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

My Turn: Fiduciary behavior and debt burden

By Chris Burns

Of course, a community center would be nice to have, but…

The town debt service today is greater than what we spend for the Police Department or L-S High School or the entire town government. How high should it go?

In the warrant for the March 26, 2022 Town Meeting, page 18 reads: “The Finance Committee understands that the large increase in debt service resulting for the required [$88.5 million] bonding for this [school] project is a burden for residents, and we have made it a priority to minimize the likelihood of requesting residents to approve any additional debt or capital exclusions over the next couple of years.” Is this fiduciary behavior when asking for an additional $16 million in debt less than two years later? This is a 20% increase in our debt load.

Please pay close attention as Lincoln’s debt soars toward $104,000,000 or $17,000+ per citizen, not household.

“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 Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.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: The real housing crisis is affordability

By Gail O’Keefe

The HCA zoning decision looming is based on an assumption that we have a housing crisis in Massachusetts. Politicians have linked development to diversity, claiming all towns must help the state in the housing struggle. However, in looking at recent building data from local cities and towns, it seems very likely that the housing crisis is really an affordability crisis, with housing being built that is too expensive for those needing affordable housing.

Earlier this month the Boston Globe reported on the housing boom in Everett — 1,600 new units under construction now, with a total increase of 16% added to their housing stock over the past few years. Only 5% of those units are “affordable” housing, leaving us to question how these units will offset the housing needs facing families.

On Zillow today, over 1,000 housing units are available for rent (and ~100 for sale) in Cambridge; Boston has over 8,000 available for rent, (~1,000 for sale). An additional 800 for rent in Somerville, with 75 for sale. In Waltham, many are available; a brand-new one bedroom will cost you only $2,700/month. In Lexington, 30 rentals, mostly one- and two-bedrooms available. Price range: $2,500- $5,000 per month. And here in Lincoln in mid-March, there are still five units available at Oriole Landing, as well as a few houses.

Clearly, supply is plentiful. Market-rate housing units are available, with hundreds more being built right now all around Boston.

The zoning changes under the HCA has buoyed developers, so the future will see a surge in housing stock. Why, then, are we rushing to jeopardize our grocery store and small retail area to build 100 units? Who are we really helping? Are there thousands of people to fill all these homes? Or is it the cost the real housing crisis? Will trickle-down really reduce housing costs?

HCA Option C simply adds to the volume of new units, 90% at market rate. What happens if we rush to build, alongside all the other MBTA-adjacent towns, and end up with vacant residential units while losing our retail in the deal? One of the state’s goals with the HCA is economic growth for developers. Is that a goal of Lincoln as well? If not, let’s make the zoning more attractive to townspeople rather than RLF’s “more attractive to developers.”

Lincoln’s planning board and the RLF have presented Option C as the only choice, yet other options were not fully presented to the town in the fall. We needn’t give up on affordability and diversity, and should not jeopardize our small but critical retail space. We only need to submit a plan by the end of 2024! There is plenty of time to come to a plan that aligns with the values and goals of our town.

“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.

A sappy art installation?

It’s early spring and that means it’s time to tap sugar maple trees for sap to make maple syrup. There’s a fairly standard procedure for doing this, but someone in Lincoln seems to be take a rather unconventional approach. Lincoln resident Jack Fultz spotted this setup near the intersection of Sandy Pond Road and Baker Bridge Road:

This is not the first time the mystery sap-tapper has struck in that area. Here’s a photo from 2018 taken by Lincoln Squirrel editor Alice Waugh:

No word yet on who’s responsible for these whimsical displays and how many gallons of sap (or creosote, or syrup) they’ve been able to collect.

Connie Lewis, 1936–2024

Connie Lewis

Connie Lewis died peacefully March 2 in hospice care at Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford after a brief illness.

An only child, Connie was born on August 3, 1936, in DeKalb County, Ga. to Constance (Adams) Lewis and Albert Washington Lewis Jr. Both parents died young, so Connie was raised with love by her mother’s sister-in-law, Hortense (Horne) Adams — Aunt Horty.

Connie graduated from Sophie Newcomb College (then the sister school associated with all-male Tulane). She went on to earn M.S. degrees from Cornell University in English and from Harvard University in counseling and consulting psychology.

She held a variety of positions in pursuit of her two loves, writing and teaching. She worked at an Atlanta newspaper, taught at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and taught freshman writing at both the Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) and Simmons College (now Simmons University). A few years later, she realized there was no future in that job, so reinvented herself as a technical writer. She took a course in BASIC at UMass-Boston and joined the startup Interleaf as one of the first few employees. She worked until her retirement as a technical writer at several tech companies. Once retired, she continued to teach writing by running memoir-writing groups at both Bemis Hall and The Commons in Lincoln.

