Lincoln Select Board approves three gas main extensions, backs tougher state code

LINCOLN — July 18, 2022 — Lincoln approves three National Grid gas mains while endorsing stricter net-zero code comments. Select Board members Jennifer Glass and Jonathan Dwyer, meeting without Chair Jim Hutchinson, voted 2-0 to approve National Grid extensions at 8 Silver Hill Road, 3 Millstone Lane and roughly 2,280 feet along Concord Road, each carrying DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo's standard trench-repair conditions. In the same meeting they endorsed Green Energy Committee comments — presented by member Paul Shorb — urging the Department of Energy Resources to rewrite its draft "specialized" stretch code so opt-in towns can bar new gas hookups outright, calling the state's current definition of net zero out of line with Sen. Mike Barrett's statute. Town Administrator Tim Higgins said Barrett is now floating tying Lincoln's spot in a 10-town climate demonstration to Chapter 40B compliance, a threshold Lincoln clears at "almost 14" percent. The board also learned it won a $267,000 Complete Streets grant for Magnolia Path Phase 2.