2018-06-27-CEC-ATM-rpt (Combined Report with Updates & Errata)

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2018 ATM(incorporating Updates&Errata) Programs Conservation and Open Space Following the Town's purchase of the Busa Farm property in 2012, the Town signed a lease with the Lexington Community Farm Coalition, Inc., to operate a community farm for a ten-year term commencing January 1, 2014, with options for five-year, renewal periods. Operating revenue and private donors support its ongoing operations. In 2012 the Town purchased the greater part of the Wright Farm property on Grove Street (12.6 acres) for open space, with an option to purchase the remaining parcel of the 43,446 square feet. The 2015 ATM approved the exercise of the Town's option, and the remaining parcel was purchased for open space and community housing in 2016. It contains a single-family home, which will be restored for community (affordable) housing, and a barn, which, after needed restoration, is intended as public space for environmental education. The 2016 ATM approved $35,000 in CPA funding for structural and architectural analysis of the barn as well as an educational programming needs assessment. However, further progress was delayed by the discovery of soil contamination on the newly acquired parcel, requiring the Town to seek additional funding for hazardous waste remediation and for legal costs associated with conservation and affordable-housing restrictions. The 2017 ATM approved $87,701 in CPA funds for these purposes. A contract for the programming-needs assessment has now been let. Remediation of the contaminated soil has been completed, and the funds remaining from that appropriation will be applied to legal expenses. The following projects approved for CPA funding by the 2015 ATM have been completed: • Preservation of meadow lands at Hennessy Field and Joyce Miller's Meadow by clearing woody vegetation and removing invasive species; and • Restoration of a paved Recreation Path along the Vine Brook. Structural and architectural analysis of the Wright Farm barn was approved for CPA funding at the 2016 ATM and has been completed. The following projects approved for CPA funding by the 2017 ATM are underway: • Town Meeting approved $40,480 for preservation of additional meadowlands at the Wright Farm, scheduled for spring, 2018, and at Willard Woods, scheduled for summer, 2018. • Town Meeting approved $301,300 for improvement and relocation of a driveway and parking areas, and construction of an ADA-accessible trail and pond-viewing platform at the Cotton Farm Conservation Area. A survey plan of this area has been completed and a contract for design and engineering will be let in 2018. There are no FY2019 conservation-funding requests before the 2018 ATM. Article 10(a)) will be indefinitely postponed as no opportunity for an additional acquisition is pending. 15