2005-11-05-HPB.min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lexington Housing Partnership Meeting Minutes for November 5, 2005 Attendees: Bob Bicknell Bill Carlson Arthur Katz Iris Wheaton Mary Haskell Julie Duncan Martha Wood Jeri Foutter Harriet Cohen Bob Bicknell chaired the meeting and took the minutes. This was a special meeting called to prepare our position on Article 2 of the Warrant for the November 7, 2005 Town Meeting This Article is for the conversion of the Battle Green Inn to condos and retail space under a mixed use CB zone. The chair, noting that a quorum was present, opened the meeting at 3:40 pm. Discussion: Members reviewed the PSDUP for the project and discussed changes to our position presented to Town Meeting relative to Article 4 of this spring’s Town Meeting, the previous version of the proposal. Iris Wheaton expressed her desire that the partnership study the need for and develop a position with regard to family affordable housing in Lexington. She feels this is a strong need and is not being met by current proposals, including the current Battle Green Inn conversion. Others noted that the current proposal being considered contains 2units with 2 bedrooms and 1 unit with 1 bedroom. The 2 bedroom units might contain children, but the site itself without any yards or playing areas is not particularly appropriate for families with younger children. Martha Wood stated that LexHAB has fewer applicants for larger 3 bedroom family units than for smaller units, with a number of applicants needing 1 bedroom. It was agreed that the partnership should study the need for affordable family housing in town and develop an appropriate position that could be applied to future projects. We discussed the possibility of declaring our support for housing in the center. Since this meeting was called specifically to consider our endorsement of the warrant article, it was determined that a general position on the desirability of housing in the center was not an appropriate topic for this meeting. The following motion was proposed, seconded and passed by a majority of those present: Voted: “To support the proposal before Town Meeting as Article 2 to the warrant with its three affordable units for sale at 70% of AMI (2, two bedrooms and 1, one bedroom) which is 10% of the total units.” Arthur Katz was appointed as spokesperson for the Partnership at Town Meeting and was charged with preparing the exact wording to be presented noting that we had presented a position in favor of the original proposal and that the current recommendation was passed by majority vote of the Partnership. Bob Bicknell agreed to inform Marge Battin, the Moderator, that Arthur would be speaking for the Partnership on the Battle Green article. Respectfully submitted, Bob Bicknell, Chair