goals for people in the town of Lincoln are exactly the same and their building needs are almost identical.”

A completely shared space isn’t possible because of state regulations designed to limit access to school children by non-school staff.

Resident Ken Hurd, an architect, said he supports both projects but was not in favor of developing separate schematic drawings for the school and community center. In talking to other architects and engineers, “most of them think this is a bad idea to have two teams working in parallel in trying to master-plan a [campus] site,” he said.

“We really need to hire one architect with two teams in its firm, as well as a good land architect. This is a site and campus planning exercise as well,” said resident Owen Beenhouwer, also an architect. Any firm that’s qualified to design a school “will have more than ample experience in dealing with a smaller building as well.”

“Nothing is off the table in terms of the firm” to be hired, Craig said. “The goal is to have these [projects] be in concert with each other.”

Moving forward, planning for the community center will include refining the exact needs of the COA and PRD in terms of their programming and space usage, as well as considering future uses for Bemis Hall.

Cost implications

Right now, Lincoln is in a good borrowing position compared to other area towns in terms of property tax rate growth and its debt-to-operating-budget, Marshall said. The town could borrow up to $80 million to pay for school and community center projects without endangering its AAA bond rating, he said.

Assuming a 30-year bond at an interest rate of 5 percent and the current median property value of $972,200, the maximum annual average tax increase during the repayment period would range from $929 (for a $30 million bond) to $2,478 ($80 million). The median taxpayer would see a hike of $275-$310 per year for every $10 million the town borrowed, according to page 11 of his handout. The median property tax bill in fiscal 2018 is $13,613.

Recap of background stories for Town Meeting

In preparation for the March 25 Town Meeting, the Lincoln Squirrel is publishing an updated and expanded expanded recap of news stories and letters to the editor on some of the issues to be voted on. The full warrant list can be found here.

Wang property acquisition (article 11)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

Accessory apartments (articles 12-14)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

School project (articles 33 and 34)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Community center feasibility study (article 35)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Landfill solar initiative (article 36)

News stories:

Letter to the editor:

Agricultural bylaw amendment (article 38)

News story:

Water bottle/plastic bag ban (articles 41 and 42)

News stories:

Letters to the editor:

Letter to the editor: Solomon asks for your vote

letter

To the editor:

Hello. I, Stan(ley J.) Solomon, am a candidate for the three-year Bemis Trustee opening. My wife is Susan Solomon. We have lived at The Commons for approaching six years. Before that, we lived in Lexington for 50 years. I spent my spare time with BSA Troop 119. Susan was a Town Meeting member and on the Conservation Commission and Tree Committee and was president of the Lexington League of Women Voters. Both of us were Garden Club members. I grew vegetables!

We were serious hikers and less serious cross-country skiers. I added downhill skiing and white-water paddling. We have hiked Lincoln trails for some 40 years; I inherited the leadership of Professor Dirk Struik’s Appalachian Mountain Club walk behind Walden in the (now) conservation land when he aged. I was born in eastern Ohio (Youngstown) and Susan grew up in South Brookline. I came to Boston for MIT while Susan went to Simmons. I am a physicist and worked in industry on semiconductor process development. My name is associated with ion implantation and also solar cell development. Susan worked in factory automation. Her name is not associated with the famous Lucy episode and she is not MIT’s Professor Susan Solomon.

I am again a candidate for Bemis Trustee. I was invited to run last year and discovered that I was running against a Lincoln fixture. Former Lincoln residents here at The Commons said I did quite well finishing second.

The Bemis Trustees operate the Bemis Free Lecture Series, a legacy created in 1892 by native Lincolnite George Bemis to bring enlightenment via lecturers to town residents. Its funds were supplemented by another Lincolnite, John Todd, in 1982. Past speakers included Robert Frost, Betty Friedan, Issac Asimov, Margaret Mead and a host of notable others.

