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

Community center approved at Town Meeting, ballot box

Although the community center vote played second fiddle at the March 23 Town Meeting, voters approved design and construction of the $24.02 million facility on the Hartwell campus by a margin of 81%–19%, easily clearing the two-thirds threshold required. But the margin was much closer at the March 25 election, where a simple majority was required: 935–699 in favor (57%–43%).

To pay for the community center, the town will borrow $15.77 million. The balance will be funded with $4.75 million from the town’s Stabilization Fund, $2 million from free cash, and $1.5 million in donations — $1 million from the Friends of the Council on Aging and $500,000 from the Ogden Codman Trust. The project has also received another $340,000 in individual donations.

For the owner of a median-value home in Lincoln ($1.43 million), the borrowing will result in a fixed tax increase of $472–$500 each year for the life of the 30-year bond. The town has several property tax relief programs for qualifying residents — including the newly approved circuit-breaker relief program (see Article 10 below). Click here to see a gallery of conceptual designs by ICON architects.

Left: costs to fully renovate the pods and Bemis Hall. Right: a comparison with the csts and size of a similar community center project in Dover (“gsf” is gross squre feet and “nsf” is new square feet). Click image to enlarge.

If the project had been voted down, it would have cost $18.3 million in fiscal 2027 dollars to fully upgrade the Hartwell pods and Bemis Hall for the Parks and Recreation Department and the Council on Aging & Human Services, respectively, according to Community Center Building Committee member Jonathan Dwyer (see table at right). 

A few residents argued the project was too expensive and the money could be used for other projects on the horizon including new water mains. But residents including Gwyn Loud urged approval. Referring to previous capital projects like the Town Hall renovation, the Codman Pool, and the library extension, “we’re paying it forward by looking back,” she said. “We knew it was for the good of the future.”

A total of 541 residents voted on the measure, down from 814 votes cast on the previous article on HCA zoning.

Other Town Meeting results

After the high drama of the HCA zoning issue where 819 residents voted (and attendance at its peak was 914, according to the Town Clerk’s office), all the other warrant articles passed quickly and unanimously. Some highlights:

Bright Light Award (Article 6)

Presented to Karen Boyce, for her “devoted leadership of the Lincoln Food Pantry.”

Voting clickers (Article 6)

$35,000 approved for purchasing 1,200 clickers to speed up voting at Town Meetings. The clickers, which can instantly record and report yes/no, multiple choice, and ranked choice votes, are used by about 80 other towns in Massachusetts. Still to be determined: exactly under what circumstances to use them. For example, will it be for all votes or just those in which a floor vote is inconclusive? Will the record of how each person voted be public, as other votes at Town Meeting are? What changes in town bylaws will be necessary?

Town moderator Sarah Cannon Holden and Select Board Chair Jim Hutchinson will convene a forum later this spring to discuss these issues and the conduct of Town Meetings in general.

Property tax circuit breaker (Article 10)

Five years ago, the Property Tax Study Committee (PTSC) was formed to look at ways to ease the burden on limited-income residents and preserve economic diversity after the town raised property taxes by almost 15% to pay for the $93 million school project. Last week’s Town Meeting approval finally put in place a program to shift 1% of the tax levy away from qualified homeowners (those who demonstrate certain criteria around income, assets, age, and length of time they’ve lived in Lincoln) to owners of the most expensive properties.

In May 2021, voters finally approved a home-rule petition to the legislature that would allow the town to implement its own tax circuit breaker program in addition to those offered by the state. The legislature approved the bill only very recently, and (with a nudge from Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden, according to PTSC chair Jennifer Glass) Gov. Maura Healey signed it the night before Saturday’s Town Meeting.

The program must be reviewed and put to a vote for renewal every three years.

