Planning Board approves Plout rewilding plan 4-1 over bylaw dissent

LINCOLN — April 22, 2025 — Lincoln Planning Board approves Plout rewilding and driveway project 4-1 over landscape bylaw dissent. The board approved Timothy and Madeline Plout's site plan and stormwater permit for parcels off Old Winter Street, authorizing roughly 137 tree removals — about 30 of them oaks — a 13-foot driveway, a successional meadow on Lot B and extensive native replanting with a deer fence containing rigid wildlife gates. Member Susan Hall Mygatt cast the lone no vote, arguing only the driveway met Section 17.4.4.a and that the rest should be approved, if at all, under the Section 17.7.4.g waiver to avoid "creating a precedent." Co-Chair Lynn DeLisi countered that replacing aggressive white pines with native species "would be preserving the natural environment of Lincoln." Conditions include a 14-day police detail during major logging, a six-inch tree-marking threshold, three years of invasive-species monitoring and five years of restoration-planting reports. Peer reviewer Scott Murphy found the design complies with the town stormwater bylaw.