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

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New “spring greens” CSA offered by The Food Project

To get a jump-start on the growing and distribution season, The Food Project has launched a brand new “Spring Greens” community-supported agriculture (CSA) share. For $200, you get five weeks of cooking and salad greens (4 pounds a week on average) grown in our high tunnel greenhouses in Lincoln. Distributions on Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. will start in May at the Lincoln farm on Baker Bridge Road (the exact start date will be determined depending on the weather). Visit The Food Project website to sign up online, or call 781-259-8621 x20. Spaces are limited.

Codman Community Farm and Drumlin Farm are also offering CSA shares—see the Lincoln Squirrel, March 5.

Meals on Wheels needs delivery volunteers

The Lincoln Council on Aging needs people to deliver Meals on Wheels either regularly or as occasional substitutes. Drivers pick up the meals in Concord at about 10:30 a.m. and deliver them to two to three homebound residents in Lincoln. The meals are absolutely essential to those who receive them, and we would be so grateful if you could help! For more information, please talk to Carolyn at the Council on Aging at 781-259-8811. Meals on Wheels is administered by Minuteman Senior Services.

folpocketFill out your File of Life

A File of Life is a red plastic envelope that attaches to your refrigerator or a small folder to put in your wallet that holds a piece of paper with essential information that would be needed by emergency medical services should you ever have a medical emergency. Lincoln residents of all ages are welcome to pick up one more free Files of Life at the Council on Aging at Bemis Hall anytime Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. You will receive both the envelope or folder and the paper that goes inside with spaces to fill in your information. You may also call the COA at 781-259-8811 and they will mail a File of Life to you.

Ballot corrections and additions

correction-smThere were several errors in the election ballot published in the Lincoln Squirrel on March 3:

  • There are now two candidates for two seats on the Bemis Trustees, Melinda Abraham and Stephen Atlas.
  • Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee candidate Michael Walsh and Planning Board candidate Gary Taylor have withdrawn and will not appear on the ballot.
  • The middle name of Commissioner of Trust Funds candidate Derek Paul Fitzgerald was omitted.
  • The last name of Water Commission candidate Ruth Ann Hendrickson was misspelled.

The list in the March 3 article has been updated to reflect these corrections. The Squirrel regrets the errors.

Also on the March 31 ballot will be two yes-or-no questions for voters:

1. Shall an act filed in the year 2013 and passed by the General Court entitled “An Act Relative to the Granting of Special Licenses for the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages in the Town of Lincoln” be accepted?

Summary: On December 23, 2013, the Governor approved Chapter 187of the Acts of 2013 (the “Act”). The wording of this ballot question is taken directly from the Act, which follows a vote taken at the March 25, 2013 Annual Town Meeting. If accepted by the voters of the Town, the Act will authorize the Board of Selectmen, as licensing authority, in accordance with the provisions of G.L. c.138, §14, to issue one-day alcoholic beverage licenses for the sale of wine and beer to the organizers of special events, with one-day licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages available only to non-profit organizations. While no notice to abutters or formal hearing is required by law, the Board of Selectmen would be required to act on such license requests at meetings posted in accord with the Open Meeting Law, and retains discretion as to whether to grant such licenses. The Board of Selectmen would also be authorized to set uniform fees for such licenses.

2. Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year 2014, entitled “An Act Authorizing the Town of Lincoln to Grant a License for the Sale of Wine and Malt Beverages to be Drunk on the Premises” be accepted?

Summary: On January 16, 2014, the Governor approved Chapter 5 of the Acts of 2014 (the “Act”). The wording of this ballot question is taken directly from the Act, which follows a vote taken at the March 25, 2013 Annual Town Meeting. If accepted by the voters of the Town, the Act will authorize the Board of Selectmen, as licensing authority, to issue a single license for the sale of beer and wine to be drunk on the premises to the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park located at 51 Sandy Pond Road. State liquor license laws will apply to the issuance of the license. Said laws require, among other things, that the Board of Selectmen provide notice to abutters, hold a hearing, and determine that the applicant is of good character and has premises suitable for such purpose.

Hospice proposal goes before ZBA on Thursday

Hospice of the North Shore and Greater Boston purchased 12 acres of land in Lincoln and Waltham in hopes of building an inpatient hospice facility.

Property in Lincoln and Waltham being proposed for a hospice facility is outlined in red.

A proposal for a two-story hospice facility on Winter Street property in Lincoln and Waltham, which calls for a 42,000-square-foot building and parking for 87 cars, will be the subject of a Lincoln Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) hearing on Thursday, March 6.

[Read more…] about Hospice proposal goes before ZBA on Thursday

Leaf-blower committee forum on Monday

leafblower-compositeThe Lincoln Leaf Blower Study Committee (LBSC) is gathering input and presenting results and recommendations at three events this month, culminating with the Annual Town Meeting on March 29.

The LBSC will host a public forum on Monday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. to gather input from residents on their experience of leaf blower use in town and collect ideas on potential solutions as it presents interim results from its leaf blower survey (see the Lincoln Squirrel, Jan. 14, 2014). The forum will be held in the Donaldson Room at Town Office Building.

On Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m, the group will meet with the Board of Health to discuss its report on leaf blowers and health. The meeting will take place in the Donaldson Room and is open to the public.

The LBSC will present its research and recommendations at the Annual Town Meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 29.  The committee has considered a wide range of source materials, including reports from national and international organizations, scientific articles and videos of leaf blower work in Lincoln. These materials, as well as the LBSC’s reports, minutes and agendas are available on the LBSC page on the town website. Additional research will be conducted to evaluate economics and feasibility of alternative solutions.

As authorized by Town Meeting last spring (Warrant Article 41), the LBSC was created to study noise and air pollution resulting from increasing use of leaf blowers for public and private property maintenance, to research alternatives to use of leaf blowers, to study the cost impacts to both public and private sectors from those alternatives, and to present findings and recommendations at Town Meeting 2014.  The committee’s regular meetings are held every other Wednesday morning. Our last two sessions before Town Meeting will be held on March 5 and March 19 from 7:30-9 a.m. in the Town Office Building.

We look forward to your participation in our regular meetings and these three March events.