Water Department (Article 26)

Voters approved bouncing $2.2 million for the first of a five-phase project to replace the town water main running from Bedford Road to Codman Road. Aside from leaks, the insides of the old mains are so encrusted with mineral deposits that their diameter has narrowed to the point that not enough water can get through in a fire emergency. After water pressure testing for the school project, engineers found that an expensive booster pump had to be installed.

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.

Contentious HCA rezoning measure squeaks by, 52%–48%

At one of the longest and most controversial Town Meetings in recent history, voters on March 23 narrowly approved the Housing Choice Act zoning amendments by a margin of 52% to 48%. The community center funding measure, which needed a two-thirds majority, was approved easily.

Knowing that the meeting would be heavily attended, town officials had plenty of extra volunteers on hand to check in residents starting at 8 a.m. for the 9:30 meeting, and to count standing votes. Both the Todd Auditorium/Lecture Hall and the Reed Gym were at full capacity, with even more people in the Learning Commons. Before the meeting could start, town counsel Joel Bard had to be escorted in by police after he got stuck in the traffic jam of cars trying to park on campus, and an unknown number of residents were reportedly turned away by police and advised to park at Town Hall or Donelan’s. Some braved the walk in heavy rain and others didn’t.

The rezoning issue, already the topic of hot debate for the last several months, started Saturday with a bombshell right off the bat when Michele Barnes of the Rural Land Foundation introduced an amendment from the floor that was intended to address concerns that housing density at the mall would be too high under the revised bylaw. Their proposed changes to the bylaw wording endorsed by the Planning Board on February 26 by a 3-2 vote:

  • Reduce the maximum housing density in the village center subdistrict that includes the mall from 25 units per acre to 15.
  • To compensate, increase the maximum density of the Lincoln Woods subdistrict from eight to 10 units per acre, and the Lincoln Road/Lewis Street subdistrict from 11 to 12.
  • Strike the section (12.9.2.3.a.10) that would allow the Planning Board to reduce the required percentage of commercial use at the mall from 33 percent by special permit if that ratio were shown to be incompatible with “economic and market conditions.”

The amendment thus made “33 percent commercial” an inviolable minimum unless residents approve a further change in zoning language at a future Town Meeting.

The proposal was first discussed publicly at a Housing Choice Act Working Group on the morning of March 14. At that meeting, Director of Planning and Land Use Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie told the group that Ephraim Flint and Lynn DeLisi, the Planning Board members who cast the two “nay” votes on February 26, were planning to introduce the amendment on the floor of Town Meeting.

“In anticipation of a possible amendment,” planning consultant Utile was asked to “develop two alternatives” that would meet the state’s HCA requirements, and the bylaw with Saturday’s amendment passed muster, Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson said.

Many unhappy with last-minute amendment

“This is just off-the-charts bizarre,” said Bob Domnitz. “In the 15 years I was on the Planning Board, we always recommended that zoning not be created on the floor of Town Meeting.” The changes should have been incorporated before the February 20 public hearing, he added, “and I think it’s further evidence that the main motion and amendment are not ready for this town.”

“There’s no way I can really understand and vote intelligently and with full knowledge of what this means,” another resident said.

Although the amendment was reportedly devised by DeLisi and Flint, they did not present a united front in the discussion. “I’m very happy to see that Michelle brought this forth,” said DeLisi. “I love this amendment — I think it’s a great compromise.” Flint was less sanguine. “What I’ve heard this morning is for the most part a very positive step forward… but I agree with Bob that we are not going to get this right on the floor of the meeting,” he said.

The amendment “is not a major change” for the Lincoln Woods and Lincoln Road subdistricts and it “addresses people’s greatest concerns” about commercial space at the mall, said Jonathan Soo, a leader of a citizens’ group pushing for passage. “We can’t delay the healing that this town desperately needs,” he said. 

“Settling the matter now is far preferable to another nine months of arguing about what to do,” agreed Alex Chatfield.

Desire for closure prevails

On Saturday, voters approved the amendment by a vote of 603-216 (74% to 26%), clearing the required two-thirds majority. But more impassioned discussion of the main motion followed.

