If you use the --cwd flag in the gulp cli, it can cause some headaches/confusion. Should allow for absolute paths. Assuming the cssLint config is in the current directory potentially leads to stuff like this:
module.exports = gulp.task( 'css', function() {
'use strict';
return gulp.src( src.lib + 'less/' + src.project + '.less' )
.pipe( less())
.pipe( csslint( '../../../../.csslintrc' ))
.pipe( csslint.reporter())
.pipe( gulp.dest( cwd + 'lib/css/' ));
});