Lincoln Blogs the Future

Selectman Sara Mattes issued a public letter and also publicly announced at Monday night’s selectmen meeting that she would be stepping down at the end of her fourth term.  That term ends with next March’s Town Meeting.  Below is her letter:

December 12, 2011
To All,

“Lincoln: 250 years of caring for community and land” 

This was the title we adopted for our yearlong celebration of Lincoln’s marvelous history.

 I have had 12 wonderful years on Lincoln’s Board of Selectmen which has allowed me, on a day-to-day basis, to work and care for Lincoln’s community and land.

It is now time for me to step down and for others to continue in this role.  I will not be seeking re-election in 2012.

Before I became a Selectman (and yes, by state statute, we are “selectmen”), I served for 20 years in a number of other capacities, first on ad hoc committees, then, on school building committees, as a Bemis Trustee, and on the Housing Commission.  All have been wonderful experiences – meeting other talented and committed people along the way – and most important to me, learning about the town from the town.

Talented and committed volunteers have built Lincoln.  We need more to come forward…  There are many opportunities, large and small for all of you to participate.

I am sure I will find another role in the future-it is too much fun and too rewarding to stay away for long!

For now, I know I will leave the board in very capable hands, and am confident that yet more talent will surface to serve.

Many thanks to all, especially our capable town staff, who make it possible for us continue to be effective volunteers and aid us in continuing the tradition of caring for community and land.

Fondly,
Sara Mattes

(Neil Feinberg’s Lincoln Journalcolumn – 12/1/11)

It’s always fascinating to watch allies fight.  Especially when the rift between the two sides is so wide that it’ll probably take a Federal Court judge to bridge the gap between ‘em.  Such appears to be the case in the budding contretemps between the National Park Service (NPS), which runs Minute Man National Park, and the Town of Lincoln–two entities that typically work closely together–as they battle over the group home proposed for 12 Airport Road. 

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting held a couple of weeks ago was the last step before the lawsuits fly and the Town’s legal budget goes through the roof, so let’s recap how we got here.

Airport Road is currently a dead-end street running between Rt. 2A and a dormant gate to Hanscom Air Force Base.  It has only two houses on it but is part of a greater residential neighborhood extending into Lexington.  A Minute Man Park walking trail transverses Airport Road and some historic sites are close by, so droves of tourists wander the area when the weather is nice. 

The house at 12 Airport Road burned down a few years ago.  The owner didn’t rebuild it and stopped paying the property taxes, so the Town eventually took ownership of the one-acre, non-conforming lot through a tax lien.  The owner then appealed that action and the court overturned it.  The Town, through the Lincoln Housing Trust (LHT), then had to pay $300,000 to acquire the property. 

Why did it do that, you ask?  Because the LHT wants to lease the property to NuPath, a group home developer who wants to build a five-bedroom group home on it, thus creating five more units of affordable housing.  It’s all part of the Town’s never-ending, relentless effort to reach that elusive 10% affordable housing threshold that keeps evil 40B developers at bay.

The NPS was never wild about the idea of anyone building a house on this lot.  It will eventually own the other house at 8 Airport Road and had always coveted this lot, though it wasn’t able to come up with the dough to purchase it when it was available.  So it went along begrudgingly with the idea of allowing a small group home on that site.  That is, until it realized that the proposed new house would have a footprint that’ll be about three times larger than the house that burned down.  That’s when good buddies parted company.  

The ZBA meeting a couple of weeks ago was the penultimate step in the town’s regulatory process that began in 2010 when the ZBA ruled that the lot was buildable under town bylaws.  That same ruling authorized construction of a house on the lot, but only after the house was designed and a Special Permit issued by the ZBA.  Now that the design is complete, the LHT wanted the permit so it could go to the Planning Board for site plan review, the final step before the contractor could begin work. 

But now the NPS had become totally opposed to the project.  Superintendent Nancy Nelson cited her concerns about the impact that increased traffic on Airport Road would have on public safety and the preservation of historic resources.   A letter from an attorney for the NPS claims that there could be more than 300 trips per week to service the group home, including “full-time staff support, transportation to participate in off-premises jobs/activities, visits from friends and family, trips off-site for medical care and other activities, facility support functions (landscaping, maintenance, food and other deliveries), regulatory inspections, and on-site medical and/or emergency services, etc.”

