Selectmen split on water bottle ban but reject legal-fee petition

The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 to endorse a plastic water bottle measure that will be up for a Town Meeting vote on March 24. They also voted unanimously to remove a citizens’ petition seeking reimbursement for legal costs incurred by a group of residents fighting the McLean Hospital proposal on Bypass Road.

In November 2016, the Zoning Board of Appeals denied McLean’s request to use a single-family house for an outpatient facility, saying it did not meet the criteria for an educational use, which would have been permitted under the state’s Dover amendment. McLean filed suit in state land court against the town and the ZBA, and a group of residents represented by attorney Michael Fee petitioned to intervene as co-defendants. Some of those residents recently submitted a Town Meeting citizen’s petition asking the town to reimburse them for $112,000 in legal fees incurred in the court battle.

The residents originally intervened because they felt the town would not adequately represent their interests, which were more specific than those of the town—thwarting McLean Hospital’s plans for a specific property, as opposed to merely upholding the authority of the ZBA and town town’s zoning bylaws in general. They argued at last week’s Board of Selectmen meeting that the residents’ and town’s interests were identical once the trial had begun, but selectmen and special counsel Jason Talerman disagreed.

Talerman also told the board that the state’s anti-aid amendment prohibits public funding for private individuals and organizations that are not working under town control. If a town hires a private contractor for something like snow plowing, “you as community have to be able to control those services,” he said. In the McLean case, the town can’t be responsible for covering the cost of an attorney who reports only to private residents and not the town, he added.

Although the town has received some “incidental benefit” from the work of the residents’ attorney, the funding issue is “fairly clear because of the lack of [town] control,” Selectman James Craig said. “I feel the neighborhood is going to crucify me for this, but it’s more the duty I feel to the town as a whole.”

Selectman Jennifer Glass worried about setting a precedent if the funding request were allowed to go forward. Selectman James Dwyer agreed, saying, “I just think our hands are tied.”

Plastic bags and bottles

Selectmen voted unanimously to endorse a citizen’s petition to ban retail distribution of thin-film plastic grocery bags but were divided over sales of single-serving plastic water bottles.

There are actually two Town Meeting articles relating to the bottles—one submitted by the Lincoln-Sudbury Environmental Club and the second by resident Jim White, co-owner of Lincoln Kitchen and the recently closed Trail’s End Cafe. White’s measure is more far-reaching as it would prohibit use of the disposable bottles anywhere on town property in addition to banning their sale.

Although he was “fully supportive” of restricting bottle sales in general, “I was struck by the overwhelming sense of a fair playing field for our businesses,” especially Donelan’s, “our most critical [Lincoln mall] anchor tenant operating on such thin margins,” Craig said.

Glass and Dwyer supported the measure, however. “I hope this will spread geographically and give retailers cover,” eliminating the advantage of driving to a neighboring town to buy disposal water bottles, Dwyer said. He acknowledged that Donelan’s is “a huge benefactor to this town,” especially with contributions to the July Fourth celebration, “and I’m hoping this is not going to adversely affect them.”

Selectmen voiced doubts about how White’s measure would be enforced if approved. After voting 2-1 to endorse the students’ proposal, White asked the board not to take a formal position on his alternative measure.