Airing grievances about the process and the unfairness of the law itself. I do not think as a good strategy.
On Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 2:50 PM Susanna Szeto <szeto...@gmail.com> wrote: > Follow the money and maybe we can find the reason! > > On Oct 11, 2023, at 9:20 PM, Cathy O'Brien <cathyobrie...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > This sounds like it is being “fast tracked” > > Very similar to “oriole landing” approval of their development I think it > Was approved in 9 months- fastest development approval in Lincoln > > Common denominator- CIVICO > > In full disclosure I am the largest abutter to oriole landing > > But I truly believe there is shenanigans with some sort of secret > relationship with in Lincoln > > NO development moves this fast in Lincoln > > > Why is ONE developer been the SOLE company to be the finalist in the 2 > largest housing increase in a small amount of time for such a small town… > > And if I recall… CIVICO was involved in building the school…. > > There is something not right about this…. > > > Cathy obrien > 3 Mary’s way > > > On Wed, Oct 11, 2023 at 6:29 PM Karla Gravis <karlagra...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I encourage all those interested who were not able to attend to watch the >> Q&A portion of the HCA meeting last night once it is uploaded. >> >> >> - The committee spent a lot of time reviewing what has been >> accomplished to date and discussing amongst themselves but little time was >> dedicated to public debate. Few of the public questions were actually >> answered by the committee, at times the mic was just passed on to the next >> question without any response. This is similar to previous meetings, where >> there is little room for resident debate. In my opinion, the outreach has >> been one-directional. The working group is composed only of people who sit >> on other boards, are town employees, or work for the RLF. There is no >> opportunity for a regular resident or member-at-large to be part of the >> decision-making. There are outstanding resident questions that the >> committee hasn’t answered. >> - The town legal counsel was present during the meeting. When asked >> why the Committee was contradicting his counsel as stated on public >> record, >> he indicated that he had changed his mind on the enforceability of >> compliance. He did not provide any facts to explain this reversal. He said >> that his new stance had come from a collaborative effort with his >> partners. This was very surprising to hear, as this very same law firm is >> defending the town of Holden, which has decided not to comply with the >> HCA. >> Our lawyer's partners at his firm, KP Law, wrote a motion to dismiss the >> action against Holden. We should not be rushing to comply just because >> “non-compliance is a risk” given our own lawyer's firm seems to be giving >> other towns the opposite message to what they are telling us. There are >> other towns like Weston which seem to be comfortable taking a wait-and-see >> approach. >> - The committee repeated its claim that we will lose millions in >> grant money by not complying. However, we have never received any money >> from the grants named in the actual HCA legislation. When this was brought >> up, the committee did not respond. The committee claims we should comply >> because we could use one of the grant programs to update the Village >> Center >> septic system to benefit a private developer. I struggle to understand why >> the town would need to fund this private enterprise. Wouldn’t we be >> setting >> a terrible precedent? >> - The committee continues to quote a pandemic-era traffic study and a >> flawed financial analysis to claim there is "no impact" to current >> residents. The financial analysis used a cost per student of $6.3K, when >> our school's cost per student is at least 4 times that. This >> <https://www.doe.mass.edu/finance/statistics/per-pupil-exp.html> report >> from the Department of Education puts LPS (excluding Hanscom) at $27K per >> pupil. The town with the lowest cost per pupil in the state is at $13K, >> nowhere close to the $6K. Using accurate numbers for that financial >> analysis would imply steep tax increases for current Lincoln residents. >> Let's remember that in this case, we are talking about apartments being >> rented starting at $4K a month. >> - I strongly believe in providing full transparency on the impact of >> rezoning to the town. If there is a tax and traffic impact, we need to be >> clear on it. The town may decide to take on these costs in the spirit of >> increasing housing, but it should be up to each resident to decide that >> for >> themselves, after being provided an accurate cost/benefit analysis. >> Residents have volunteered to conduct this analysis, but the committee has >> not taken them up on the offer, so far. >> - There seems to be a reluctance from the committee to provide more >> than one option for residents to vote on. There is another option that >> would entail rezoning areas where condos are already extant and the >> probability of redevelopment is much lower. The committee is very >> reluctant >> to follow this path. I am unclear as to why we do not want to present more >> than one option up to vote, when we do so for other big projects like the >> school or the community center. >> >> Given such an important decision that may change the landscape of our >> town for decades to come, we owe it to ourselves to look at these issues >> more carefully. I struggle to understand why we are rushing to submit a >> proposal to the state when we still have time before the deadline, other >> towns are delaying and the guidelines could continue to change. The >> proposal wouldn't even be increasing affordable housing materially. >> >> Karla Gravis >> >> Weston Rd >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
