2023-03-20-PB-rpt-art34 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Advance Select Board's goals for more affordable and accessible housing and vibrant mix of businesses; • Address the region's housing crisis through zoning of multi-family housing; • Provide more housing options for the local and regional workforce by enabling density that is suitable both for sale and for rent housing; • Require 10-15% of a project's dwellings to be available for households with limited income and add dwelling units to Lexington's Subsidized Housing Inventory(SHI); • Promote economic vitality and multimodal transportation by locating districts near bus stops and bus routes, near the Minuteman Bikeway, and in areas near businesses; • Create walkable neighborhoods with transit-oriented housing opportunities near public transportation and businesses; • Are consistent with Lexington's 2020 Town Meeting Systemic Racism Resolution to consider "racial and otherequity impacts in all decisions and planning processes in orderto worktowards dismantling systemic racism and white privilege, and take action to integrate racial equity tools into policy making..."; • Are supported by the findings of the Vision for Lexington 2022 town-wide survey; • Create vibrant commercial areas enjoyable to current and future residents; • Incentivize mixed uses by allowing higher heights for housing above businesses to help keep a strong commercial tax base to fund town services; • Are consistent with the Planning Board's long-standing goal to broaden housing opportunities; • Provide height incentives, i.e., economic development incentives, to developers with the objectives of preserving street level small businesses where they exist today and where they contribute to the vitality of our neighborhoods; and • Communities must adopt compliant zoning to be eligibile to receive MassWorks and Local Capital Project state funds. Adoption will ensure compliance with MGL c. 40A §3A for MBTA Communities, providing a competitive advantage for all state grants, other state funding, and avoid other consequences of not following a state mandate. PUBLIC PROCESS: Since the last Annual Town Meeting in 2022, the Planning Board has held 23 public meetings, including a community workshop, eight public work sessions, and three public hearings and public presentations where the public, community members, property owners, and Town Meeting members were invited and encouraged to participate. At the October 25, 2022 Community Workshop, 80 residents were introduced to the law and were asked to identify general locations for housing. The resident-created maps from the workshop served as the basis for the Planning Board's proposed districts. The Planning Board found the resident-created map locations to be logical and defensible when defining the multi-family housing districts. On Wednesday, February 1, 2023, after publication of the legal advertisement in the Lexington Minuteman Newspaper on January 12, 2023 and January 19, 2023,the Planning Board opened the public hearing. Continued Page 3 of 4 Planning Board Report with Recommendation to Town Meeting Article 34