Attorneys for both the Town and for the LHT disputed that traffic estimate.  They also pointed out that it is illegal under the Dover Amendment to discriminate against group homes.  You wouldn’t expect a family of five, they pointed out to the ZBA, to be asked how many car trips a day their house would generate, and the developer of the group home shouldn’t be asked either.  

But that wasn’t the major legal issue. The NPS has enlisted the help of the Air Force who have asserted that it owns all the land around 12 Airport Road, not just the land on the military base.   The Air Force contends in letters from its attorney and from a representative of the Base Commander that the property is unbuildable because it is land-locked.  As such, the Air Force would have to give its permission for anyone to access the property.  How’s that for a (p)lot twist?  

Of course, the Town’s and the LHT’s attorneys dispute this claim, as well they should.  If the property is unbuildable, the Town spent $300 grand for nothing.  If it is unusable and has no value, it would also make it that much more difficult to swap it for park service land on Mill Street, as the NPS has proposed. 

In the end, the ZBA ruled in favor of the group home, so it’s on to the Planning Board, unless the NPS sues.   And let’s hope that all they do is sue us.  After all, with the Air Force on the NPS’s side, it’s now us against the Federal Government, and the other side has drones with missiles on them.

Andy Rooney wasn’t the only grumpy 92-year old person to pass away last week.  Lincoln’s own curmudgeonly but loveable Norman Hapgood succumbed to his health battles.  If you’re new to town (within the last ten years or so), you may not have known Norman.  Poor health and the death of Ruth, his beloved wife of 63 years, slowed him down during the past decade.  But Norman was Lincoln’s renowned town gadfly long before this column was born. 

He never ran for office or served the town in any official capacity, but each year when the annual report and budget was delivered by the Boy Scouts, he’d scour them, studying the warrant articles and reviewing every line item in the budget, while making copious notes to himself about any issue that caught his attention.  As a hard-core frugal Yankee New Englander Norman thought that every nickel was sacred and should not be squandered…on anything. 

His two biggest annual events were Town Meeting and the July 4th parade.  Each year he’d attend the Moderator’s meeting the week before and get to Town Meeting early in the morning to stake out his customary seat in the front row, directly in front of the Moderator.  He’d prepare speeches in opposition to almost any warrant article that spent money and he’d hold out any offending budget line item.  After proponents offered their (to him, money-wasting) warrant article and explained it, the Moderator would open it up for discussion.  Invariably, Norman’s hand would be the first to shoot up and the Moderator would feel compelled to call on him. 

Never content to speak from his seat, Norman would saunter up to the podium and deliver remarks that could frequently be described as obscure.  He had his own humorous way of looking at things, that’s for sure.  For example, he always advocated for linking the school budget to student test scores.  He would probably be opposed to spending $49 million on a new school unless we got $49 million worth of improved MCAS results.

Norman was an accomplished unicyclist and showed off his skills each year by unicycling in the July 4th parade (both directions).  He’d don a costume or hang a sign around his neck poking fun at the hot button issue of the day in Lincoln.

As his obituary states, “his main contributions to town politics were comic relief and a persistent interrogation of the Finance Committee.”  And it is in that latter role that Norman will be most missed.  Because it appears we are now faced with a Finance Committee that the town can no longer trust for impartial and accurate information on the financial ramifications of the aforementioned $49 million school building project. 

Norman would have pored over the fincom’s report and listened to its member Laura Sander’s presentation at last month’s State of the Town meeting.  He probably would have quickly grasped, as the Board of Selectmen has come to realize, that the report was biased in favor of the school building project.  No doubt he would have gotten up and pointed out that Sander’s financial data and charts comparing the repair option with the “preferred” new construction option were all based upon two very different bonding assumptions. 

That is to say, the numbers were presented in a way to show that there would be virtually no difference in the average annual property tax bill between the two options.  What Sander neglected to tell the audience was that the new construction tax bill figure was modeled on a 30-year payment term while the repair option was modeled on only a 20-year term.  So, sure the annual tax bill increase seemed close.  That’s because the repair option payments would end 10 years before the construction option payments.  Shouldn’t this important distinction have been pointed out during the 45-minute presentation?  It wasn’t.

How can the Finance Committee claim impartiality when two members are married to members of the School Committee?   And a third fincom member, who serves as liaison to the School Building Committee, has become an active proponent of the project, regularly providing strategy during SBC meetings on how to present the project in the best fiscal light.  Apparently, putting this project in the best possible light seems to have resulted in fudging the numbers.

