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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-17-EDAC-min RECEIVED 2022 21 l uir, 139 pim Town Of Lexington TOWN C.LERK Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) February 17th, 2022 LEXINGTON Meeting Minutes Minutes for the meeting of February 17, 2022. This meeting was held remotely pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of G.L. c. 30A, section 18 and subsequent orders imposing strict limitations on the number of people who may gather in one place. EDAC Members present: Rick DeAngelis (Chair), Larry Smith, Charles Minasian, David Pronchick, Bridger McGaw, Lisa Murray, Adrienne Ortyl Liaisons and Town Staff: Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Joe Pato (Select Board), Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Sandhya Iyer(Economic Development Director), The meeting was opened with a quorum present. The EDAC voted and approved the minutes from December 2021 and January 2022 by a roll call vote with Orytl, Minasian/Pronchick/Murray/McGaw/DeAngelis voting in affirmative and none in the negative. Members opened the meeting with a discussion of how to better utilize the meeting minutes and agenda capturing the context of the discussions at meetings and not just noting the decisions to the extent possible. Ms. Iyer provided the EDAC received an update on the dispersal of ARPA Funding through the Town of Lexington's Grant process. The first dispersal was for $250,000. There were 30 applications received and 12 awards made, including to 3 restaurants in town. The EDAC had previously supported grants going to restaurants as a particularly vulnerable small business. Ms. Iyer informed the Committee that the Economic Development Office is continuing to hope for additional funding for an additional 14 grantees. The EDAC requested that the Town post the recipients on the Town Website to highlight the success of this effort. Ms. Iyer also shared the RFP and plans to allocate $100K for a consultant to create a pop-up incubator space in Lexington Center with an RFP going out from the Town. EDAC members offered to help amplify this effort and the importance of activating the businesses in the Center. She also shared the town is looking at how a Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) for Life Science development and that she had joined the Town Manager in recently visiting a newly opened facility at Takeda. While visiting with Takeda, the Town Manager and Ms. Iyer discussed with officials opportunities for starting an internship program for Lexington High School students and faculty with the goal to try and initiate Pilot this spring. It was noted that MassHire is going to help support the LHS administrative work associated with the effort and that the State is interested in similar job training programs specific to supporting the growth of life science job opportunities. The EDAC received updates from Charles Hornig regarding Planning Board activity around 475 Bedford Street project and the 95-99 Hayden Street project. There was no update available on the 440 Bedford Street proj ect. Todd Rhodes jointed the EDAC as a guest to present information to the EDAC on Article 31 that is focused on Energy Use Disclosure. Ben Myers, Boston Properties Sustainability Expertjoined the conversation and noted more specificity at places in the presentation. He also advised that this Article can be a first step to achieving Building Performance Standards. Mr. Rhodes did not see creation of Building Performance Standards as the goal, instead the Article was a focus on the energy use, sourcing, and availability of renewable energy. Mr. Myers stated the reporting on this issue is easy to do and actionable. Speaking for Boston Properties, we are supportive of this pending a final review Questions for Mr. Rhodes surrounded the rollout of the bylaw if adopted, the "good faith effort"for not penalizing submitters, and if Town Staff would be determining the demonstration of"good faith effort." The Article asks for $70K in one year appropriation to cover implementation costs and consulting with the building owners in town and assist with the rollout. A question was asked about challenges associated with gathering tenant specific data or if aggregated data and that working with utilities would lower the burden for many property owners. Advice was offered that additional context around the buildings that were reporting would be needed to ensure they were not listed as "polluters"for compliance. The EDAC voted in support of Article 31 noting: "The EDAC recommends approval of Article 31 at ATM 2022. The Motion was moved by Bridger McGaw and Seconded by Rick DeAngelis and Approved by Roll Call vote: 5-0 (Minasian/Pronchick/Murray/McGaw/DeAngelis in affirmative) (Orytl —Absent). Mr. McGaw presented on Article 25 and laid out the strategic intent of the article and the hope that$175K being requested would support the collaborative process necessary to build the largest capital project the Town has undertaken in a generation. The EDAC decided not to take a vote on this article at the time while waiting for the outcome of the MSBA notification for this round. Mr. Hornig presented on Article 36 noting that a hearing was scheduled for 2/23. The Article focuses on changing the zoning to allow development of mixed-use residential construction up to 6 stories. Mr. McGaw offered that there may be lessons we can learn from similar effort in Belmont(Cushing Square) effort due to the extensive complaints by abutters regarding a similar effort. Ms. Murray offered that while we have had challenges in the past, we needed to have the community conversation about this development and activation of Lexington Center. Mr. Hornig will provide the feedback to the Planning Board. The meeting closed with a quick discussion of note taking and agendas for 2022. Mr. McGaw volunteered to take on documentation of meeting minutes from the Economic Development staff which had been supporting this function during the pandemic. All members of the EDAC thanked the staff for their continued support and efforts. The Chair recognized that the Chair, Mr. McGaw and Ms. Iyer would work together to get calendar meeting invites and agendas out earlier. The appreciation of Town Staff for this change was expressed by Ms. Iyer. The EDAC agreed to move the March meeting to 3/9 in order to better align with potential requests from the Select Board to support Town Meeting articles. A motion was made by to close the meeting by Lisa Murray and seconded by Mr. Pronchick The motion was Approved by Roll Call vote: 5-0 (Minasian/Pronchick/Murray/McGaw/DeAngelis in affirmative)