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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-01-26-HPB.min Lexington Housing Partnership Meeting Minutes for January 26, 2006 Attendees: Bob Bicknell Tom Harden Florence Baturin Arthur Katz Inky MacDougall Betsey Weiss Norman Cohen Paul Linton Ken Kreutziger Jeri Foutter Julie Duncan Bill Carlson Winifred McGowen Chris Eaton George Brunell (visitor) Chairman Bob Bicknell called the meeting to order at 7:06pm. OLD BUSINESS th The chair moved to have the minutes from the Nov. 5 meeting accepted; the motion was seconded by Inky MacDougall and passed via a unanimous voice vote. The next order of business was to vote on the officers for the year. Bob Bicknell and Harriet Cohen had agreed to place themselves on the slate to run again as chair and secretary, respectively. Bob nominated Ken Kreutziger to serve as vice chairman; this was seconded and approved. The chair called for other nominations; there were none. The slate of officers was approved by unanimous voice vote. Bob introduced Chris Eaton, who has been nominated to become a member of the partnership (pending approval by the Board of Selectmen). She is currently working on the Fort Devens project, which will convert the former military base into a community. She is a land use specialist, and has a wide range of experience, including smart growth development. The chair informed the partnership that an open hearing on the Inclusionary Bylaw is to be held on February 15 (it is not known at this time if a place has been scheduled). He encouraged all members to attend and support the endeavor. The Partnership has been asked by the Town Manager to select a representative to the Community Preservation Committee – the committee will create FY07 proposals for Town Meeting should the Community Preservation Act (CPA) be approved on March 6. Bob had spoken to Betsey Weiss about the position prior to the meeting, given her knowledge and efforts on supporting passage of it; he nominated her as the Housing Partnership representative; the motion to approve her appointment was seconded by Ken Kreutziger and passed by unanimous voice vote. The next portion of the meeting consisted of reports from the various subcommittees: Web Site Development (Jeri Foutter) – There is not much progress to report. Alex Fuchs, a very busy student at Minuteman Tech, is working on it when he has the time. Jeri will send members the web URL when the site has been developed sufficiently for comments and suggestions. The Partnership web site will be linked to the town site. Anyone having suggestions can send them to Jeri. CPA (Betsey Weiss) – A small (to 700) fund raising mailing is almost ready. The CPA for Lexington group is organizing local coffees (see Ken Kreutziger) and will be at the candidate nights. They are planning to mail a brochure to all voters who voted in the previous election (over 4,000 in number) just before the March 6 election. Bob Bicknell noted that the telecast of an Open House with Jay Kaufman on Lexington Housing Partnership Lexington local cable will be aired at 6pm on Fri, Sat, Sunday for the next two weekends. There have been articles and opinion letters in the Lexington Minuteman recently. Betsey, Bob, Sandy Shaw and Marilyn Fenollosa will appear on a Lexington Interfaith Television (LIFT) program re: CPA. Betsey handed out CPA fact sheets and will forward one to all partnership members via electronic mail. Inclusionary Zoning (Tom Harden) – The Planning Board is working with Phil Herr on the inclusionary zoning article for Town Meeting. The work is still in progress; going forward there will be an open hearing on February 15. The concerns from the last open hearing include how property values are affected and how fair it is; these are key issues to be addressed before Town Meeting debates the ariticle. The new bylaw requires an affordable component for developments of 3 units or greater; the procedure for dealing with smaller developments is outlined in the bylaw. A whole range of other policies and procedures (deed restrictions, etc.) will be needed to administer affordable resale units created as a result of the new bylaw. Answers regarding these are being prepared for Town Meeting. The question was raised if people can understand / grasp the fractional number of units concept – Tom is responsible for working on that for the Planning Board. Florence Baturin suggested that they have a concise graphic to express the concept(s). Bob pointed out that there is still additional zoning work to be done, such as what happens in the Center and how to deal with housing applications for privately owned structures, such as churches. Arthur Katz mentioned that Burlington has established / passed 40R guidelines. Exploring Options (Winifred McGowen) – Very few towns have established Neighborhood Conservation Districts – these allow neighborhoods to control such things as tear-downs. Also, the State Housing Secretary has refused to sign affordability restrictions for any town (Newton and Stow have applied). As an example of how these could work, Stow is planning to pay a homeowner $50,000 to bring the selling price of their house into the affordable range. Affordable Accessory Apartments (Bill Carlson) – He had no specific report, but a discussion did occur. Accessory apartments are not required to be “affordable”, but by their nature they are inherently affordable. The question was raised as to whether the town should count them as affordable units. Tom Harden replied that they would not now count as 40B inventory. Bob thinks that researching the topic is worthwhile, as Lexington’s 40B situation could change depending on the results of the 2010 census, if Katadin Woods would change to no longer having rental units, etc. Bill Carlson suggested that his effort become a part of the Exploring Options subcommittee. He will begin to gather information. No really good records exist to identify current accessory apartments. Tom harden believes the town total may have in the range of 30 to 40 official affordable apartments. Lexington Housing Foundation (Jeri Foutter) – Jeri submitted the following report: $6,019.19 As of January 26, 2006, the Lexington Housing Foundation, Inc. has a balance of in a checking account at Cambridge Savings Bank. There have been no credits since September 16, 2005, the date of the last Foundation Report. One debit has occurred since September 16, 2005, the date of the last Foundation Report. Date Amount Purpose December 27, 2005 $119.40 Harriet Cohen Reimbursement for payment to Aplus.net for domain registration and web hosting. Lexington Housing Partnership If you have any questions or would like any copies of the Lexington Housing Foundation, Inc.’s bank statements, please feel free to contact Jeri at (617) 864-8700, extension 4126. NEW BUSINESS Report From The Chair – Affordable Housing Workshop in Lexington on March 3, 2006: The program for the workshop held in Mansfield (Jan. 27) was circulated as well as some handouts from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership who is sponsoring the workshops to help towns zone for affordable housing as local regulations come under fire. There will be a similar workshop in Lexington on Friday, March 3, 2006. Chris Eaton, who is on the planning committee for the workshop, will provide details to Partnership members. There will be a public hearing on our Inclusionary Zoning bylaw proposed for consideration at this year’s th town meeting on February 15. Members of the Partnership are encouraged to attend and lend their vocal support to this initiative. The Supportive Living, Inc. proposal to create affordable housing for brain affected tenants on the Lexington Press property has received a HUD grant. Rachael Dorr sent us a notice and they are now waiting for state approval of tax credits to begin their project. The HUD announcement said: They approved a capital advance of $1,070,400 and a five-year rental subsidy of $204,000 to provide supportive housing for 9 residents who are survivors of brain injuries and who require staff support and supervision to live in dignity as independently as possible in the community near family and friends. I have submitted our annual report input for the 2005 Town Report. Copies were circulated for members to review. I attended a Board and Committee Chair training workshop on how to conduct collaborative, productive and respectful meetings. The revised 2006 (Yellow) Board and Committee Handbook is available at the Town Clerk’s office. Former Jefferson Union site – Inky MacDougall inquired about the status of the project. Tom Harden noted that the project received their special permit and site preparation in underway and that building construction will soon start. The next meeting of the Partnership will be held on March 16 in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room. Bob will be recovering from hip surgery so new Vice-chair Ken Kreutziger will chair the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:31 PM. These minutes respectfully submitted by Paul Linton on January 29, 2006.