Isn’t it time for some fincom members to recuse themselves from active participation on this project?  I don’t know if Norman would have called for that, but I am.

Norman Hapgood, 92, a unique figure in the old days of Lincoln town life, died at his home in Lincoln on Saturday, October 22, 2011, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease and dementia.

Norman was best known for riding his unicycle in the July 4th parade, usually with clever references to Lincoln town issues, and for speaking prolifically at Town Meeting.

There will be a Life Celebration for Norman on SaturdayNovember 19 at 2 pm at the Pierce House.  Everyone is invited.

Click Here to read Norman’s full obituary.

(Neil Feinberg’s Lincoln Journal Column – November 10, 2011)

Even though it wasn’t discussed at the State of the Town meeting, it was on everyone’s mind. When you see your neighbor over the fence (that is, unless it’s tall enough to avoid eye contact), one of you is sure to bring it up. Whether you’re standing around with other parents pretending to watch your sports-challenged child play soccer, or you’re attending a meeting at Town Offices (wait, nobody does that), somebody’s likely to mention it.

By email and by phone you’ve asked for it. When I run into you at Crosby’s Star Market or Verrill’s in Concord you inquire. Even if you don’t come right out and ask, I can tell by that vacant, hollow look in your eyes that you’re wondering. So, here it is: an update on the status of ever being able to buy groceries in Lincoln again.

Is Donelan’s ever coming back? It’s still too soon to tell. The lawyers for this grocery chain and the property owner, the Rural Land Foundation, continue to talk, but the sides are still far apart. According to those close to the negotiations, Donelan’s has asked for significant financial concessions that go beyond the RLF’s ability to compromise. Apparently, Donelan’s experiment in expansion did not yield the hoped-for profits and they see no reason to repeat that experiment at their expense.

There are three areas for negotiation: 1) the rent for the actual store space, 2) additional monthly payments for common space, and 3) the expenses for fitting out the space (ovens, freezers, coolers, refrigerators, shelves, lights, etc.). Those can be very costly, up to and into the millions of dollars. Right now, Donelan’s and the RLF are talking about #1 and #2. In the meantime, they are waiting to hear from their respective insurance companies on #3. If those always-benevolent insurance companies kick in significantly, perhaps a deal can be reached. If not, the parties remain divided and Donelan’s is certainly in no rush to return under the existing terms.

If not Donelan’s, then who? Again, it’s still too soon to tell. The RLF has engaged a commercial broker who has been aggressively marketing the location. The broker has already contacted every active, or potentially interested, grocer in this general area, from Shaw’s to Trader Joe’s.

Some have expressed initial interest and have sent out representatives during the past couple of weeks to view the property. One such company, according to reliable sources, was Whole Foods, who passed on the site because of, get ready for this, inadequate parking. The broker is still waiting to hear back from most of the companies, so there is still the possibility of interest from another company. To put it in fishing terms, there have been some nibbles, but no bites.

Why is it so hard to find another grocer? Sure, we’re a wonderful small town with great demographics, average income, etc., but the key word is small. The good thing about Donelans (it wasn’t their prices) was that they know us and have accepted us for what (and who) we are. Other grocers want us to be a much bigger town.

Besides that, there are problems with the site that are tough to ignore: 1) the store space is too small in contrast with other area supermarkets, 2) the parking area is too small to attract a more regional grocer like a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, 3) the store is hidden in the back of the shopping center with signage that isn’t readily visible from the road, and 4) the shopping center is central for Lincoln and abuts the train station, but it’s remote from a major thoroughfare like Rt. 117.

Will the store be open for the Holidays? Plan on buying your Thanksgiving Turkey and Holiday party platters elsewhere this year.

What if another grocer isn’t found? The RLF trustees will have to cross that bridge when they come to it. Right now, they have a two-prong strategy: try to lure Donelan’s back to town while attempting to entice another grocer to take the space. With an approved beer & wine license available next spring, the possibility exists for splitting the space between a convenience store or specialty grocer and a beer & wine store. But they’re not pursuing that avenue at this time. So, there you have it: an update on Donelan’s. It’s not good news, but it isn’t bad news…yet.

(Neil Feinberg’s Lincoln Journal Column – November 3, 2011)

If you weren’t among the 100 or so people who bothered to show up for last Saturday morning’s State of the Town (SotT) meeting, then you missed quite a show.   Maybe you thought it was more prudent to run to the stores and stock up on food, water, batteries, candles and other frivolous items, rather than attend this seminal event.  Or perhaps you felt the need to rush over to Costco to stock up on frozen meats and other frozen foods.  How’d that work out for you, with the power out? 

