“You can be irritated with the LLCT/RLF who had the right of first refusal and declined to take action on a property that has a large portion of protected wetlands within its borders.”
This brings up a number of questions: 1) Why did the RLF/LLCT choose not to focus on this land, yet are now asking the town to chip in $1M in CPC funds for a deal with Civico at a special town meeting in June? Why wasn’t the use of CPC money contemplated for the purchase of this parcel instead, given that the risk of deforestation is much greater than the risk at Farrington, which is owned by a nonprofit with a nature-oriented mission? (2) One of the key arguments for approving the mall zoning was Civico’s claim that they would not be willing to go through a town meeting process ever again. In fact, this is spelled out in the HCAWG deck <https://www.lincolntown.org/DocumentCenter/View/85116/2023-SOTT-HCA-Slide-Deck-wtih-Notes?bidId=> available on the website: "One developer, who has gone through a Lincoln Town Meeting process for project approval, said they would not be willing to do so again." What changed, that now Civico is willing to go to town meeting, so soon after expressing that strong opinion? Or was it all a bluff from Civico? Can we trust their latest assurances that the Farrington deal would fall apart without CPC funds? (3) Why is the town of Lincoln being asked to subsidize yet another lucrative deal for Civico, while other towns not only avoid giving financial support, but actually receive benefits from them (see Winchester)? The developer will probably collect in the neighborhood of $30M in revenues and can only devote $3M to land acquisition? This seems like a redux of the Oriole Landing deal where the town gives up money to increase the already high profits of an anointed developer. Karla On Sat, May 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM Justin Hopson <[email protected]> wrote: Hi - As an abutter I am going to respond to this. An abutter who is mostly negatively impacted by the project. There are lots of places to focus your disappointment with, but the current purchasers of that land should not be it, nor the current planning board. You can be irritated with the people who sold the land for the development of 3 houses. You can be irritated with the LLCT/RLF who had the right of first refusal and declined to take action on a property that has a large portion of protected wetlands within its borders. You can be irritated with the abutters who didn't feel it was financially responsible to purchase the land. You can be irritated with the ~2015/2016 planning board who originally approved the site plan with the 3 lots for development. You should understand that the people purchasing this land will be reforesting it after this project. They also will only be building one house at this time. So in the grand scheme of things, apart from this land never being sold, there are a lot worse outcomes for the town, abutters, and wildlife. The alternative is a developer who has to flip 3 lots to make it profitable and I can assure you that would be worse for every aspect of this land. I think the planning board did an admirable job within the scope of their jurisdiction. Appreciate your concern and caring for the environment and Lincoln. JCH
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