The trustee’s function is to select one or more desirable, affordable and available individuals or groups to perform in Lincoln. (It has been explained that the job also includes physical management of that appearance.) What I believe I can add, if elected, is potential speaker names from the technical world.

The ability to harmoniously work within a group would seem to be a prime requisite for this position. I think I can answer the call there.

Inasmuch as the town manages the trust’s funds and speakers are paid from these funds, I can promise that if elected, my actions will not increase your taxes. As I am approaching 86, I can also promise that I will not be rattling around Lincoln politics 15 years from now. Please consider voting for me.

Sincerely,

Stan Solomon
1 Harvest Circle #231

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.

Letter to the editor: Glass has excellent experience and attributes

letter

To the editor:

I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working closely with Jennifer on the Lincoln School Committee for four years, and for three of those years as vice chair when Jennifer was chair (she has served for nine years on Lincoln School Committee but we only overlapped for four of those years).

She embodies all the attributes I would look for in great selectperson: extremely hard-working, fair, honest, tactful, transparent, asks tough questions, listens well, is collaborative, humble and great to work with, thinks deeply, and is strategic, analytic and persistent. A focus on student learning and engagement has been Jennifer’s lodestar. She cares deeply about Lincoln and its future. She was patient (far more so than I was) when the town narrowly failed to approve a school building project funded heavily by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Jennifer has persisted in the intervening years building broader support for a town-funded renovation or rebuild since MSBA funding has never rematerialized and explored how a school building project might be coordinated with a new community center to achieve some building cost savings. She has led contract negotiations with teachers, custodial and secretarial staff.  She has helped oversee two school building projects at Hanscom, and has worked with Hanscom base leadership and state legislative leaders to craft long-term financial solutions around Hanscom. She has worked well with BOS, the Lincoln Finance Committee and the Capital Planning Committee throughout her time on School Committee and formed valuable ties with her Sudbury and Wayland counterparts to find opportunities for cost sharing, joint trainings and experience sharing.

We are extremely lucky that Jennifer is willing to lend all her many talents to the role of Selectmen. She will serve the town very well.

Please join me in enthusiastically voting for her on March 27; I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Sincerely,

Tom Sander
100 Lincoln Rd.

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.

Letter to the editor: Vote for Jennifer Glass

letter

To the editor:

Please support Jennifer Glass for selectwoman. As a member of the School Committee, I have worked with Jennifer during all her time on the committee. As much as I will miss her willingness to listen, her vision for the schools and the children, her patience and her leadership skills, I believe her service on the Board of Selectmen will be of great value to the town as it considers the restitution of two of the town’s major departments.

With your help, I look forward to her election and service as a Selectwoman.

Sincerely,

Alvin Schmertzler
142 Chestnut Circle

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.

Water bottle, plastic bag issues may be tabled at Town Meeting

In the wake of some pushback against proposals to ban some uses of small water bottles and plastic grocery bags, one of the high school students behind the warrant articles wrote on Thursday that at least one of the issues will be withdrawn from a binding vote at Saturday’s Town Meting.

Students in the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s Environmental Club submitted two citizen’s petitions for Town Meeting in both Lincoln and Sudbury. One measure seeks to ban single-use plastic check-out bags at supermarkets and other retail stores. Thin-film plastic bags without handles that are used for meat, produce, newspapers, dry cleaning, etc., would not be affected.

The other measure would ban the retail sale of plastic single-use water bottles in town. Specifically targeted are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of 1 liter (34 ounces) or less containing non-carbonated, unflavored drinking water. Bottles could still be given away at any time or distributed in the event of a town-wide water emergency.

But some of the discussion on the town’s LincolnTalk email forum as well as letters to the editor of the Lincoln Squirrel took issue with the proposed bans for various reasons. Objections came from the owners of Donelan’s supermarket and two new restaurants in town, and residents on LincolnTalk urged more study and discussion of both issues before voting.

