2007-12-06-CPC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Hearing for FY2009 CPC Proposals Cary Memorial Library Meeting Room Thursday, December 6, 2007 6:30 p.m. CPC Members Present : Joel Adler, Norm Cohen, Marilyn Fenollosa, Wendy Manz, Leo McSweeney, Richard Pagett, Judy Pearson, Sandy Shaw, Betsey Weiss, Dick Wolk CPC Chair, Betsey Weiss with introductions of the Community Preservation Committee members, opened the meeting. Agenda items were presented as follows: 1. Homebuyer Assistance Program (Housing Partnership) $470,000 – presented by Tom Harden and Chris Kluchman Chris Kluchman presented the background and reasons why they are proposing this Homebuyer Assistance Program. Sharing that housing prices in Lexington continue to increase and that studies and statistics reveal that the percentage of affordable homes available to first-time home buyers in Lexington today have decreased significantly since 1998, Chris stated that Lexington is described as a “rapidly increasing home value community.” The median home sales price in Lexington is $660,000 and while this is very good news for some, Chris suggested that this implies that Lexington is a town where only the wealthy can afford homes. This reality, she said, limits the number of families renting, recent college graduates and two teacher household incomes from purchasing homes. In truth, Lexington homes are not affordable to first-time homebuyers. Consequently, they are proposing the Lexington Homebuyer Assistance Program for which they have developed guidelines, legal documents and an agreement with a local bank. Chris stated that the loan program would fund 2-3 first-time homeowners in its first year. She also made one correction to the document, which was that there are no age limitations to the Program. Questions: 1. Charles Hornig, Planning Board Chair, asked if their plan takes into account foreclosures. Tom Harden responded by saying that the program is designed to piggyback with the Massachusetts Housing Partnership “SoftSecond” program which began in 1991. From that, they have extensive data on loan performance and foreclosures suggesting that the foreclosure risk is rare. Charles further stated that in a declining market, there is always some percentage of people who may deal with foreclosure. Would the Program be in a position to protect them from this situation? Tom responded that while the data suggests that the risk would be rare, they would need to investigate this. 2. Frank Sandy, TMM, Precinct 6, asked what would happen should someone’s income increase substantially (in reference to repayment terms and one not being required to repay until selling the house). Sandy stated his opinion, which is that this situation would not be fair to tax payers. 3. Andy Friedlich, TMM, Precinct 5, stated that The Lexington Minuteman suggested that the Program was for town/school employees. Are there criteria? Chris Kluchman responded that all interested parties would first need to be income qualified and then first-time homebuyer and/or town employee status would be evaluated. Question was asked “Would a town employee need to count this as town compensation?” Public Meeting 12.6.07 Minutes – FINAL 1.16.08 1