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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-01-25-HPB.min Lexington Housing Partnership Meeting Minutes for January 25, 2007 (The next meeting will be on Thursday, March 1, 2007 7-9pm in the Legion Room, 2nd floor Cary Hall.) Attendees: Julie Duncan, Arthur Katz, Bill Carlson, Greg Zurlo, Ken Kreutziger, Paul Linton, Chris Eaton, Martha Wood, Betsey Weiss, Winifred McGowan, Inky MacDougal, Mary Haskell, Florence Baturin, Bob Bicknell, Harriet Cohen Bob Bicknell chaired the meeting; Harriet Cohen took the minutes. The meeting was called to order at 7:11 pm. 1. Open Meeting The November minutes were approved unanimously. 2. Discussion of Deed Restriction project (Bob Bicknell) The Deed Restriction Project update is included in the Report of the Chair. See Appendix A. 3. Committee Reports Community Preservation Committee – Betsey Weiss (Housing Appropriation Recommendations) Douglas House: asked for $750K. CPC recommended $300K for phase 1. ?? Greeley Village: asked for 350 window replacements at a cost of $228,400. Rent does not ?? begin to cover capital expenditures. CPC voted to recommend that the effort be funded. In the interim until Town Meeting in May, Bob will work with the Town to see if there are state- funded grants which might cover the work. Muzzey Condos: asked for study money to take a complete look at the building structural ?? characteristics ($53,000). This was prompted by the $3,000 to $4,000 per month in heating bills paid by the occupants for heat on north side of building. This may be appropriated partly out of the affordable housing money and partly out of the historic preservation funds. Communications Committee – Florence Baturin, Chris Eaton The committee has developed affordable housing posters to raise awareness in the ?? community of the need for affordable housing. The committee is now planning a series of three brochures to provide information. The first ?? brochure has just been issued in draft form. It is targeted to people who are interested in obtaining affordable housing in Lexington. The brochure title is “Buying & Renting Affordable Housing in Lexington.” The brochure will tie in to a worksheet to be developed and posted at the LHP web site (www.lexingtonhousingpartnership.org). Work will begin shortly on the other two brochures. Bob Bicknell will investigate the feasibility of obtaining from the Town a list of all affordable housing. Should he be able to obtain such a list, it will be posted on the web site. Zoning – Mary Haskell There is an inter-faith alliance that will be working to help pass the by-law. See Appendix A. ?? for more information. Lexington Housing Partnership Web Site Development – Paul Linton Although the Town has not decided definitely, it appears that the Partnership will continue to ?? have its own web site. Link to Avalon Bay site has been added. ?? Working on a meeting minutes repository ?? Upcoming meeting information is on the home page ?? Foundation – Bob Bicknell for Jeri Foutter Approved support for posters. The Lexington Chamber of Commerce contributed $200 ?? towards the cost of the posters. That’s about half the cost. Exploring Options – Winifred McGowan No report at this time. ?? 4. Fair Housing Update (Mary Haskell) The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston is trying to put together a model of regional groups working on fair housing, and then putting together a request for funds to pursue fair housing within the region. 5. Report of the Chair (Bob Bicknell) Mr. Bicknell’s report was forwarded earlier and is attached as Appendix A. 6. New Business The proposed content for the annual report was handed out. Please provide feedback to Mr. ?? Bicknell. The draft is attached to these minutes as Appendix B. The Lexington Housing Partnership input to the Town Annual Report for 2006 is attached as Appendix C. The Planning Office provided to Mr. Bicknell the plan for the use of HOME funds. Mr. ?? Bicknell handed out copies at the meeting. Mr. Bicknell showed an LHP presentation that he is proposing be given to the Selectmen in ?? support of the Inclusionary Bylaw. The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 p.m. Lexington Housing Partnership Appendix A: Report of the Chair, January 25, 2007 HOME Plans – A meeting of the WestMetro Consortium members was recently held in Newton. I attended (for Iris Wheaton) along with Eve Tapper and the new Assistant Planning Director, Aaron Henry. Each community explained their current HOME programs and it was clear that experience being gained by others will be a valuable resource for Lexington. Our FY2008 plan is being coordinated by Aaron and is attached to this report for review. Note the plan proposed by the Planning Staff to hold a series of housing outreach “summits” during the coming year. We are still waiting for inputs from Supportive Living, Inc. to complete the environmental report which is necessary for HUD to release the funds we have identified for the Douglass House project. Deed