Planning Board closes HCA hearing, advances zoning to March 23 town meeting

LINCOLN — February 20, 2024 — Lincoln Planning Board closes public hearing on Housing Choice Act zoning, sets March 23 vote. The board ended more than two hours of comment on a draft bylaw setting 10 percent inclusionary affordability, 25 units per acre in a Village Center Overlay, 33 percent commercial gross floor area on mall-area lots, and 80 percent commercial or "street-activating" ground-floor frontage along the first 100 feet of Lincoln Road. Co-Chair Margaret Olson said the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities rejected the town's preferred 15 percent affordability figure because Lincoln's septic constraints and the absence of a municipal wastewater plant made larger garden-style buildings infeasible. Resident Susan Brooks urged a pass-over and a special town meeting later in 2024, calling the rushed schedule "a sham"; Lewis Zipes of 291 South Great Road urged the board to proceed. Co-Chair Gary Taylor said the board is bound by December's Option C vote: "If the town has changed its mind, the town will tell us so by voting no." Member Susan Hall Mygatt flagged a special-permit provision allowing reduced commercial requirements as lacking a clear standard.