Planning Board details Housing Choice Act bylaw at final forum before Town Meeting

LINCOLN — March 14, 2024 — Lincoln Planning Board makes final case for Housing Choice Act bylaw ahead of March 23 Town Meeting. Chair Margaret Olson walked residents through a four-subdistrict overlay modeled at 648 units on 64.5 acres at 15.3 units per acre, just above state minimums of 635 units and 15 units per acre. Village Center properties must be at least 33 percent commercial — the maximum the state allows the town to require — with 60 percent commercial frontage along Lincoln Road. Projects of six or more units must be 15 percent affordable in perpetuity, falling back to 10 percent only if EOHLC rules in writing that 15 percent is infeasible. Member Lynn DeLisi questioned 25-unit-per-acre mall density, warning parking would crowd out commercial; Rural Land Foundation's Michelle Barnes called an under-parked scenario "stupid" but acknowledged a 40-unit first phase is "insufficient" for long-term mall viability.