2008-03-03-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 3, 2008 the reasons that the Town Manager and the Board of Selectmen are not supporting this request before taking a final position on the Article. Article 9(a) – Survey and Define Affordable Housing Assistance 3. Programs. Bill Hays, Acting Chair of LexHab, and Betsey Weiss, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee and a member of the Lexington Housing Partnership, were present to discuss the $25,000 request for a consultant to research what other cities and towns, including Newton, Cambridge, and Chatham, are doing successfully with respect to providing subsidies for home ownership. LexHab currently provides subsidies for rentals and is considering providing a subsidy to home ownership. There have been two proposals for subsidized home ownership which have been determined to either not be viable or did not pass beyond public hearings, so the Lexington Housing Partnership has determined that it would like to hire a consultant to research what the three towns are doing and to help define a policy that would be viable for Lexington. A lengthy discussion was held and significant concerns were raised regarding why a consultant versus the volunteers on the committee would gather the data and the lack of a defined policy analysis with respect to subsidized home ownership versus subsidized rentals. The committee took a vote and one member voted to support the article with a condition that the study would include looking at other programs with the intention to use the information for a serious policy discussion and what would work in Lexington. Six members voted no. Article 37 – Amend Code for Fees to Remove Protected Trees. 4. It was decided that we would discuss this at our next meeting (to be held on Monday, March 10, 2008) and that Alan Levine would talk to the Selectmen to understand why they are not supporting this article. We agreed that we would devote no more than ten minutes to the discussion. Article 9 – Appropriate the FY2009 Community Preservation Committee 5. Operating Budget and for CPA Projects. It was moved to support all but items a) Survey and Define Affordable Housing Assistance Programs (see paragraph 3 of these minutes for discussion/position taken), n) Town Office study – the original request included design and drawings and the CEC objected as these are normally separate requests – the CEC unanimously approved an appropriation of $35,000 and are awaiting additional information and may approve an additional appropriation, h) Senior Center Design, o) Stone Building Renovation, and p) Land acquisition (decisions deferred as the amounts requested for h), o), and p) are currently unknown). The committee voted unanimously in favor of accepting items b), c), d), e), f), g), i), j), k), l), m), r) and q). Article 14 – Appropriate for Recreation Capital Projects. 6. The Committee voted unanimously in favor of approving both proposed projects. Article 15 – Appropriate for Municipal Capital Projects and Equipment. 7. The committee voted unanimously in favor of all items with the exception of item d) CBD Sidewalks on which a decision was deferred. With respect to item a) Woburn Street Reconstruction, concerns were raised whether this is the type of project which - 2 -