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Town of Lexington
Economic Development Advisory Committee
Minutes of Meeting of June 18, 2014
EDAC
A meeting of the was held on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. in the Legion Room in Cary
Memorial Building at 1605 Massachusetts Avenue.
Members Present
: John McWeeney, Rick DeAngelis, Kevin McGuire, Narain Bhatia, Bruce Embry, George
Burnell, David Pronchick, Larry Smith, Tom Dusel, Sig Tullman
Liaisons:
Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Joe Pato (Board of Selectmen), Peter Kelley (Board of Selectmen)
Staff:
Carl Valente, Melisa Tintocalis, Melissa Jones
Members Absent:
Bob Richards
Action Items:
Conduct tax rate comparison for benchmarking with peer communities (Melisa, Melissa)
Draft marketing/educational materials on the Town’s TIF program policy (Melisa, Melissa)
The meeting was called to order at 8:10 a.m. and acted on the following items:
Approve previous minutes:
tabled
Update on Hartwell Avenue:
Melisa reported that the Lincoln Properties hosted another Food Truck Rodeo Event
at 101 Hartwell Ave. She also discussed that the funding of the REV would have to depend on the Town and the
private property owners to keep the service going a second year. Melisa also said the she is working with DPW’s
David Pinsonneault to detail the landscape project for the jug handle; the goal is to plant by the fall. At the next
Hartwell Association Meeting Melisa has invited Doerr Associates to present ideas on how to market the Hartwell
District.
Review & Discuss TIF Policy and Potential Web Materials:
Melisa shared some ideas of how other
communities promote incentives and offer guidelines to cultivate the type of projects their community
would support and suggested that the EDAC could do the same.
Review status of Tax Rate Peer Review:
Melisa reported that she would be meeting with commercial
brokers to gather market information to assess the differences in lab and office building between Bedford,
Burlington, Waltham, Billerica, and Woburn.
Co-working workshop in Arlington:
Melisa reported that the Town of Arlington would be hosting a
workshop on how to start a coworking space. This a concept that Melisa said would work well in
Lexington and would like the Town to consider as an economic development strategy.
She invited EDAC members to attend with her.
Other business:
John suggested that the next meeting be held after summer unless there was an urgent need to
meet to take action on the REV’s funding.
Meeting Adjourned:
10:00 a.m.
Next meeting:
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 in the Legion Room