HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-15-EDAC-min Town of Lexington
Economic Development Advisory Committee
Minutes of Meeting of October 15, 2014
A meeting of the EDAC was held on Wednesday, October 15th at 8 30 a.m. in the Parker Room in the Town
Offices Building at 1625 Massachusetts Avenue.
Members Present: John McWeeney,David Pronchick, Rick DeAngelis,Narain Bhatia,Larry Smith, Sig
Tullman, Kevin McGuire
Liaisons Charles Hornig(Planning Board),Joe Pato (Board of Selectmen), Peter Kelley
Staff Carl Valente (Town Manager), Melisa Tintocalis, Melissa Jones
Members Absent:Tom Dusel, Bob Richards, George Burnell
Others Present: Bob Buckley
Action Items
• Complete Peer Tax Review and bring write-up to November meeting(Melisa and Melissa)
• Presentation from Planning Department on Commercial zone
The meeting was called to order at 8 35 a.m. and acted on the following items
Approved minutes from September 17,2014
Discussion with Bob Buckley. Bob Buckley was present to discuss the Middlesex 3 Coalition. Middlesex 3
is a public private partnership encouraged by Secretary Bilecki's office. This is an effort to address
economic development on a more regional,macro level. The group focuses on three major issues
transportation,workforce training and housing. Bob noted that the group works with UMass Lowell on the
workforce development element He said that real estate is no longer a given with a captive market,
students who can't live here after school will leave. Housing trends in Boston are informative for being
ahead of the game,and being innovative with zoning. He said that new zoning has to be creative and
responsive, and also offer some degree of certainty Bob pointed to Marlborough's project with Zink as an
example. Marlborough did an overlay zone- 350 residential,office-and make it work with the
community's identity The Committee discussed the notion that transportation is critical. Features such as
a dedicated bus lane along Routes 3 &128,additional commuter shuttles, and increased bike access were
discussed. Bob said that Lexington understands the bio tech business,which is demonstrated by how
comprehensive our regulations are. He said that that is a positive for us, as we can relate to developers.
The Committee talked about we can encourage mixed use and be more responsive to developers along
Hartwell Avenue. Charles said that the Town needs a developer to come in and demonstrate that that a 1 0
FAR can be done. Melisa said that we need to create a vision for what we want that district to look like.
Bob said that the Town needs to have these conversations publicly so that both residents and developers
know what we are talking about.
Update on Hartwell Activities tabled
Discuss EDAC's role in the Economic Development Element:tabled
Update on Status of Peer Tax Review. Larry gave a brief update on the meeting that he had with Melisa
and Melissa regarding this study He said that it is important to look at the assessments per square foot
when comparing buildings across communities. Melisa and Melissa will have more information to share at
the next meeting. Larry noted that it would be worthwhile to look at how water and sewer rates compare
across communities as well.