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'TOWN OP LEXINGTON 111 A sincere effort has been made to reach an agreement so that a single, unanimous report might be made to the town, but that has been found impossible. The entire committee agrees that zoning is necessary and also agrees upon many of the detailed provisions of the by-law proposed by the Planning Board. Mutual concessions that would not have been very serious for either side, would probably have made it possible to unite upon recommendations with respect to business and manufacturing, had it been pos- sible to agree upon residential districts, but upon the latter subject the committee, after several meetings, found itself definitely divided; eight of the members favor the stablish- ment of certain districts for the building of single family residences only, with other districts permitting the building of two-family residences in addition, while four of the members favor one general residential district in every part of which all kinds of residences, single-family and multi -family, may be built indiscriminately so long as they comply with structural requirements of the building laws. Finding it quite impossible to harmonize their dif- ferences with respect to the establishment of one and two- family residence districts, the majority of your committee was finally- obliged to decide to file the present majority report which is hoped may be accompanied by the minor- ity report. The principal differences between the minority and majority of' .the committee are as follows:— MANUFACTURING At the last meeting of the full committee the minority favored a. manufacturing district 300 feet in width paral- leling the railroad upon the easterly side thereof from the Arlington line northward past the East Lexington railroad station to within 250 feet of Maple Street, East Lexington. The mapority of the committee, while willing to enlarge the district originally alloted to manufacturing and particularly to meet the feeling that one such district should be placed in East Lexington, feel it to be unnecessary to injure the residential districts upon the hill in the vicinity of Bow Street and opposite, upon Liberty Heights, by inviting loca- tion of manufacturing establishments at their very feet, so to speak, where the residents will be called upon to over- Ioolt the buildings, and incur the depreciation of values that will result. The majority of your committee are will- ing to recommend the establishment of a manufacturing district 300 feet in width upon the easterly side of the rail - 112 ANNUAL REPORT road and extending from the Fottler Avenue railroad cross- ing, just below the East Lexington station, to a point 2000 feet north of said station. This district would comprise about eighteen acres of land suitable for manufacturing establishments. Terminating at that point a manufacturing district would not approach close enough to Maple Street to injure the residential properties there located. To permit manu- facturing to extend to within 250 feet of Maple Street would be seriously to injure the residential values upon that street; furthermore, to the south of Maple Street there is a very considerable area, extending for at least 1000 feet along the railroad, and of an area, approximately thirty- five acres, where the land is high and ideal for residential building. The minority of the committee favored the elimination of the manufacturing district originally proposed byl the Planning Board near the. Bedford line and located equally upon both sides of the railroad and substituting therefor a long manufacturing strip of 300 feet in width, upon the easterly side of the railroad, and extending from the coal yard just beyond the North Lexington railroad crossing the entire remaining distance to Summer Street, near the Bed- ford line. The public hearings, as well as individual inquiry, have demonstrated no desire upon the part of the residents of North Lexington for any such manufacturing area in their midst; but in view of the persistence with which the de- mand has been expressed, the majority of your committee are willing to present for consideration of the town an en- largement of the small manufacturing district originally recommended at Summer Street near the Bedford line, by extending the sarne south .to Center Street, which is about at the northerly limit of present residential development. Such an enlarged manufacturing district would not, there- fore, constitute any considerable threat to residential values in North Lexington. At none of the hearings and meetings held by the Planning Board, and later by the enlarged committee, have any considerable number of citizens asked for manufactur- ing areas either in East Lexington or in North Lexington, and the present concession on the part of the majority committee recommending areas in these two sections of the town has been made because of the persistent statement