For those who missed it, I will attempt to recount everything that happened at the SotT meeting.  But it isn’t going to be easy.  It was such a dynamic event and it all came at me so fast and furiously that even now, a day later, it’s still a blur.

It was truly an extravaganza! It included an indoor light and sound show of unparalleled magnitude.  It required so much electricity–so much juice–that it caused the town to lose all power on Sunday.  You thought the blackout was caused by that little ice storm?  It wasn’t.  That’ll give you an inkling of how dynamic and powerful the super-charged Powerpoint presentations were, and how much you missed.

Just like the Oscars or the Emmys, it kicked off with a lavish production number, complete with showgirls, costumes, and a full orchestra.  Suffice it to say everyone’s socks were blown off when school project proponents performed “West Side Story,” with new, more meaningful lyrics.  Consider these lyrics from ‘Something’s Coming’: 

Could be! Who knows?

Your tax bill’s due any day,

The check’s in the mail, it’s on its way,

Could it be true?

Something’s coming, something good!

It costs $49 million, we knew it would

A new school’s coming, and we can’t wait,

It could be soon; and it’s gonna be great!

Who knows? Who cares?

And it was pure musical genius when  the School Committee (the Jets) and the School Building Committee (the Sharks) joined together, singing and dancing their way into everyone’s hearts as they performed ‘Tonight”:

The school committee’s gonna have their day Tonight.

The building committee’s gonna have their way Tonight.

The residents may grumble: “Just repair it.”

But if they start a rumble,

We’ll rumble ‘em right.

And who can say they didn’t deal in a humorous manner with the sensitive issue of the super-sized cost of the project when they sang, “Gee, Officer Krupke”:

Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,

You gotta understand,

It’s just the taxes going up-ke

That’s getting out of hand.

We ain’t just a soft touch,

We’re really misunderstood.

Cause deep down this project it ain’t no good!

We are broke, we are broke,

We are broke, broke, broke,

Like we’re fi-nancially broke!

Of course, as with any other three hour and ten minute extravaganza, there were bound to be some, shall we say, slower moments.  Like the first three hours.  Let me quickly recap: Most of the first hour was spent learning that the Capitol Planning Committee wants more authority (see future bylaws) and wants all committees that buy expensive stuff to plan for their purchases over a 25 year period. 

The second hour was spent discussing the feasibility of some kind of community center (an idea that has been rejected at every past townwide forum, including the Master Plan forums).  The first 45 minutes of the third hour was spent on the presentation of the same old new school building project by the school committee, the superintendent, the school building committee and the finance committee. You know the story: same size as the current school, cafeterias that will still require moving chairs and tables every day, a new entrance through the new cafeteria to get to the Donaldson Auditorium, whopping $49 million price tag, blah, blah, blah.

To be fair, the presentation this time was far superior to the one in the gym two weeks ago.  This one was crisp and hit all the points that the school committee and administration wanted to make.  It flowed smoothly, the slides were all lined up in the right order and most importantly, they only left ten minutes for audience feedback.  If the gym performance was the dress rehearsal, they got it right this time: overwhelm the audience with presentation, data and charts and keep the audience participation to a minimum. 

As good as the presentation was though, the project’s proponents could still work on it a little bit more, making some additional adjustments.  For example, having played wi, um, I mean…crunched the numbers to make them work, the project’s proponents reported with a straight face that a completely brand-new school (after factoring in reimbursements at arbitrary percentages) will cost the town only about one measly million dollars more than the repair option (even if those repairs were done at rock-bottom prices by fly-by-night gypsy contractors).  That means the difference in everyone’s tax bill, their charts showed, will amount to less than a buck a day, and is hardly even worth dignifying by discussing. 

Now, that’s good, but not quite good enough.  We need some bolder thinking.  I expect that, by the time a vote on this project rolls around a year from now, we’ll be told that a brand-spanking new school will actually cost at least a million bucks less than the lowliest repair option.  And that our taxes will go down, but only if we spend $49 million on a new school.

The finale was a real tear-jerker. It was so inspirational as everyone sang:

Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.

Hold my hand and I’ll take you there,

Somehow . . . Some day . . .

We’ll build a $49 million new school!!!

Everyone had their hankies out and they were sobbing as the show ended (they were probably thinking about those tax bills). You should have been there.