Select Board passes on $2 million Winter Street land buy, defers Article 28 to Saturday

LINCOLN — March 18, 2024 — Lincoln Select Board declines $2M conservation buy as moderator limits HCA opponents to five mic minutes. The board voted 3-0 Monday not to exercise the town's right of first refusal on three forested Zero Winter Street parcels, with Conservation Director Michelle Grisenda saying the town cannot match the $2 million purchase-and-sale price despite the lots' wetland value and adjacency to the Cambridge Water Supply. The longer fight was over format for Saturday's town meeting vote on Article 3, the Housing Choice Act zoning amendment: Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden ruled that proponents and the Lincoln Residents for Housing Alternatives may each designate one speaker for five minutes at floor microphones, with no slides and no podium. Chair Jim Hutchinson said the board had received a petition signed by 313 residents seeking 10 podium minutes with slides; Holden declined but agreed to "be awake all night" reconsidering. The board also voted 3-0 to appoint Gregory Lamb as a full-time police officer filling the vacancy of retired Sgt. Paul Westland.