Connie moved to Battle Road Farm in Lincoln in 1997, where it is alleged that she grew amazing Christmas cacti, conjured hummingbirds from nowhere, and made the best Hoppin’ John ever experienced in New England. She also lent her talents to the condominium handbook and served on the garden committee for many years.

An antiwar activist, Connie protested both the Vietnam and Iraq wars, holding signs weekly on busy street corners. She was also a stalwart feminist, supporting female candidates financially and fighting sexism in the work place. Connie was also active at the local level, serving on Lincoln town boards including the Housing Commission, the Historical Society, and Friends of the Council on Aging. She was a fixture at the Lincoln Town Meeting, spoke out in the local paper, and wrote voter mobilization postcards by the hundreds. Connie was also a highly knowledgeable fan and supporter of music. She was a patron for many years of Symphony Nova, a training orchestra for young musicians.

Most of all, Connie was an exemplary friend. She built long-standing friendships with both her age peers and people decades younger than herself. Thus it was that during her final months, Connie was surrounded by and cared for by friends of long standing, a family not by blood but by heart. She will be widely missed.

There will be a memorial gathering in Lincoln this spring on a date yet to be determined.

CapCom, CPC spending proposals to be aired on March 11

The Capital Planning Committee and the Community Preservation Committee will present their FY25 spending recommendations at a Zoom session on Monday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. The session will provide information about the proposals and offer an opportunity for residents to ask questions in advance of the March 23 Annual Town Meeting. Click here for the Zoom link (passcode: 284293).

CapCom is recommending items totaling $1.15 million. Most of those are part of Article 8, while Article 15 specifies $78,648 for town buildings maintenance and Article 16 seeks $63,600 for library maintenance. All but three of the 2o items in Article 8 are under $100,000 apiece; the exceptions are $250,000 for a Department of Public Works loader, $200,000 for Town Office Building lighting controls, and $115,000 for replacing boilers in the Public Safety Building.

The CPC is recommending a total appropriation of $1.74 million for 16 items in Article 9. Those over $100,000 apiece are funds for the Housing Trust ($500,000), a sprinkler system for the Codman Community Farms main barn ($400,000), the Elm Brook battlefield restoration project $150,000), and debt service for the Town Office Building renovation project ($287,460) and the Wang property purchase ($103,550).

The presentations will also be recorded and posted on the town website and available for review before then. For complete Town Meeting materials, including the warrant, procedures, and the Annual Town Report, click here.

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.

News acorns

Walden Woods seeks help, offers CSA shares

The Walden Woods Project in Lincoln and Concord is seeking volunteers and a paid farm hand for the upcoming farm season. Click here for information on those positions. The organization is also offering a 16-week farm CSA share this summer — click here for details.

Radon testing suggested for Lincoln homeowners

Because of our local geology, Lincoln has been classified as a high-risk radon zone by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), meaning that testing a home in Lincoln is more likely to disclose worrisome high levels of radon compared to homes in most other communities. Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the ground (soil, rock, water). If present below a home, it may seep into the basement and then to living areas. Poor ventilation worsens radon levels. Unsafe radon exposure may increase your risk for certain cancers, including lung cancer.

Fortunately, affordable correct solutions (soil depressurization) are readily available. The Lincoln Board of Health has AirThings radon meters free of charge to check out from the Lincoln Town Hall. Go to 16 Lincoln Rd. during business hours or call 781-259-2613. Learn more at www.mass.gov/radon or call the Radon Hotline at 800-723-6695.

“On Belonging in Outdoor Spaces” series continues

The “On Belonging in Outdoor Spaces” free speaker series continues via Zoom on Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. with Erika Rumbley, co-founder and director of the New Garden Society and Director of Horticulture at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. She will speak about her work training incarcerated students in the art and science of plants. On Wednesday, March 27 at 7 p.m., Doug Sutherland, a summer camp professional, will share his experiences as a Black person in rural New Hampshire, where “belonging” is an assumption for some and unattainable for others.

Click here to register for either talk. The series is hosted by Farrington Nature Linc, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the Walden Woods Project, Mass Audubon, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, and Codman Community Farms. Spring 2024 Sponsorship is generously provided by the Ogden Codman Trust and Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area.

LLCT plans work days, movie night

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust invites residents to help out on Stewardship Work Days starting on Friday, March 15 at 1 p.m. Join volunteers and staff from LLCT and LCD to pull non-native plants from conservation land. Tools and snacks will be provided. Click here to sign up.

