My Take on Planning Board Meeting on January 5, 2024
By Laurie Gray
Originally Posted on Lincoln Talk 1/7/24, Posted here with permission of the author.

Thank you to the Planning Board for making all meetings available via Zoom.  I was able to attend the January 5th meeting.  I apologize that I do not have some exact numbers.  I will correct my summary when I can view the video.  However, I wanted to get the summary out sooner as there is another planning board meeting on Tuesday, January 9.   Here were my take-home points:

The Mall ("Village center")

• The Planning Board was discussing a 33% requirement for retail/commercial use across the Mall.  This is the maximum that can be required in any lands zoned as mixed-sue in the HCA.

• The Planning Board discussed setting a minimum of 80% of the ground floor of buildings facing Lincoln Street for "street activating" uses.  In contrast, at the previous Planning Board meeting, it was discussed that 80% of the ground floor of the buildings facing Lincoln Street would be 'retail".

• "Street activating" could include retail but could also include 

  • a gym for the exclusive use of building residents and

  • a leasing office/real estate office for the residential building.  

• It was not stated why we are considering 80% street activating as opposed to 80% retail.

• Setback was reduced from what was presented at Special Town Meeting from 25 feet to 15 feet. (at that Special Town Meeting, both Jennifer Glass and Margaret Olson stated that the setbacks voted on that day would remain the same at the March vote).

•  An example diagram was shown of a possible configuration for 54 units on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of what is now the Something Special/Twisted Tree/Bank of America Building.  In this example, there was room to provide parking for retail, although it would be reduced from what is currently there (I apologize I did not get exact figures but I think it was a reduction from around 170 to about 130).  30 angled street parking spaces were shown on a small strip of land in front of the mall that is owned by the town (the type of parking in Weston Center and at the The Lincoln Library) requiring backing out into road, similar to parking at Bemis Hall which has been called precarious.

Questions/Public Comment

• A resident asked about a traffic/flow study for people getting into and out of angled street parking on Lincoln Road

• A resident asked about the trees in front of the mall in the area in question.

• Several residents asked for models giving an example of what the mall would look like if 100-125 units were placed in the "Village Center" since that is the number that it is zoned for.  The board agreed to this idea.

• Under the HCA, the town cannot require parking for retail.  The developer can decide.

Building Heights

• One Planning Board member stated he was uncomfortable with the idea of allowing 4 stories at the mall.  A different Planning Board member wanted to keep the option of 4 stories at the mall and also put in the option for a higher density of housing (beyond the current proposed zoning of 25 units per acre) as a special permit (could be allowed by the Planning Board)

• Residents brought up the Affordable Housing question.  Will developers be allowed to pay into the Affordable Housing Trust in lieu of producing affordable housing?

Codman Road

• Examples were given for possible configurations of multifamily housing on Codman Road.  Each parcel is different; as some have wetlands and others do not.

• Parcels on Codman Road could be combined and housing could look different in a combined lot.