2022-11-17-CPC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 Minutes for the Community Preservation Committee 11/17/2022 Remote Zoom Meeting Meeting id#:922 6395 1418 Committee members present: Marilyn Fenollosa (Chair), Jeanne Krieger (Vice Chair), Kevin Beuttell, Bob Creech, David Horton, Lisa O’Brien, Bob Pressman, Mark Sandeen, Melinda Walker Other Attendees: Carol Kowalski (Assistant Town Manager for Development), Kathryn Roy (Chair, Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee), Gretchen Reisig (Vice Chair, Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee), Jeri Foutter (Chair, Lexington Housing Partnership), Betsy Weiss (Vice Chair, Lexington Housing Partnership), Carol Rose (consultant), Steve Poltorzycki (Lexington Council for the Arts), Althea Yates (Town Archivist), Sandhya Beebee (Capital Expenditures Committee liaison) Administrative Assistant: Christopher Tierney Ms. Fenollosa called the meeting to order at 4:02. Affordable Housing Trust Prefunding: Kathryn Roy presented a request for pre-funding the Affordable Housing Trust in the amount of $1,500,000. The pre-funding of this Trust is consistent with the goals established in the Lexington Next Comprehensive Plan of increasing the stock of subsidized housing. Ms. Roy went on to describe the next steps for the Trust once it has been agreed to by the Town Meeting as well as the benefits of pre-funding, specifically the ability to purchase property given the dynamic real estate market, along with providing renters’ assistance and first-time homebuyers’ assistance and other programs designed to enable affordable housing. Ms. Roy also explained that of the consortium of surrounding communities with similar housing trusts, six have pre-funded AHT’s through CPA funds and have also granted project-based funds to those organizations as well. Ms. Roy also assured the Committee that any money used to fund the AHT is still subject to CPA rules and that purchased property will be placed under a permanent affordable housing deed restriction. Mr. Creech commented that the Town needs to act quickly in regards to the Trust and commented that the price of tear down homes is increasing. He then asked if the $1,500,000 would be used to purchase only one single-family house. Ms. Roy assured Mr. Creech that the Trust would not purchase only one property with the requested funds. Mr. Pressman asked if the amount requested was based off of the price of a single-family home in Lexington or if it was based off of previous balances in the Housing Bucket. Ms. Roy stated that the amount was based off of a single-family home’s average price in Lexington from the previous year and that they used that metric for the basis of their funding request. Ms. Weiss explained that LexHAB recently lost out