Speakers protested that the HCAWG did not include any members who live in the subdistricts targeted for rezoning (although the group was appointed before any specific parcels had been identified), and that Flint and DeLisi were denied permission on March 20 by Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden to speak from the podium and use slides. Olson did, however, read the letter that the pair submitted to their fellow Planning Board members on February 26.

“The process has not provided a fair and balanced view of this controversial topic,” Sherry Haydock said. “Voting no is a chance for all voices to be heard… with equal representation and inclusivity,” she said to loud cheering.

But others said that defeating the measure vote would do far more harm than good. Referring to an earlier comment that the town is in crisis and needs “family therapy,” HCAWG member Terri Perlmutter said, “the notion that as a family we’ll come together where everyone suddenly agrees is naive. Family therapy takes years and mayne 50 percent of the time it’s successful. I would remind people to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

“There’s no way to know if that process would be less divisive or more divisive, or produce a compromise with more support or less support,” Soo said. Town officials, staff, and volunteers have borne the brunt of the battle, he added, “and they won’t say it publicly, but I will — they have been treated absolutely horribly. We cannot go forward and subject them and the rest of the town to another nine months of this on the mere wish that we might be able to come up with something better. Voting no would have a real cost to our town… and that makes me worry much more for Lincoln’s future than any zoning law.”

HCAWG, RLF were surprised by rumored amendment to zoning motion

Lincoln’s four Housing Choice Act subdistricts.

The Housing Choice Act Working Group first learned on the morning of March 14 that an amendment to the rezoning motion would be proposed on the floor of Town Meeting to reduce the density of allowed housing at the mall. Group members at that morning meeting (which the Lincoln Squirrel did not attend but watched the recording on March 24) were clearly surprised and not altogether pleased by the news. 

Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie told the group that Planning Board members Lynn DeLisi and Ephraim Flint, who had already voted against endorsing the rezoning measure on February 26, planned to offer the amendment. While anyone (including a member of the Planning Board) is free to propose an amendment on the floor of Town Meeting, “I personally feel it’s really inappropriate, because people attended that [February 20] public hearing knowing that that was the official moment for the Planning Board to go forward. It seems very problematic now to undermine that public process,” Andrew Glass said.

“Nobody’s really going to understand what they’re approving or not approving,” Terri Perlmutter said.

“The RLF [Rural Land Foundation, which owns the mall] hasn’t had a chance to think this through and see how much it would affect their interests at the mall,” said Gary Taylor, who sits on both HCAWG and the Planning Board. “Somebody’s certainly going to ask what the RLF thinks about the modification… It just troubles me that we would, out of the public process, change the proposal that’s been out there for a long time.

HCAWG members initially thought that the full board — which had already written, edited, and voted on the measure — would be able to discuss the matter at its upcoming meeting on March 19. Given its 3-2 vote on February 26, “is the Planning Board going to say they’re not in favor of this?” HCAWG member Terri Perlmutter said.

“I think we will be asked to endorse it,” Taylor said.

But later in the meeting, Glass said, “I certainly come down thinking the Planning Board should not be re-voting anything.” 

Vaughn-MacKenzie initially said the Planning Board would discuss the amendment at its March 19 and that the agenda for that meeting had not yet been posted, although the town calendar web page indicates it was in fact posted on February 27. She later acknowledged the concerns about whether the board should discuss it before Town Meeting and said she would convey HCAWG’s recommendation that it not do so.

RLF caught in a bind

It quickly became clear that the RLF would be forced to support the amendment, even without the backing of the Planning Board. “In my opinion, it’s whether the RLF is willing to do this for unity or not. This is all on us — this is no one else,” said HCAWG member Geoff McGean, the organization’s executive director. “I think it would be strange for the RLF to have one opinion and the working group to have another.”