The LLCT will host a movie night to welcome spring and continue our focus on both pollination systems and the importance of dark skies for wildlife by screening “Bat Man of Mexico,” a 50-minute PBS episode about the lesser long-nosed bat, a crucial pollinator of agave plants, on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. in the LLCT office (145 Lincoln Rd, Suite 102A).

Library events coming up

Sing to Your Baby
Saturday, March 23 from 11-11:45 a.m., Tarbell Room
Babies and their families are invited to join Julie Stepanek and her ukulele as she leads participants in a singalong. This gentle program includes both classic songs and new favorites. Shakers and scarves will also be incorporated in the program. Best for infants through age 3 but older siblings are welcome. No registration necessary.

Family ukulele workshop
Saturday, March 23 from 2–3 p.m., Tarbell Room
Want to try an instrument that’s fun and easy to play? Join Julie Stepanek as she shows the fundamentals of ukulele playing. No experience necessary. Ukuleles provided. Best for families with children ages 6 and up. Register here.

“Bicycling Inclusion and Equity History” with Lorenz Finison
Thursday, March 28 from 7–8 p.m., Tarbell Room
Author Lorenz Finison will discuss his newest book, Bicycling Inclusion and Equity: Histories of New England and Beyond. His work provides a sweep of cycling’s social history, from the 1870s to the present day, from Boston through New England and across the nation. In-person event; no registration necessary.

Pop-Up art class: watercolor poppies
Friday, March 29 from 3–4:30 p.m., Tarbell Room
Paint the delicate petals of poppy flowers with watercolor paint. Pop Up Art School will teach us how to layer the translucent paint. You’ll work on two paintings concurrently to allow time for the layers to dry. Watercolor painting is fun and relaxing. Registration is limited to 15 adults (age 18+) for this class. Registration opens on Friday, March 8 at 9 a.m. Register here.

“The Noisy Puddle” reading with Linda Booth Sweeney
Saturday, March 30 from 10:30–11:30 a.m., Tarbell Room
Author Linda Booth Sweeney will read The Noisy Puddle: A Vernal Pool Through the Seasons to everyone and conduct a movement activity while teaching about vernal pools. No registration necessary. Best for families with children ages 4 and up. 

Kids can learn chess for high schoolers
Saturday, April 6 from 3–4:15 p.m., library
Elementary and middle school kids are invited to join the L-S Chess Club to learn and play chess at the library. Please register by emailing Sarah at sfeather@minlib.net.

Select Board issues positions on community center and HCA rezoning

(Editor’s note: This article was amended on March 10 to clarify that the Select Board did not explicitly endorse Article 3 even as it supported compliance with the Housing Choice Act.)

The Select Board has endorsed both the community center project but took a more nuanced approach in its stand on a Housing Choice Act-compliant zoning district — measures that will be debated and voted on at the start of Town Meeting on March 23.

In a statement at their March 4 meeting, the board noted the previously cited justifications for a community center, including the deteriorating condition of the Hartwell pods for the Parks and Recreation Department and the inadequacies of Bemis Hall for the Council on Aging & Human Services, adding that renovating all of them would cost about $14.4 million compared to $24 million for new construction. ICON Architects estimates that construction costs will continue to rise by about 7% a year for the next several years, they added.

Operating costs for a new building have yet to be determined, though the Community Center Building Committee outlined the cost drivers in a March 6 statement. A grant from the Ogden Codman Trust as well as funds contributed and raised by the Friends of the Council on Aging will offset at least $1.5 million of the cost.

The CCBC will hold a forum on the final design concept and cost estimates on Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. The agenda contains the Zoom link.

Housing Choice Act

At the same March 4 meeting, the Select Board also declared support for “the adoption of a Housing Choice Act-compliant zoning district” without specifically supporting Article 3, which asks voters to approve the amended zoning bylaw drawn up by the Planning Board and HCAWG.

Though there’s general agreement that the town should comply with the state law, there has been a great deal of controversy about exactly how to do so. In a second statement on March 4, the Selects said the process “gave residents voice and choice and allowed them to shape the direction and substance of the zoning bylaw.” But members of Lincoln Residents of Housing Alternatives have said that their alternative was not given equal time at the Special Town Meeting on December, when Option C was chosen. Opponents want residents to vote down the bylaw that’s based on that option, which would concentrate all new multifamily housing in South Lincoln, and draw up a different amendment that would allow multifamily housing in other parts of town as well.

The Selects allowed for the possibility of a “no” vote. If the HCA measure isn’t passed by voters, “the Select Board is committed to bringing all interested residents together to forge a compromise to be voted on at a Special Town Meeting before the end of the year,” their statement says.

The stance echoed that of Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson. “If the town has changed its mind, the town will tell us no by voting no. I don’t think any of us should be upset by that prospect. If it’s not approved, that’s OK — that’s part of the process,” she said at the board’s February 20 public hearing on the bylaw.

