Jeff, The HCAWG is just that - a working group. On December 2nd the town will vote on which of the HCA compliance options they have developed that the town will pursue. The implementation of that option is in the zoning by-law and it is on the zoning by-law changes that the town will vote in March. The wetlands protection is part of our general by-laws and there are no plans to modify them. In any event they could only be modified through a town meeting vote on the general by-laws specifically.
Assuming the HCA zoning passes at town meeting in March, the state will then either approve or reject our HCA zoning. If in their view it achieves the zoning requirements we have been given I expect they will approve it. If it doesn't, they won't. If they determine that because of our wetlands regulations we have not achieved our zoning requirements then we will have choices: we can amend our wetlands by-law or we can amend (at a special town meeting) our HCA zones to provide a sufficient number of units and acreage to satisfy the state while maintaining our wetlands regulations. I know better than to ever bet on town meeting, but I would be very surprised if the town chose to amend the wetlands by-laws. After the December 2nd vote on the town's prefered HCA policy the planning board will finalize it's work on the text of the zoning that implements the policy the town has chosen. The zoning by-law is not just setbacks and heights, it includes permitted and not permitted uses, site plan review, parking, and any controls (e.g. Floor Area Ratio or FAR) to ensure that the legally buildable density matches the modeled density. This is detailed and time consuming work. If you are interested in it (and it sounds like you are) please attend the planning board public hearings once they are scheduled. Margaret On Wed, Nov 22, 2023 at 4:31 PM Jeffrey <[email protected]> wrote: > Margaret: > What is the point of mentioning our bylaws cannot be bypassed except for > HCA zoning? Isn't that the very point? > The HCAWG is willing to drop our wetland buffer down to 50' on plots > across from the Mall that are virtually on top of wetlands. > > Just because the State of Massachusetts has historically past standards > does not mean that the HCAWG and the Town Selects should succumb to the > State standard. You negotiate with the State especially with a standard > that is already considered a scientific failure in terms of wetland > protection. Most states have now moved to 150' to 1000' buffer zones. > > On these grounds alone, all the great work that the HCAWG, et.al, have > done should be rejected. You are asking the residents of Lincoln to > participate in very likely near-term environmental destruction. Fifty foot > wetland barriers are being breached throughout the last decade; only > developers support outdated buffer zones like Massachusetts' current > standard. > > You should have stood up for the Town; this is very disappointing. > > Respectfully Yours, > Jeffrey Lukowsky >
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