2004-12-08-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF DECEMBER 8, 2004 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Chairman Kastorf with members Davies, Galaitsis, Harden, Manz and planning staff McCall - Taylor, Sobol and Tap present. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** INTER -BOARD COOPERATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Mr. Kastorf recognized Selectman Chair Dawn McKenna who informed the Board about an action the Selectmen took at their meeting on December 6. Mr. Joseph Marino, Homes Development, Inc., asked the Selectmen to consider a "friendly 4013" proposal for eight housing units it would like to build on land at Piper Road, Waltham Street and Route 2. This would use the Local Initiative Petition process in which the Board of Selectmen act as the Special Permit Granting Authority, in partnership with the developer. The benefit to the Town would be the inclusion of affordable housing units that would count toward Lexington's DHCD affordable housing inventory. Mrs. McKenna indicated that the Selectmen want to refer this project to the Planning Board for evaluation and negotiation through its normal subdivision process. She noted that the Selectmen feel strongly that the dwellings should be connected to town sewer system in Waltham Street and not to a septic system, as proposed at an informal meeting with the Selectmen. Ms. McCall - Taylor noted that Mr. Marino is scheduled to make a preliminary presentation of the proposal at the Planning Board meeting on December 15. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** AFFORDABLE HOUSING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Public Hearing on Lexington's Consolidated Housing Strategy and Plan Planner Karen Sobol: Mr. Kastorf opened the public hearing on Lexington Consolidated Housing Strategy and Plan at 7:45 p.m. He explained that writing the plan is one of the steps the Town must take before it is eligible for federal affordable housing funds. Planner Karen Sobol and Mr. Robert Bicknell, Housing Partnership Chair, were present. There were three people in the audience. Ms. Sobol presented PowerPoint slides illustrating trends in Lexington's demographics and housing stock in the decade between 1990 and 2000, based on federal census data. The discussion that followed highlighted a number of issues, including: • More housing is needed for persons between the ages of 18 and 34 and for a variety of income groups. • More rental housing is needed. • For what purposes should federal funding granted to Lexington be used? • How could the demolition delay bylaw be made more effective? Mr. Bicknell indicated that he would like to call positive attention to the potential for creative uses of old homes and raise awareness of these possibilities among the development community and realtors. • Perhaps it is time to reconvene the CPA Review Panel to reconsider adopting the Community Preservation Act. The Board agreed to follow up on this at a future meeting. Mr. Bicknell thanked Ms. Sobol for pulling together disparate Lexington data into a coherent form acceptable to the Home Consortium. The hearing was closed at 8:45 p.m. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ARTICLES FOR 2005 TOWN MEETING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Center Parking Amendment Mr. Howard Levin, Center Committee, and Mrs. Manz presented their most recent wording of the proposed amendment to the center parking requirements. In brief, the measure would remove the perceived disincentive for a change of use in a building and base the parking requirement for center restaurants on square footage, requiring one parking space for every 250 square