“We understand that although there are considerable environmental benefits to limiting plastic, there are also drawbacks when it comes to people’s convenience or to businesses that sell the non-reusable plastic bottles, making this subject controversial. For this reason, we are choosing to take a ‘sense of the town’ vote on the plastic bottle bylaw, and possibly also the bag bylaw, and revisit the issue at next year’s meeting in order to give voters a chance to [form] an informed opinion on the matter,” Lucy Bergeron, a junior at L-S, wrote in a post to LincolnTalk on behalf of the Environmental Club Thursday morning. “That said, we hope to get people thinking about this issue and begin the process of educating people.”

A “sense of the town” vote, which the Board of Selectmen had suggested earlier to the students, means that there will still be a presentation, discussion and vote on the warrant article, but the vote is non-binding and intended only to gauge where public opinion stands on the issue.

Letter to the editor: Town Meeting challenge is finding balance

letter

To the editor:

This coming Saturday, at town Meeting, we face a serious challenge: maintaining balance. Our community has retained its small-town character, rather than simply becoming another bedroom suburb, by careful planning and discussion and debate with an eye on maintaining balance. Almost 25 percent of our populations are school age children and almost 30 percent of our population is over 60. We raise our children here and then we stay. For the most part, we age in our homes while sometimes moving within Lincoln.

This is not the case in many of the communities around us. We need to think about that as we open discussion at Town Meeting about some very real wants and needs. We also need to keep in mind that about 35 percent of our population makes under $100,000 a year. We are more economically diverse than some might realize. With a sensitivity to that economic diversity, we must continue to invest in our community. And our upcoming Town Meeting will begin a number of critical discussions of how best to proceed. Finding balance that will be the challenge for all of us in, for our leadership, and for our community. This was a theme at an open space plan discussion and bears consideration for all that lies ahead.

We have many exciting opportunities for investment that will enhance our town. We may be investing in a much-needed playing field, plans for a consolidated home for our Park & Rec and Council on Aging programming, and of course our schools. The community campus—the schools and the community center—are at the beginning stages of planning. The potential addition of a playing field at the Wang property is a fully developed proposal. These are immediate needs that require our attention and funds. In addition, ideas for investing in our South Lincoln business district, a potential relocation of our DPW, roadway and bike path projects, more open space, and large land acquisitions all may require our attention and tax dollars in the future.

Finding a way to balance so that we can continue to invest and preserve our small-town character will be a challenge not just to town leadership, but also to all. It will require active engagement—volunteering on committees, attending meetings, providing comments and critiques early in planning processes, and above all, open communication and coordination between all aspects of work. Town Meeting is the starting point. In the future, it will also provide critical decision points in the process determining final projects and in finding and maintaining balance.

Town Meeting matters. Your participation matters this Saturday, March 25. Be there.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant Rd.

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.

Letter to the editor: Vander Meulen ‘won my vote’

letter

To the editor:

I am writing today as the election for town selectman draws near. Myself and a few of my neighbors had the pleasure to meet Allen Vander Meulen regarding his candidacy. One thing I was struck by was his ability to truly listen to our questions and concerns. As Allen described his inclusive agenda for his position, if elected, it really honored all citizens in Lincoln. Allen offered a genuine kindness; he is approachable and has the ability to balance the boundary between the big picture and all of us whom are part of that picture. He won my vote along with many of my neighbors.

Sincerely,

Tara Rachel Jones
83 Wells Rd.

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.

News acorns

Historical Society hosts talk

The Lincoln Historical Society will host a talk, book-signing and reception, with Donald L. Hafner, captain of the Lincoln Minute Men and author of William Smith, Captain: Life and Death of a Soldier of the American Revolution on Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library.