However, not having any public input from the Planning Board “puts RLF in a really difficult position,” McGean added. “It’ll just create chaos on the floor of Town Meeting… it would be helpful to know if the board supports this amendment or not.”

It’s unclear exactly when the amendment went from being Flint and DeLisi’s proposal to the RLF’s. Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson said in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel on March 24 that she heard on March 22 from “multiple parties, including the RLF, that they would be making an amendment… I wasn’t clear on what exactly they were contemplating, which is why I asked Paula to prepare [motion text for] both 15 units per acre and 20 units per acre at the mall… I did not want Utile (who was present at Town Meeting) to try to validate a density amendment on the fly.”

Olson also said that she’d heard from several people on both sides of the Article 3 issue that “for the board to be making substantive changes to the proposed bylaw a few days before Town Meeting was not good practice.” While all this was going on, she was also helping resident Barbara Peskin revise the wording for Article 28, which called for a policy that requires 14 days’ notice on proposed zoning density changes.

“Not only was the short notice on a density change an issue, but our direction from the Special Town Meeting in December was Option C, not a modified Option C. Much as I would have liked to unite the board behind a modified bylaw, I reluctantly concluded that Barbara and others were right — we should not do it,” Olson said. 

Later on March 14, HCAWG held its final public forum on the proposed bylaw printed in the Town Meeting warrant, but the Flynn-DeLisi amendment was not mentioned. No agenda was posted for that event because “we don’t publish agendas for the forums. The purpose is to answer as many questions about the bylaw as possible,” HCAWG’s Jennifer Glass said the previous day in answer to a query from the Squirrel.

My Turn: On the fairness or unfairness of the procedures at Town Meeting

By Edward Young

Although the moderator said that none of the controversial procedures followed at [Saturday’s] Town Meeting should be considered as precedents, they raise questions that should be addressed when the town considers Town Meeting procedures comprehensively later this year, if not sooner. Here is how the moderator regulated who spoke, when and where.

Prior to the meeting, the moderator had announced that a group of over 300 residents — who had petitioned for time for a spokesperson to speak from the podium, with slides, in opposition to voting now on the announced resolution regarding a draft HCA bylaw nine months before the deadline for HCA compliance — would instead speak for ten minutes from microphones in the auditorium, without slides, and that a spokesperson for another group of residents who favored voting on the resolution now would be allowed to speak in the same manner. Presumably, only town officials and members of town advisory committees, all of whom favored immediate adoption of the resolution, would be allowed to speak from the podium or present slides.

Two members of the Planning Board who had voted against the draft bylaw in its current form also asked to be able to speak from the podium, as their three fellow Planning Board members who had voted in favor were allowed to do without time limit. This was denied, and they were restricted to getting in line for two minutes each at the microphone. Instead of allowing the two members to say themselves whatever they wanted to say from the podium, in their own tone of voice and in the fresh context of whatever was being said at the meeting, another Planning Board member chose to read aloud, in their own tone of voice, a public statement that the two members had made some weeks before.

Neither group of residents, nor the two Planning Board members, has any financial stake in the outcome of the HCA vote.

However, before either group was allowed to speak, the Rural Land Foundation — which is not a part of town government, and which has a financial stake of millions of dollars in the outcome of the HCA vote — was allowed to speak from the podium, with slides. This came as a complete surprise to the voters in the auditorium.

By being recognized first, the RLF was enabled to move a detailed amendment to the HCA resolution that precluded discussion of the main motion for quite some time. The RLF flashed on the screen a series of highly complicated charts that were not handed out before the meeting and which voters had not had a chance to review.

After the amendment had been discussed and voted on, the two groups of residents were finally allowed to speak on the (amended) main motion. The opponents of the motion were called on first and the proponents had the chance to rebut what they said. It would be interesting to know if that order of speaking was decided by coin flip or other neutral method.

The two Planning Board members were patient enough to eventually make it through the microphone line for two minute comments.

That’s how discussion was handled at Town Meeting.