The town originally scheduled the Town Meeting vote for this month to allow time for the state to vet the amended bylaw for HCA compliance and for the town to make any necessary adjustments before the December 2024 deadline. If voters delay approval until fall, the state presumably won’t have time to review and give its final thumbs-up before the clock runs out, but they haven’t said whether they might be flexible about the deadline if they aren’t able to sign off in time.

In the March 4 discussion, Select Board member Kim Bodnar emphasized the “magnitude of what we’re asking of residents… It really matters to the town we are and the town we might become. This has required the town to think about about who they are, questioning their values. It’s been very tough.”

My Turn: Vander Meulen endorses Taylor for Planning Board

By Allen Vander Meulen

I’ve known Gary Taylor for nearly 15 years. He and his wife Susan were one of the first people we met when we moved into our home on Beaver Pond Rd.

I think we all are very aware of the many years both Gary and Susan have invested in service to the town, in many roles and in many ways. So, instead of dwelling on his many qualifications, I thought I’d share two tidbits that speak to me of Gary’s thoughtfulness and long-term dedication to many of the issues central to the challenges and controversies of the present.

Back in 2014 or so, I attended a Planning Board meeting. Following that meeting, Gary took the time to talk at length with me about his concerns over the erosion of moderate-priced housing in Lincoln, and how economic realities plus the regulatory structure at the local, state, and federal levels all conspired to promote the creation of housing for folks at the low end and high end of the income scale, but nothing for those in the middle. This is precisely the challenge that the Housing Choice Act seeks to address. 

Now, this was around the time I joined the Housing Commission, and I was still quite the newbie in that arena. Even so, Gary made sure his concerns were clear, and that I clearly understood the “bigger picture” of housing, not just whether Lincoln could keep its SHI (Subsidized Housing Inventory) percentage above 10% as mandated by state law. I learned a lot in that conversation, and as a result the concerns he raised have been part of my own thoughts and work ever since.

In 2017 I ran for the Select Board against Jennifer Glass — and (rightfully) got stomped. (Mainly, I think, because it was clear I had neither the experience nor the connections within the Lincoln community to be in such a position — yet.) Even so, Gary and Susan went out of their way to host a neighborhood coffee for Jennifer and me during that campaign so their Lincoln neighbors and friends could meet both candidates and hear what they had to say. They didn’t have to do that, and I’m sure they knew that I had little or no hope of winning that election. But it was important to them to facilitate communication and understanding for all. And frankly, I learned a lot from that evening myself: not just meeting many Lincolnites I hadn’t met before, but also hearing what they felt was important for us to learn, no matter who won that race.

So to me, that’s who Gary Taylor is: a man who has spent a very long time working to make Lincoln a more inclusive, welcoming, and diverse community. A gracious and a good friend, an attentive listener, a deeply thoughtful and knowledgable speaker, a creative and reliable worker, and someone who remains diligent in working for the town’s best interests.

Please join me in re-electing Gary Taylor to the 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: In support of Article 3 at Town Meeting

By Joan Kimball

I am supporting Article 3, the Housing Choice bylaw, at the March 23 Town Meeting.

Having voted in favor of Article C (with the majority) at the December Special Town Meeting, I have since read carefully the pros and cons, attended meetings about the Housing Choice Act and made my decision. I will vote yes on March 23 for the following reasons:

  1. Knowing that we in Massachusetts have a housing crisis, I want Lincoln to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. 
  2. I believe that we have an opportunity now, with RLF and the mall, to actually build some multiple-family housing. Building in the (relatively) near term will:
    • Actually provide housing
    • Be developed by an owner, RLF, who has a proven record of doing things for the town and an understanding of the town so that the development will fit Lincoln. I liked the conceptual drawing that we saw at the recent RLF meeting.
    • Provide more customers for our retail businesses. We need more customers. When I go to Donelan’s, there is never a line, and when I go to other businesses, I am often the only customer. This is not sustainable.
    • Create housing that is near transportation — an important aspect as we oppose climate change.
  3. If we do not include the mall with its potential for building housing, I strongly believe it will take years and years to actually build any housing. It is a complex and challenging undertaking. In addition, I have heard that developers do not want to risk time and investment in projects with the risk of going through Town Meeting.
  4. With town and private investment we can choose to increase the moderate income percentage in housing developments.
  5. As a former Conservation Commission member, I support development on already built land whenever possible to protect habitat on undeveloped land.

Bylaws are not specific housing developments; they are zoning “rules.” A great deal of time — as well as incorporating public comments — has gone into this bylaw. I think it is a good one. Therefore, I vote yes.

“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.