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Town of Lexington
Economic Development Advisory Committee
Minutes of Meeting of February 18, 2015
th
EDAC
A meeting of the was held on Thursday, February 18 at 8:00 a.m. in the Parker Room of the Town Office
Building at 1625 Mass Ave.
Members Present
: John McWeeney, George Burnell, Rick DeAngelis, Narain Bhatia, David Pronchick, Sig Tullman,
and Lelani Foster
Liaisons Present:
Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Joe Pato (Board of Selectmen)
Staff Present:
Melisa Tintocalis
Members Absent:
Larry Smith, Tom Dusel, Bob Richards
Action Items:
Melisa to bring in ridership stats for the REV (Melisa)
Set up meeting with Town Manager and Griffith or Normandy (Melisa)
Organize the next steps for a brokers open house in the spring that features Lexington (Melisa)
The meeting was called to order at 8:10 a.m. and acted on the following items:
January minutes approved with spelling corrections.
Solar Project at Hartwell: Selectmen Joe Pato provided an update to the committee on the solar proposal for the
Town-owned land in the Hartwell District. He reported that the proposal will have a small footprint of seven
acres and that the net revenue benefit would be approximately $10 million over ten years. Narain Bhatia asked
if the implementation of this proposal would preclude future/potential commercial development on the site. The
response to this question was that the lease for the solar hardware is for 20 years, hence most likely no
development would happen during that time. Selectmen Pato reported the revenue generated from the solar
project will help offset costs and avoid an operating override.
Status of the REV: Melisa reported she would bring ridership statistics to the group at the next meeting. The
Committee discussed that given the snow conditions this season and the negative impacts on transportation; it is
important to consider how transportation is intrinsic to economic development.
Large Scale Commercial:
John McWeeney reported that Cubist was likely not going forward with the expansion project
at this time. He reported that Shire has leased additional space along Hayden and it would most likely take space in the
building that is currently occupied by VistaPrint. Melisa reported that Carl Valente, Rick DeAngelis met with Brian Koop
to discuss strategy of the Boston Properties buildings in Lexington, in particular with 17 Harwell that has been vacant for
several years. Rick reported the meeting was productive and that Brian Koop appreciated the Town’s invitation to discuss
the future of these buildings. The Committee suggested that Melisa set up additional meeting with other property owners
on a quarterly basis.
Tourism: John McWeeney asked Melisa Tintocalis about the status of the Visitor Center. Melisa reported that the Visitor
Center was under the purview of the Economic Development Office as of September 2014. The committee discussed the
need to have a future discussion on the role of tourism as a function of economic development as well as the role of the
EDAC in smaller commercial policy decisions.
at 9:40AM
Meeting Adjourned: Next meeting:
Wednesday, March 18, 2015