2005-05-04-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF MAY 4, 2005 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in Room G-1, Town Office Building, was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chairman Harden with members Manz, Hornig, Canale and planning staff McCall-Taylor present. Mr. Galaitsis was absent. ***************************** VISION 2020 COMMITTEE ****************************** Update from the Vision 2020 Committee: Ms. Candy McLaughlin and Ms. Stacey Hamilton reported on recent activities of the Vision 2020 Committee. Lexington 2020 Vision is a town-wide effort to use "20/20 vision" and empower residents to help determine what Lexington will be like in the year 2020. The Lexington 2020 Vision Committee coordinates the process. The three Task Forces formed last fall have completed their work of analyzing the issues and recommending actions related to several of the community's long-term priority goals. Final reports of the task forces on Forging Constructive Community Discourse and Strengthening Lexington’s Budget Process and Communications are now available. The Fostering Economic Development task force identified some key issues but did not agree to propose any concrete actions at this time. Mr. Canale said that the economic development group has the most direct impact on the Planning Board and its responsibilities and that he had participated in some of their meetings. However, although the chair came up with things that were to be solutions, there seemed to be no high level commitment to the process. As a result there was no real incentive to put a lot of work into it. A coalition is needed to get real work done, and authority and direction are needed, with the Selectmen and Planning Board taking more responsibility. Ms. Hamilton said that the task force would reconvene again in six months to see where they are and to keep going forward. Mr. Canale asked who was the Planning Board delegate, and Mr. Harden responded that he had gone to the October kick-off and then the economic development meetings through November but that the group seemed to be covering the same ground as the Center Committee. Ms. Hamilton said that 2020 is not looking at five years out but at the long range of twenty years. Board members then got into a discussion of the Center Committee, commercial development in general and how it might all fit together. Mr. Canale asked what the 2020 group wanted from the Planning Board. Ms. Hamilton said they were hoping to provide training for chairs and committees on public discourse. Mr. Hornig said he felt the Planning Board meetings were often contentious but in different ways than at School Committee and Board of Selectmen meetings. He wondered if communication were a problem or was it just that people were not interested in the Planning Board. Mr. Canale said decisions by the Planning Board affect the Town as a whole and for the long term, yet people are only interested when it affects them. He felt that the public access channels would make information more available. Mr. Harden said that the Board spends a lot of meeting time on neighborhood development issues and that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. As chair he is still learning the way but tries to think how neighbors feel. He thought it might be helpful to have a knowledgeable person sitting and giving some feedback but there was no appeal in having a general meeting on diverse issues. Ms. Hamilton asked if it would be helpful to have a joint board meeting. Members felt that given other issues they were contending with, the 2020 process might not be the most pressing issue. They urged the group to reach out to new people for membership.