Planning Board approves Silver Hill Road teardown and rebuild on 5-0 vote

LINCOLN -- April 13, 2021, Lincoln Planning Board clears Silver Hill teardown-rebuild and previews accessory-apartment pitch. The board voted 5-0 on April 13 to approve a site plan for Kathy and Andy Gableman's new one-and-a-half-story home at 8 Silver Hill Road on a 99,177-square-foot lot governed by a 2002 conservation restriction enforced by the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust. Abutter Cliff Court asked for a small wall to block condenser noise reaching his bedroom 150 feet away, saying "Lincoln's a peaceful place and I sleep with my window open"; the board left a solution to the applicant and neighbor rather than delay the permit. Members also extended the Carroll School's modular COVID-19 health center at 25 Baker Bridge Road through August 2022 and walked through a Town Meeting slide deck on amending the accessory-apartment bylaw to drop the 10-year house-age requirement, cap accessory units at five percent of housing stock (about 120 under current numbers, against 64 today) and impose a 30-day minimum rental term. Co-Chair Gary Taylor pushed back on language describing the bylaw as keeping the town's SHI above 10 percent as "a little bit misleading"; Lincoln's SHI stood at 12.29 percent under 2020 assessor data. Margaret Olson was reappointed chair and Craig Nicholson reappointed associate member.