A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to a request to approve the acquisition of land in Lincoln, Massachusetts for the purpose of adding to the City’s watershed lands for water supply protection and conservation purposes

CITY OF CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS WATER BOARD 250 FRESH POND PARKWAY CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138 [phone removed] May 11, 2021 Mr. Louis DePasquale, City Manager City Hall 795 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Subject: 2021 Lincoln Land Acquisition Recommendation—Twin Pond Lane, Lincoln Dear Mr. DePasquale, The Cambridge Water Board has completed an initial evaluation of two (2) parcels of land in the Cambridge Watershed for possible acquisition. The Lincoln Rural Land Foundation has requested the Cambridge Water Department purchase these environmentally sensitive parcels with high water supply protection value. The two parcels, 180-13-0, and 180-11-0, located off of Twin Pond Lane, Lincoln MA are approximately 8 acres of undeveloped land. The approximately 4.68 acre southern parcel (180-13-0) in its recently redrawn configuration is not a buildable lot and envelopes forested wetland resource areas as well as a small area of upland draining to Twin Pond and ultimately to the Stony Brook water supply tributary. The northern parcel (180-11-0) is approximately 3.11 acres of buildable white pine forest with little understory. Taken together, roughly sixty-one percent (61%) of the land area is MassDEP Surface Water Protection Zone A (within 200 feet of a water supply tributary, making this a high priority acquisition for Cambridge water supply resources protection. The City of Cambridge, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, and private landowners own approximately 93 surrounding acres of protected open space. Purchasing these parcels would add to a contiguous, permanently protected publicly accessible area in a sensitive drinking water supply region, ensuring high water quality for the City of Cambridge now and in the future. For these reasons, the Board, by a unanimous (4 - 0) vote at its regularly scheduled public meeting on May 11, 2021, recommends that the City pursue acquiring this parcel by means of purchase or otherwise for the purposes of water supply protection and conservation. On behalf of the Board, Dan Bosserelt Ann Roosevelt, President Cambridge Water Board CC. Mr. Stephen Corda, P.E. Managing Director CWD Mr. David Kaplan, Watershed Manager CWD Cambridge Water Board