In Lincoln, debate persists as group home prepares to open

The upcoming opening of a group home for autistic young adults in Lincoln has spawned a public debate over whether town officials properly notified neighbors about the facility. It is a discussion that involves zoning and fair housing laws and even the definition of family.

With the help of $500,000 in town funds, CMARC, a Woburn-based provider of services to the disabled, recently purchased a five-bedroom house on Concord Road for $945,000. The nonprofit is renovating it to house five autistic adults - two women and three men in their 20s - who recently graduated from residential high schools. The group home is slated to open this month.

But some neighbors, several of whom showed up at a selectmen's meeting, say they are angry because they believe officials did not give them adequate notice of where the group home would be located. They also say there wasn't enough public discussion of the issue.

Elizabeth Orgel, who lives near the planned group home, said most residents were upset the town did not provide better communication, and not by the idea of a group home opening in Lincoln.

"The whole process was very disappointing," she said in an interview. "You have to get approval to cut down a tree in this town. You put an outdoor light on, and you have to get approval. I don't know, I just would want to know what a group home entails."

In a letter to the town, some neighbors questioned whether using the house as a group home may violate a zoning law that limits the area to single-family homes with no more than three lodgers.

Five autistic adults and their staff are not a family, according to the neighbors. The letter was drafted by a lawyer who lives near the group home but is not formally representing neighbors on the issue.

Town officials have noted that as a nonprofit, educational organization, CMARC is exempt from most local zoning restrictions under state law.

They also have said there was plenty of time for residents to discuss the concept of group homes, including at Town Meeting last spring and at a public forum. In addition, there were notices in the local newspaper, and a lengthy report on the concept was posted on the town's website, www.lincolntown.org.

The officials also pointed out that federal housing law and the state's antidiscrimination statute prohibit the public disclosure of the location of a potential group home for the disabled.

"We could not give any information out ahead of time," Renel Fredriksen, chairwoman of the town's Housing Commission, said in an interview. "We would have been in violation of the law if we informed neighbors in advance."

Last summer, however, when CMARC made an offer on a home on Codman Road, the town met with the fire chief and neighborhood residents about the proposal. Word quickly spread and soon the entire neighborhood was aware of the plans. That proposal eventually fell through because of problems with the property's septic system.

Several residents feel the plans about the location were inappropriately divulged.

"That was a grievous error that that information leaked," Concord Road resident Susan Beebee said at a November selectmen's meeting.

Fredriksen said it was an accident and an oversight.

"It was a grave mistake on our part that that information did leak out, and it was very unfortunate," she said. "We're lucky that we were able to maintain a good relationship with the agency because we were in violation of the law by letting that information leak out."

Not all Concord Road neighborhood residents are disconcerted by the planned group home.

"I'm happy. I hope it works. I believe that CMARC is doing things with good intentions, and I believe that the Housing Commission has not been sneaky, as opposed to what people think," Patrician O'Hagan, a neighborhood resident, said as she walked her dog on Willarch Road.

Town Meeting overwhelmingly endorsed the concept of hosting group homes last spring, when it voted to spend Community Preservation Act funds to support their creation as an investment in affordable housing. Among the benefits to the community is that group homes count toward its stock of affordable housing; reaching the state's threshold of 10 percent of the total housing stock qualifying as affordable would exempt Lincoln from Chapter 40B developments.

CMARC must repay the $500,000 authorized by Town Meeting if the property is sold or changes use. The town also has a right of first refusal to buy the house if it is ever offered for sale.

Sheri McCann, president and CEO of CMARC, said the group home would be "a regular home for five young people who happen to be autistic." She said their families "have been interested in them moving into the community, as most young people do as they reach this age."

McCann said several Lincoln residents have called her since news broke about the Concord Road home.

"All have been very, very pleasant, very respectful. They just wanted information," she said.

The town published a study in June on the possibility of offering group homes for the disabled as a way to provide additional affordable housing in Lincoln. The study included explanations of state laws about affordable housing, fair housing laws, and the general concept of group homes. The study also attempted to address common concerns, such as traffic, safety, and property values.

The study reported there was no difference in property values for neighborhoods with group homes compared with neighborhoods without them. It also stated that while the crime rate among the general public was 112 per 1,000 people, the crime rate among group home residents was 3 per 1,000.

John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.