2024-01-03-AHTBT-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 3 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of January 3, 2024 3:00 pm Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in 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; Elizabeth Rust, RHSO Director; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant Other attendees: Margaret Heitz, Bob Pressman, Kathryn Roy Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 3:03 pm. 1. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report Ms. Tung and Ms. Prosnitz met with the Select Board member Doug Lucente to discuss the Lowell Street Warrant Article for Spring Town Meeting. Mr. Lucente is in favor of the Housing Trust proceeding with the Spring Town Meeting. The meeting with the Recreation committee is scheduled for Jan. 17 to discuss the potential use of the Lowell Street parcel for housing. Ms. Payne and Ms. Tung are attending and will be speakers at the Affordable Housing event hosted by Lexington Lyceum on Jan. 30. The Trustees will attend the upcoming Board meetings of LexHAB, Lexington Housing Authority and Housing Partnership Board and share an update at the next meeting. They will be requesting the individual letter of support from the housing partners. 2. Lowell Street Status and Planning The Trustees discussed the goals for the parcel, the income ranges, and their priority for family units. They discussed the parameters to include in the RFP to receive a good mix of proposals and to attract low-income housing tax credits. The meeting with the Lowell Street neighbors is scheduled for Jan. 16. The Spring Town Meeting video and slides are due on Jan. 17. Ms. Payne and Ms. Tung are working on a video focusing on the need for affordable housing in town. The video will be in interview style with introduction, Q&A with people already living in affordable housing, potential candidates for affordable housing, and conclusion. There was discussion on whether the Trust will pay for the work. The Trustees felt it was important to share the affordable housing story. They agree that it will be beneficial to present the video to the community but considering the Trust’s bandwidth, they decided to postpone it for a later date. If they cannot find a videographer by Jan. 12 this effort will not be pursued for the Spring Town Meeting. The consensus is to revisit this after Jan. 17 when the video presentation for the Town Meeting is complete. There was discussion on the slides and video presentation for the CPC Application Warrant Article.