2023-12-11-AHTBT-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of December 11, 2023 10:00 am Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in the Parker room, Town Office Building Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; Mark Sandeen, William Erickson, Tiffany Payne, Linda Prosnitz Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant Other attendees: Elizabeth Rust, RHSO; Bob Pressman, Kathryn Roy, Ingrid Klimoff Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 10:07 am. 1. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report On December 8, 2023 Ms. Tung and Mr. Sandeen met with the Ed Augustus, Secretary of Housing for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at a Lexington Housing Authority site visit along with Representative Michelle Ciccolo, Jill Hai, Cindy Arens, Chair of the Sustainable Lexington Committee, and Caileen Foley, Executive Director of LHA The Community One Stop for Growth applications are due in 2024. Ms. Kowalski will check the list of programs to see if there are programs they should be applying for. 2. Lowell Street update and timeline Ms. Kowalski explained the process of a Development Review Team (DRT) meeting. The next DRT meeting is on Jan. 3 where the Housing Trust will be presenting for the Lowell Street concept. Ms. Tung and Mr. Erickson will attend this meeting. The Town Meeting Warrant article is due on Dec. 14. There was discussion on whether the Trust should proceed with the Annual Town Meeting or wait until Fall for the Warrant article. The Trustees reviewed the tasks to accomplish to make it to the Annual Town Meeting. The video presentation and slide deck are due on Jan. 17. The Annual Town Meeting starts on March 18, 2024. After discussion, the Trust consensus is to maximize affordability, have more family style, ‘livable units’ with adequate storage, 2/3rd’s of two to three bedrooms units, in the income mix of 30% AMI to 80% AMI. Ms. Rust advised including energy goals in the RFP such as fossil fuel free development, and providing more clarity on the unit sizes. For community engagement and outreach, the Trustees reviewed the list of boards and committees to contact, the meeting schedule, notification of neighbors for an information session, and the timelines for meetings. Mr. Sandeen suggested a two on two meeting between the Trust and Select Board to update the Select Board on the status and planning and the Warrant Article. After reviewing the timelines, the financial milestones to enable the project, the pre - applications due in November, the Trust felt that they should proceed with filing an Article for the Spring Town meeting pending discussions with the Select Board.