2011-02-15-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee Meeting Date, Place and Location: 2/15/2011, 8:00 a.m., Town Office Building, Room 111 Members Present: Shirley Stolz, David Kanter, Ted Edson (Vice- Chair), Bill Hurley Member Absent: Charles Lamb (Chair) Other Attendees: Ben Cohen (Town Meeting Member) Document Presented: 2008 Bargmann Hendrie +Archtype (BH +A) Lexington Senior Center Design Mr. Edson called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Discussion of Article 15, Appropriate for Community Center (Citizen Article), with its principle sponsor, Ben Cohen: Mr. Cohen presented the case for the construction of a new Community Center on the site of the current "White House" (1557 Massachusetts Avenue) and said he is joined in this initiative by the Lexington Senior Advocates (LEXSA), including Jim Goell, Chair. Mr. Cohen described what he felt were the deficiencies of the current Senior Center in the Muzzey High Condominium building and referred to the 2008 BH +A Lexington Senior Center design as an example of a practical fit to the site and he described the benefits such a new center would provide. The current Farmer's Market would have to be relocated and he proposed it be moved it to Hastings Park, which would have safer access from available area parking. A dollar amount or source of funds for this project has not been determined. Once it has been determined, it would be requested at a future Town Meeting. Mr. Kanter advised Mr. Cohen of what Mr. Kanter felt were serious problems. Mr. Kanter said that the Article, as written to appropriate funds with an unknown amount, is extremely problematic as Town Meeting normally won't support such an open -ended request. Further, what hasn't happened —and he considered a crucial step before asking Town Meeting to do anything with the site —is for the Board of Selectmen to designated the use of the site, such as for a Community Center. Considering just those two points, Mr. Kanter suggested that Mr. Cohen's best chance, if he intends to proceed under that Article, would be if he were only to ask for a resolution of support by Town Meeting. Mr. Cohen said he also was considering having the Motion be for such a resolution —that he thought would be binding. Mr. Kanter advised that his understanding was that a Town - Meeting resolution cannot be binding in that one Town Meeting can't constrain what a future Town Meeting might vote to do. Mr. Kanter, along with other members of the Committee, then outlined suggestions for any future presentation in support of a Community Center and Mr. Cohen expressed his appreciation for them. There was also a discussion of re- visiting a previous proposal — which Town Meeting did not support —to investigate whether the old Monroe School— Page 1 of 3