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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-01-13-LCC-minTown of Lexington Lexington Center Committee Minutes for the meeting of January 13th, 2022. Committee members present: Richard Brown, Michael Boudett, Frederic Johnson, Pamela Lyons, Innessa Manning, Jerold Michelson (chair), Pamela Shadley Liaisons: Doug Lucente, Select Board, Frank Smith, Capital Expenditures Committee, Janet Perry, Commission on Disability, Sandra Shaw, Council on Aging, Sandhya Iyer, Economic Development Director, Casey Hagerty, ED Coordinator, Joe Pato, Select Board (informally), Dawn McKenna, Tourism Committee, Erin Sandler-Rathe, Chamber of Commerce, Dave Pinsonneault, Department of Public Works Guests: Eric Ballard, Upasna Chhabra, Leslie Masson, Jesse Steigerwald (LexSeeHer), Charles Horning, chair, Planning Board Dave Pinsonneault led off with the DPW update: Streetscape Project is put to bed for the winter with some small miscellaneous ongoing stuff, there’s an issue with the heights on the newly installed pedestrian lights, there will be no banners downtown this year. There will be a public meeting regarding extending the Streetscape Plan to the Battle Green in the first week or two of February. Bid for the Bike Node going out in the next two weeks. Streetscape work will recommence after Patriots Day. Notices have been sent to businesses regarding new sidewalk treatment for snow, better for concrete, material is local. There’s some pruning to be done in the Depot Lot. Pamela Shadley further discussed the height of the new streetlights. There was a discussion of reinstalling the poles to the correct height (height is too high right now) and whether banners can be hung from the new poles. Also some discussion of snow removal. Casey Hagerty gave us the economic development update: bike shop is going into the old Panera space. A refill store is coming to the old Omar’s space. An Italian restaurant (Fiorella’s ) is coming into the old Coldwell Banker space – space has lost its grandfather status for real estate. Jerry Michelson noted that there are 30% fewer restaurant seats than in 2019. Dawn McKenna alerted us that this affects our revenue from the meals tax. Casey noted the “incredible new space” at Omar’s. Doug Lucente gave a detailed presentation of how the SB has allocated ARPA funds so far: 25K public health, 50k food insecurity, 100k, temporary health measures, 90k mental health, 315k LexHab acquisitions, 115k Vine Street property. Center Related: 250k small business assistance, 150k cultural and non- profit, business can apply for 25k and cultural and non-profit can apply for 15K. The online application opens early next week. Doug emphasized that this funding is round one and will stay open until funds run out. Charles Hornig gave a presentation (see file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/MBTA_Community_Housing.pdf) regarding the new state law on MBTA communities. The Planning Board is looking at changing the parking requirements, and is also looking at the parking lot on Merriam Street (Depot Lot.) Later on the PB will look at East Lexington and other commercial districts. There was an extended discussion of the impact on Lexington Center. The comments were all in support of the rezoning of the center for more housing. Pamela Lyons and Dick Brown agreed to attend meetings of the Planning Board. Some rezoning might be on the warrant for Spring 2022 Town Meeting. Jerry discussed committee membership: Everyone agreed to recommend Eric Ballard to the Select Board for appointment to the Center Committee. We will be losing Mike Boudett to the Capital Expenditures Committee. We will still have two vacancies. Then we discussed goals and workplan for 2022: Pam S. suggested zoning and parking lots – improving the Center’s physical infrastructure; Mike suggested making the Center more family friendly; Dick suggested encouraging tourists to go downtown – tourism is important to the Center. As always we discussed parking: Fred suggested that we keep parking passes free for another year. The Center Committee voted Seven to Zero to recommend to the Select Board to maintain the current status of parking passes (free) for another year. The CC also voted seven to zero to approve the minutes for the December, 2021 meeting. Pam Shadley let us know that she had been contacted by an engineering firm that is interested in designing the three parking lots. Given the conflict of interest issues Pam is consulting with Town Counsel as to how to proceed with this. The consensus view of the committee supports Pam’s working with the engineering firm while continuing with the committee to the extent possible under the state conflicts of interest law.