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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-10-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 10, 2007 A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Planning Office, Town Office Building, and called to order at 6:20 p.m. by Chairman Hornig with members Zurlo, Canale and Manz and planning staff McCall-Taylor present. ******************************** SPECIAL TOWN MEETING**************************** Article 2 Tax Increment Financing Agreement Ms. McCall-Taylor gave a brief description of an ANR process that is expected to bring the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and Assessors parcels into congruence. It is expected that the plan will be ready for signatures prior to next week’s Town Meeting session. Mr. Hornig asked if the Board was ready to take a position on the TIF and asked for a straw poll to start the discussion. All four of the board members present indicated that they were in favor of the TIF, based on the information to date. Mr. Hornig said as he saw it the reasons to support the TIF were that bio-technology manufacturing was a desirable use for the site and approving the TIF raised the likelihood that the use would be built sooner. Mr. Canale noted that when the site was rezoned the vision was that the site would be 80% bio- manufacturing. If Shire doesn’t come, the additional space would probably have a more intense use. He felt that Town Meeting might in the future increase allowable Floor Area Ratio to .3 and he would rather lock in these three buildings now. It was also noted that the mitigations offered by Shire will only occur if the TIF is in place. Mr. Hornig categorized the negative of the TIF as the money. The Appropriations Committee said that the cost of the TIF was roughly equivalent to waiting two years to get another tenant and be fully leased; that seemed to be an optimistic timeframe. Mr. Zurlo said that turning down the TIF would raise the likelihood of the site being used as offices as Lexington would seem to be unwelcoming to biotech. Board members also felt that there was a certain amount of uncertainty with the state providing mitigation but Mr. Zurlo said that there was a stepped up mitigation schedule. Mr. Canale asked if out of the $2.6 million in mitigation could $33,000 go to LexPress? Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of October 10, 2007 The issue of precedents was discussed. If it took a TIF to build up the site, why would anything be built without one? Another way to look at it was that maybe the town cannot get someone to build new office space without a TIF. Mr. Zurlo said that the Economic Development Task Force should answer the question of what are the goals for the larger commercial areas. Mr. Hornig asked if TIFs were an appropriate tool in managing development and whether they should be used only in exceptional circumstances or every day. Mr. Zurlo said it was just right at this time. Mr. Canale thought a TIF should only be used infrequently. Ms. Manz said that it was a case-by-case business decision and negotiation. Mr. Hornig said TIF are appropriate in exceptional cases and this is an exceptional case. On a motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted, 4-0, to recommend to Town Meeting to approve in principle the TIF agreement. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Wendy Manz, Clerk