Takeaways from the Rural Land Foundation (RLF) Public Forum on January 18, 2024

RLF Director Geoff McGean provided a brief history of the RLF and a general timeline of the RLF’s involvement with the Mall at Lincoln Station. 
 He addressed what he perceived to be common myths about the Mall and the RLF, showed preliminary sketches, and listed some of the challenges ahead for Mall redevelopment, including current tenants' leases, septic, financing, planning board review, traffic study, neighborhood input, etc...

Preliminary Sketches of Mall Redevelopment:  Phase 1

Two conceptual sketches were shown of a three-story, 42-foot tall, 47-unit multi-family housing building.  The building was situated where the Bank of America, Twisted Tree and Something Special are—approximately where the “Phase 1” demolition and build-out was shown in Utile’s sketches presented to the Planning Board on January 16, 2024.  Without scaled plans, it was not possible to see the depth of setback between the building's front and the RLF property line, however the recently approved Zoning Bylaws specify a 25-foot setback from the property line. 


One iteration showed a pitched roof and the other iteration showed a flat roof. Both versions appeared to be situated fairly close to the existing stone wall and right-of-way into the parking lot. The existing green courtyard next to the dry cleaners was removed. The big oak trees along Lincoln Road appeared in the drawings, but during the Q&A a resident who is an arborist explained that the oaks would not survive with such major construction so close to their root systems. Geoff replied that he didn’t want to take down the oaks and that he would explore this issue further.

The units in the drawings were 600-800 square-foot 1- and 2-bedroom apartments.  While not in the “spirit of the law of the HCA" (emphasized by the HCAWG last Fall while promoting Option C to the Town) which calls for housing that is more family-friendly, units this small are technically permitted under the “letter of the law of HCA" (an approached formerly criticized by the HCAWG). The Zoning Bylaws don't specify any age restriction or size restriction of the units, so they technically satisfy the HCA requirements despite not being family-friendly. A developer can choose to build age restricted or smaller units, the town just can’t mandate that they do.

Commercial presence at the Mall

There were questions about whether the remaining tenants at the mall could survive in the future—and what would happen if they didn’t.  

On the one hand, Geoff said that Donelans, the Post Office, and Bank of America are all important anchors at the Mall and resources for the town.  He stated that the RLF is committed to having basic commercial presence at the Mall because people wouldn’t move there otherwise. 

On the other hand, he said that the business’s survival wasn’t up to the RLF—it was up to the people who patronize the businesses to make them commercially sound.  

He was unwilling to discuss the status of any of the tenants’ leases or their economic viability. (As an aside, it has subsequently been determined by a different source that Donelan’s lease expires in 2029 with an option to extend it 5 years twice—10 years total. Obviously both parties would need to agree to extend it).  Meanwhile, it was definitely implied that once Donelan’s lease is up they could be offered a smaller space so that Phase 2 of development at the Mall can happen and even more residential units can be built there.  The RLF site can hold 100 units at max build-out under currently proposed HCA rezoning.

Q&A

Geoff offered to field all questions from attendees.  He said he didn't want anyone feeling like they had been passed over. The chat was not public, so there is no record of it. Attendees appreciated being able to see the conceptual sketches and a few attendees stated preferences for either the pitched or the flat roof iteration. Among them, it seemed almost evenly split, though no survey was taken. Concerns were expressed about the small size of the units, loss of green space, setback from public ways, and what might happen if the RLF sells or if the existing businesses leave or are forced to close due to aspects of development.  

Concerns specifically expressed included questions about:

• The size of the units – 600-800 sf.? Larger units would be family-friendly.

• The loss of green space – though there might be a roof deck for the apartments, it is unlikely that there will be room for green space or a playground, as some had envisioned.

• The setbacks from public ways – the Planning Board had originally proposed 25’ along Lincoln Road, but had recently changed their proposal to 15’, pending review of the Town’s survey information. In the RLF iterations, the front setback were unclear. 

• The big oak trees along Lincoln Road appeared in the birds’ eye drawings. They would not realistically survive the proposed construction, and that leafy canopy would disappear.

• Further presentations by the RLF – perspectives, birds’ eye views, and architectural drawings as shown at this meeting are useful for showing style and scale of buildings, but context is essential as well. A resident asked the RLF to present in future presentations scaled conceptual site plans of both Phase 1 and the full site build-out, to show clearly the building massing, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, and parking.

• What might happen if the RLF sells or if the existing businesses leave or are forced to close due to aspects of development?  

• The question of what qualifies as commercial vs “street activated use” came up again. 

It was stated that the RLF didn’t plan to sell at this point and that they would rather do a ground lease to a developer instead.

Geoff stated multiple times that adequate parking was an issue and that the site had many space constraints. Parking in the conceptual sketches was placed at the first floor level "tucked under" some units, with other parking at grade in the open parking lots. 

Several people asked why it was necessary to include the mall in HCA rezoning, thereby taking the ability of thoughtful phased expansion out of the hands of the town.  Why not do its revitalization in careful phases in order to balance a commercial presence—instead of leaving a by-right developer to determine whether or not Lincoln retains a commercial center—especially if the RLF were to sell the Mall at some future date?  

Click below to see the slides that were shown at the RLF Public Forum.
Preliminary sketches start at Slide 13.