(Editor’s note: In her letter, Margaret Flint refers to a February 24 article in the Lincoln Squirrel that incorrectly stated that the First Parish Church has been trying for 12 years to win formal approval from town boards to expand the Stearns Room, when in fact it has been doing so only since 2012. The earlier article has been updated to reflect this correction.)
To the editor:
I would like to clear up a few misconceptions regarding the First Parish Building Committee’s application for a building permit to upgrade the Stearns Room. In 2001, my family donated land to the church in good faith and with the understanding that there would be a modest addition to the Stearns Room to improve handicapped access and to improve circulation. After many years of input from parishioners and subsequent design changes, the Building Committee finally approached town boards in 2012 with their proposed plan. This was just two and a half years ago, not 14 as was reported.
The Stearns Room renovation has changed from its original intent to become quite a large project that now includes, among other things, a meeting room and a gallery to display a history of the church. I have been dismayed by the change in scale of the project, which I feel diminishes the prominence of the lovely, simple sanctuary. I believe strongly that my husband and father-in-law would feel the same way. In fact, I believe the church has bitten the hand that fed them the land in their disregard for several requests dating back many months, beyond the square footage, to the planned new Stearns Room: the amount of glass, the height of the roof, the metal roof, and the door leading nowhere and which bumps out the southern profile of the building.
Town boards have been generous to the church in granting exemptions for the Stearns Room. The February 24 article stated that “…the church has argued that, given the constraints of the property, it cannot fulfill the goals of a Stearns Room expansion without the exemptions.” To that I respond, perhaps the goals of the Stearns Room are too grand, given the constraints of the property and its place in the historic town center.
The article also quotes a member of the Building Committee as follows: “…it is not our intent to simply build real estate, but to create an experience that is spiritually uplifting and satisfying to the soul as well as true to the values of Lincoln and an entire spiritual community.” It is my belief that taking into account the concerns of neighbors and trying to reach compromise is what most people would consider being true to the values of Lincoln, especially in light of this building’s place in the Historic District.
Sincerely,
Margaret Flint
Lexington Road
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, 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.