So I submit that a robust examination of the fairness or unfairness of what just happened at Town Meeting is very much in order. I wonder if anyone would care to provide reasons in justification for it?

“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.

News acorns

Learn about greener water heaters, HVAC

How much is your old water heater costing you? It accounts for about 18% of your home’s energy usage. Replacing an electric resistance water heater with a heat pump water heater can save you money. Join us on Tuesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. for “Get Pumped about Water Heaters!” to learn from Larry Chretien, CEO of Green Energy Consumer’s Alliance, about super-efficient heat pump water heaters — how new models are much quieter and how 120V models can replace gas water heaters without expensive electric upgrades. Best of all – find out how really strong rebates reduce the cost enormously. Click here to register for the Zoom link.

Do you need fresh air in winter without opening the window? Would you like air conditioning in the same unit that heats your home? Ants Hartman will share three heating and ventilation systems he has installed along with his emphasis on maintenance for longevity in “Three Unique Case Studies of Home Heating and Ventilation System Upgrades” on Monday, April 29 at 7 p.m. Click here to register for the Zoom link.

The Getting to Zero Series is hosted by CFREE, a working group of Lincoln’s Green Energy Committee. 

Memorial for Susan Sugar on April 6

A memorial for the late Susan Sugar will take place on Saturday, April 6 at 2 p.m. in the First Parish Church across from the library, with a reception to follow. Sugar died on Nov. 7, 2023 at the age of 90 (click here for her obituary).

Left to right: Lincoln Police Sgt. Anthony Moran, Acting Lt. Jon Wentworth, Officer Greg Lamb, Acting Chief Sean Kennedy, Officer Nicholas Facciolo, and Officer Kelsey Francher.

New police officer joins Lincoln force

On March 20, Town Clerk Valerie Fox swore in Lincoln’s newest police officer, Greg Lamb. Officer Lamb will now begin his field training program for the next few months assigned with a training officer.

Fire Department gets grant for equipment

The Lincoln Fire Department received an $11,000 state grant for new safety equipment. The grant started around cancer prevention and promoting appropriate, clean personal protective equipment (PPE) and has grown to include communication equipment and firefighting equipment. The firefighters will be getting a new PPE dryer to help get gear cleaned and back in service quicker, as well as a new ice rescue suit, personal thermal imager, and a portable radio. The department has also applied for the state’s student and senior SAFE grant to teach fire safety to students and seniors.

A few more things to know about Town Meeting

Water Department seeks $2.2 million in bonding

At Annual Town Meeting on March 23, the Water Department is hoping to begin a multiyear process of replacing an aging and leaky town water main by asking for $2.2 million in bonding to fund the first segment.

Article 26 on page 22 of the Motions list outlines four capital spending requests from the department that will need a total of $2.4 million in borrowing. The department and the Water Commission have commissioned a study of which of five segments of the main running beneath Lincoln Road from Bedford Road to Codman Road should be replaced first.

The entire project is estimated to cost at least $10 million over several years. “This is not the first ask,” commission member Steve Gladstone said on Wednesday.

The project will require a “moderate” water rate hike for four to five years, he added. This will be the first time since 2020 that rates will go up. In April of that year, usage rates went up by 28% and the quarterly base charge rose from $35 to $50.

The Water Department’s capital budget in fiscal 2024 was $315,000 and $142,500 in fiscal 2023. The fiscal 2025 projected operating budget is $2.02 million. In the former year, the department received $1.45 million from the ARPA program that granted federal aid to respond to the public health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. That money paid for a replacement well on Tower Road and several other projects without the need for a customer rate hike. 

Groups will get time to present positions

Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden said on March 20 that she will grant the request from a group of 300+ residents who asked for 10 minutes to present the perspective of the Lincoln Residents for Housing Alternatives (LRHA) when Article 3 (the Housing Choice Act rezoning) is discussed.

