Planning Board advances 50 percent lot coverage cap in HCA zoning draft

LINCOLN — January 5, 2024 — Lincoln Planning Board advances 50 percent lot-coverage cap in HCA zoning draft. At a Jan. 5 working session, members Margaret Olson, Gary Taylor and Ethan Flint reviewed Utile-produced build-out scenarios for the Rural Land Foundation mall site and Codman Road, settling on a combined building-and-parking coverage cap of 50 percent across all three sub-districts and a reduced 15-foot village center front setback. Utile's model showed a redeveloped mall yielding roughly 49,000 square feet of commercial — down from 55,000 — at 2.5 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet, with retail frontage at 83 percent meeting the draft's 80 percent threshold. Members split on allowing a fourth story by special permit at 48 feet; Co-Chair Lynn DeLisi's written comments opposed it, Taylor wanted it preserved as something "we need in the future," and the question was deferred to Jan. 9. Residents pressed for a maximum 100-unit "bulldoze exercise" schematic of the mall parcel, which Utile agreed to produce.