2000-06-12 Managing Growth Development and Open Space Working Group.pdf

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Lexington 2020 Vision — Managing Growth Questionnaire Introduction Lexington's Selectmen,Planning Board, and School Committee have enlisted more than one hundred town citizens to help determine what the town will look like in the year 2020. These citizens are focusing on six broad issues. One of these issues is Development and Open Space. Our Managing Growth group has proposed several actions pertaining to open space. The purpose of this questionnaire is to help our Managing Growth group determine whether our proposed actions are representative of the community as a whole. We would like to find out both whether you agree with our proposals and to what depth you agree(or disagree). Instructions for completing this Questionnaire Most of the questions below include a box that represents a continuum of possible answers. You can circle the answer that best represents your opinion,or you can write in an answer if none of the choices is acceptable to you. We welcome your comments on anything that you see in the questionnaire. Your answers will be anonymous. Open Space Background information: According to the Planning Board,there are nearly 1,000 acres of vacant or underdeveloped land remaining in Lexington [out of a total of 10,650 acres of land in the town]. These thousand acres have a fair market value of approximately$300 million. The Planning Board and others are currently in the process of trying to determine which of these thousand acres contain the most critical unprotected open space. The current best guess is that approximately 500 acres are thought to be very important to protect from development. Goals and Actions: Our group would like the town to protect as much of the existing open space as is practicable. We support the creation of a land bank and/or conservation trust to aid in this effort. Questions: We would like to know how important protecting open space is to you. Please answer the following series of questions regarding open space: Question#1 —There are over 1,000 acres of vacant/underdeveloped land remaining in Lexington. How much of this acreage do you feel it is important for the Town to try to protect as open space? Answer#1: 0 acres 100 acres 200 acres 300 acres 500 acres 750 acres 1000 acres Question#2-Would you support the development of medium-density moderately priced housing on some of the remaining privately owned vacant land in town? Answer#2: definitely not just a few units several units many units Question#3—If you think that the town should try to purchase some of the remaining open space,should the purchase be financed via a real estate transfer fee[when a property is bought or sold],the property tax levy [which would apply to all landowners],or a combination of both? Answer#3: real estate transfer fee property tax levy both other[please provide a suggestion] Question#4—If the town attempted to finance the purchase of some of the remaining vacant/underdeveloped land via a Proposition 2 Vz debt exclusion,what increase in your property taxes would you be willing to absorb? Managing Growth-30