1955-01-13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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51° The First Congregational Society in Lexington ' At 9:25 p.m. hearing was declared open upon petition of The First Congregational Society in Lexington for permission to use as a parking area the rear part of the premises at 3 Harrington Rd., being a parcel of land approximately rectangular, having a frontage on Harrington Rd. of 101.38 ft. and a depth of approximately 373 ft., the front part of the premises on Harrington Rd. for a depth of 150 ft. not to be used for such parking; and also to remove loam from said parking area. Present were Chairman Locke, Mr. Lynah, and Associate Members Houdlette, Emery and Duffy. Notice of the hearing as advertised in the Decem- ber 30, 1954 issue of the Lexington Minute -man was read by the Chairman.. Mr. Iianna: Mr. Chairman and members of the Board, we are here tonight to see if we can get your help in solving one of the most difficult prob- lems that exists, and also at the same time to see if we can through your action preserve one of the most historical houses in Lexington. The area that we are talking about is known as the Rowse property and I give to the members of the Board this plan and also I would like to set up over here this perspective drawing which will give you an indication of the area. I do not think I need to tell any of you gentlemen about the prob- lem that is presented on Sunday morning. Not only the area around the Green is completely filled with automobiles, but cars are parked up Massachusetts Avenue as far as Parker St. and up Bedford St. and Hancock St., and at the conclusion of the service there is a very serious traffic ' problem. The only answer to this problem that we can see is off -the - street parking, and so far as the First Congregational Society is con- cerned it wishes to solve this part of the problem by providing adequate parking space away from the street, which will enable us to take off the street approximately 100 cars, assuming that each space will be 14 feet, thus relieving the Common of a parking area that will tape about the cars that park on the Common by the Congregational Church, etc. It looks as if we would make available about a quarter of a mile of parking space by taking the cars off the street. The area we are talking about shows on the map before you as an area hav- ing a dimension of about 273 ft. long and about 108 ft. in width, 150 ft. back from the Harrington Road line. We are staying well behind that line. So far as approaches go to the area, we have no strong opinion and would be very happy to have you tell us to come in from Harrington Road if you grant our prmit, or tell us to come in from Bedford St. if you would pre- fer to tell us to come in one way and go out the other. We would want, in the interests of our own desire to maintain the property, and as you know the Unitarian Church was one of the earliest to keep the Green as it is, to see that the parking facilities would not be a detriment to the appear- ance of the neighborhood. It looks as if black top would be the desired covering and also we would like to explore other means to make a parking area that would not prevent the main object which we have in mind. In addition to having the parking, we would acquire as part of the property on which we have an option, the Harrington House, and that Harrington ' House would become a church possession and would become a parish house, and we would be proud to see that the protection of the Green is main- tained.