2016-05-04-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting May 4, 2016 Location and Time: Town Office Building, Reed Room (but relocated to the same building's Parker Room — having previously left a sign to that effect at the Reed Room), 7:30 A.M. Members Present: Jill Hai, Chair; David Kanter, Vice -Chair & Clerk; Elizabeth Barnett; Rod Cole; Wendy Manz Members Absent: None Others Present: Pat Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities; Joe Pato, Chair, Board of Selectmen (BoS); Alessandro Alessandrini, School Committee (SC); Glenn Parker, Chair, Appropriation Committee; Kate Colburn, Appropriation Committee; Elaine Ashton, Town Meeting Member; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Documents Presented: • Notice /Agenda of CEC Public Meeting, May 4, 2016 • DRAFT – Pelham Road Purchase – Evaluation; undated; Prepared by Ms. Barnett and Ms. Manz • Draft Minutes of the CEC meeting, April 25, 2016 Call to Order: Ms. Hai called the meeting to order at 7:32 A.M. Special Town Meeting (STM) 2016 -2, Article 2: Land Purchase -20 Pelham Road (the "Site "): Ms. Hai reported that there is still considerable flux regarding this Article. The BoS plans to discuss the article in Executive Session both tomorrow morning and again tomorrow evening —at the latter, both finance committees will be invited to join. In order to have more information from the BoS, it was agreed to cancel this Committee's meeting for tomorrow morning and only meet on May 6th, which was recently posted. It was learned that the SC would be meeting on Monday morning (the 9th), in Executive Session, to discuss the Article. Ms. Manz and Ms. Barnett reviewed with the Committee their effort to provide information in the Committee's report to the STM on this Article. They considered a range of uses for the Site, including a school - related facility, Community Center activities, 35 units of clustered, senior /affordable housing (35 units being the threshold for State assistance), and "banking" the Site for future use. They visited the site and compiled information about it, and prepared a list of considerations for discussion. Financial impacts associated with environmental issues, including previously identified asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in the Site's building, raised serious concerns for them about renovating the building for alternative uses. Aging mechanical systems and developing appropriate road access for most uses were also identified as being costly. The $8.0 million request in the Article was seen as only the beginning of the need for financial resources. Mr. Goddard clarified some of the costs associated with previously completed projects and why those would not provide accurate or complete data for estimating costs associated with work at the Site. He stressed that all PCBs would be removed from the building if the building were to be re- purposed for municipal or school use rather than demolished. Page 1 of 3