2014-01-23-HPB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lexington Housing Partnership 5. Update on Busa (Bob Pressman) On December 16, LexHAB held a meeting at Depot Square for abutters of the Busa property. This was the second and final meeting with the abutters. Mr. Pressman, Ms. Walker, Ms. Manz and Ms. Weiss attended the meeting. The abutters brought up 3 traffic issues: (1) the dangers of adding traffic to the Lowell /Westminster intersection; (2) more traffic caused by the additional families; and (3) the driveway exit is after a bend in the road and there are line -of -sight issues with the entrance to the road from the Busa housing area. The amount of additional traffic to be added to the already busy intersection and an already busy intersection is considered by LexHAB to be insignificant. A traffic engineer will address the third concern. Another issue was related to water flow through the farm field due to the addition of housing. Studies have shown there no change to water flow through the farm. There was a request for landscaping along the street, but may exacerbate the line -of -sight issue. Abutters requested 1 building with 4 apartments. The architect pointed out it would be more expensive to be the 1 building rather than the 2 buildings. In addition, the idea of a single building had been discussed with the Board of Selectmen who had indicated that there would prefer not to have a "McMansion" on the lot. LexHAB addressed the additional concerns of the abutters to the extent possible. LexHAB will have a noticed meet on Tuesday, January 28 with the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LCFC) and any other interested residents to discuss issues related to the farming area on the Busa property. The LCFC chair attended the Depot Square meeting and indicated to LexHAB that the LCFC wants to ensure their concerns would be addressed, specifically that the affordable housing not unduly impinge on the farm. LexHAB will be requesting that the Board of Selectman put them on the agenda. They are expected to make this request in the near term. 6. Request for a letter to the BOS (Bob Pressman) Mr. Pressman is requesting that LHP send a letter to the Board of Selectmen asking for town -owned land to be built on in a timely matter, as the move towards approved affordable housing on town -owned land has been exceedingly slow. The lack of quick progress has, in part, been due to the fact that LexHAB has limited capacity and can only take on projects serially. The LHP will wait until the new Board in place; and then possibly send the letter in conjunction with the submission of the HPP. 7. Update on Housing Production Plan Draft The LHP has provided significant input to the goals and objectives section. The Town Planning Department will submit the report to the Board of Selectmen. The Planning Board agreed that the 10% affordable housing level should be maintained and that moderate housing will be supported as well. The Planning Board voted 4 to 0 to accept the report and place it on file. 8. Saatvik Ahluwalia, BoS Candidate Mr. Ahluwalia is a candidate for the Board of Selectman. He has worked for Representative Kaufman