Holy Week and Easter schedule at St. Anne’s
  • Sunday, April 9 — Palm Sunday services at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
  • Thursday, April 13 — commemoration of the Last Supper with a Maundy Thursday service at 7 p.m. The service includes foot-washing and Holy Eucharist.
  • Friday, April 14 — two Good Friday services: one at noon with the Passion gospel and venerating the cross, and a family service at 4 p.m.
  • Saturday, April 15 — celebration of Holy Saturday with the Great Vigil of Easter beginning at 7 p.m. We kindle the new fire and light a new Paschal candle, and then read bible stories by candlelight. The service ends with the first Eucharist of Easter.
  • Sunday, April 16 —Holy Eucharist with special music and flowers at both 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. (On April 16, there is not a Still Your Soul service.)

All are welcome at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, located at 147 Concord Road.

Jennifer Glass, candidate for selectman in Monday’s election, braved the cold on Wednesday to meet residents including Rick Mandelkorn at the transfer station (right) and hand out flyers.

Letter to the editor: background on accessory apartment warrant articles

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To the editor:

Lincoln is renowned for its creative and resourceful strategies for developing affordable housing while working diligently to maintain its small-town character. Lincoln has a long history of addressing the systemic roots of economic and social inequity, as seen in the diversity of its housing stock and its inventory of affordable housing. Unlike most Massachusetts cities and towns, Lincoln has provided affordable housing entirely through its own local initiatives: by adopting zoning incentives, granting special permits, and investing local revenues and Community Preservation Act funds.

Lincoln has achieved the state’s 10 percent affordable housing goal without ever having to issue a Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit. This is an amazing achievement since most towns only achieve 10 percent when mandated to. A Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit enables developers to bypass most local permit approval processes and local zoning bylaws without Town Meeting approval, leaving the town and neighbors’ minimal recourse and control over the density or design of the project.

While Lincoln’s track record is impressive, by 2020 Lincoln’s affordable housing inventory projection, based on current data, might decrease below 10 percent, leaving Lincoln vulnerable to 40B development. Diversity remains important to Lincoln, as evidenced by the town’s vision statement; but today, residents also recognize that creating affordable housing will help to protect the town from large, unwanted Chapter 40B developments. To meet these challenges, Lincoln will need to remain innovative and proactive in its housing policies and initiatives.

About 15 years ago, one of Lincoln’s innovative strategies was to develop an affordable accessory apartment bylaw. The bylaw was successful, as some homeowners took advantage of the zoning incentives to create affordable units. However, these units did not count toward Lincoln’s affordable housing inventory because they did not meet Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) regulations. A few years ago, DHCD issued new guidelines, making it easier for homeowners to comply with DHCD regulations and permit affordable accessory apartments to be included in a town’s affordable housing inventory.

For the past two years, the Housing Commission’s primary focus has been working toward the development of an Affordable Accessory Apartment Program to capture accessory apartments for the subsidized housing inventory. Warrant Article 12 creates the foundation for the Affordable Accessory Apartment Program by revising the current bylaw to conform to DHCD regulations.

While incorporating DHCD regulations into the current bylaw, it was necessary to re-organize the bylaw to distinguish between requirements and procedures, and to improve the overall organization and clarity of language. The only substantive changes were made to the affordable accessory apartment section of the bylaw, not to accessory apartments or multiple accessory apartments.

Warrant Article 12 is a new “tool” to help Lincoln create affordable units to maintain Lincoln’s affordable housing stock at 10 percent while the Affordable Housing Coalition looks for new opportunities to create affordable housing.

Warrant Article 13 will provide an opportunity for homeowners participating in the Affordable Accessory Apartment Program to receive a tax exemption on the portion of the building (not land) that is used for affordable housing. Warrant Article 13 is contingent upon Warrant Article 12 passing.

Click here for more information on affordable accessory apartments and Lincoln’s Affordable Housing Program.

Sincerely,

The Lincoln Housing Commission (Allen Vander Meulen, chair; Diana Chirita, Peter Georgiou, Mary Sheldon, and Sharon Antia)

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.