Proponents of Article 3’s passage will also get 10 minutes of speaking time from the floor if they request it, Holden said. This is in addition to the Planning Board presentation by chair Margaret Olson. 

Dozens of residents at the March 19 Select Board meeting asked that a representative get podium time and the ability to show slides, but Cannon demurred.

Two other members of the Planning Board, Ephraim Flint and Lynn DeLisi, voted against endorsing the measure in Feburary, and Flint afterwards had asked for speaking time as well. However, since Olson “will be giving public voice to the minority report, it’s not really necessary for you to repeat your reasons from the podium,” Holden told Flint on Wednesday.

The full text of the proposed zoning bylaw amendment can be found here.

Planning Board endorses Article 28

The Planning Board has endorsed a citizen’s petition that would require the town to notify individual property owners when their property is part of an area being considered for rezoning. 

If Article 28 is approved at Town Meeting on March 23, town boards and committees must notify by mail property owners, residents (including renters) and abutters in the area of rezoning 14 days prior to their first public meeting at which the zoning change would be discussed. Similar notice would also be sent for any future meeting at which the decision on rezoning may be made as well as any Town Meeting where a vote on rezoning would be conducted. See details on page 23 of the Motions list.

Article sponsor Barbara Peskin said many people whose properties were marked for possible rezoning weren’t aware of it going into the State of the Town Meeting in September 2023, which offered three options to residents for feedback. “When informed in advance, people can become engaged and included in the process early and invested in the result,” she said.

Though there were some concerns among board members about how to define “first” discussions, Olson said at their March 19 meeting that she agreed with the idea. “For something this significant, we really should not be springing votes on people,” she said. 

If the measure is approved, the board will meet with Peskin and others to work out specifics of how the requirement will be implemented. 

Rides for seniors

The Council on Aging & Human Services is offering rides to Town Meeting for Lincolnites age 60 and over. Capacity is limited; book now by calling 782-259-8811.

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 anonymous flyer left in the mailbox of several Lincoln residents. Click image to enlarge.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.

Officials offer more information about Town Meeting

From Assistant Town Manager Dan Pereira:

Annual Town Meeting is this Saturday, March 23, and we anticipate a very large turnout. The town is providing as much information as possible in advance to ensure a smooth experience for all.

Website

  • Please visit our Annual Town Meeting web page for up-to-date meeting information. It contains links to meeting procedures and materials, services, and background on the key articles being presented. 

Logistics

  • Voter check-in begins at 8 a.m. and Town Meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. sharp. We are opening doors earlier than originally planned to spread out the arrival window and shorten the line to check in.  
  • We have doubled the number of poll pads to move you through as quickly as possible, but we strongly encourage you to arrive early, just in case.
    • You will be given a voter card at check in. You must keep this card with you at all times as you will not be permitted to vote without this card.
  • We expect parking on the Ballfield Road campus to be over capacity, so please carpool, arrive early, or walk!  If you arrive and the campus has been closed to more cars, you will be directed to park in nearby parking areas such as Town Hall.
  • We will have three seating areas this year: the Brooks Auditorium, the Reed Gym and the school learning commons. The auditorium and Reed Gym/Field house are expected to be very full, so we have added the school learning commons to facilitate more socially distanced viewing. All three spaces will be fully participatory and moderated.
  • We have maps detailing campus parking and the building entrance.
  • We are planning for a half-hour food break at some point in the early afternoon. Coffee and treats will be served by the Lincoln Girl Scouts, but a full lunch will not be served. We have a very busy day and want to keep the meeting moving, so please plan accordingly.

Services

  • We have reserved parking closest to the entrance for handicap and mobility-impaired residents. 
  • We provide the option for fully interactive, socially distanced seating in the Lincoln School Learning Commons.
  • Childcare is being provided by LEAP (Lincoln Extended-day Activity Program), click here to sign up.
  • Assisted listening devices are available — just approach AV personnel in any room and they will assist you.