Restriction Project – The CPC turned down our proposal to fund a prototype project. The report from Judi Barrett is due by the end of January, but we were advised to request CPA funds once we had the completed report. Therefore we will review the report and redefine the program before submitting a new request for funds to the CPC. A multi-year program to implement the concept we define will give the CPC a better understanding of the long range commitment needed to support the program. I asked the CPC to make a statement that they approve the program concept and that they asked the Partnership to resubmit a request once all the program parameters had been defined. I also plan to include a statement about the program in the Partnership’s Article 2 presentation to this year’s Town Meeting. We should be able to discuss Judi’s report at our March meeting. Avalon at Lexington Hills- A meeting was held to discuss the process of selecting tenants for the 66 affordable units allocated equally to Lexington, Belmont and Waltham. Of the 97 total affordable units, 29 will now be allocated to DMH, 68 units will be available as affordable and 22 will be local preference units for each town. The first units will be available for occupancy in early May 2007. The Open Enrollment period will be March 1 to March 30, 2007. Credit, Income/Asset and Criminal checks will be made for all applicants to determine qualifications for residency. Qualified applicants will be grouped by apartment size and then drawn as units become available. The construction period will last 18 months and the last unit is scheduled for occupancy in August 2008. The advertising campaign is being initiated and information about the affordable units will be circulated to town employees and provided to local businesses. Interfaith Coalition Progress – The Lexington Interfaith Coalition has been meeting to define how the advocacy program for the Inclusionary Housing Bylaw will be conducted. A PowerPoint presentation has been assembled and a plan to circulate a petition among members of the faith community in support of the Bylaw is underway. Each Town Meeting member will be contacted to encourage their support of the Bylaw and spokespersons from among town employees are being sought who would speak to the need for affordable housing at Town Meeting. Affordable Housing Poster Campaign – A series of 4 posters is being printed with support form the Lexington Chamber of Commerce and the Lexington Housing Foundation to illustrate the need for affordable housing. A plan to distribute the posters is underway. They will be provided to churches, businesses and public places throughout the town. Lexington Housing Partnership Appendix B: Annual Report to Town Meeting by the Lexington Housing Partnership During the year the Partnership was active in promoting and supporting affordable housing activities in town. Open meetings were held periodically and many meetings and DHCD and Massachusetts Housing Partnership sponsored seminars were attended to keep abreast of and support housing issues. In summary, the Lexington Housing Partnership: Supported providing funds from the WestMetro HOME Consortium for the Supportive Living, ?? ) Inc. (SLIDouglass Houseproject for survivors of brain injury. Supported efforts to create and adopt an Inclusionary Zoning bylaw to require an Affordable ?? Housing component for all new projects of three or more housing units. Worked with the Planning Department to define procedures for assuring that affordable rental and ?? ownership units retain their affordability over time. Developed a concept for purchasing Deed Restrictions at the sale of smaller homes to make them ?? available to moderate income first time homebuyers. Through the Lexington Housing Foundation acquired consultant services to define the parameters for applying the concept in Lexington. Promoted use of CPA funds to implement the concept in Lexington. Participated in workshops on programs for informing citizens about affordable housing and ?? locating funding sources for affordable housing development including the Soft Second Loan program. Participated in ongoing programs in town to explore permitting affordable residential use in the ?? center. Provided materials to the town explaining the Mass Housing Municipal Mortgage Program which ?? is specifically designed to help town employees purchase a home in the town where they work, with no down payment. Promoted awareness of the need for affordable housing in Lexington through posters, ?? presentations and the print media. Began work on a series of brochures to identify affordable housing programs in town and ?? opportunities for those seeking affordable housing. Continued operation of a website at www.LexingtonHousingPartnership.org. ?? During this 2007 Town Meeting the Housing Partnership plans to provide our position on Article 4, Incluslionary Zoning, which will be a positive step in providing affordable housing in Lexington as part of all future developments of 3 or more units. Bob Bicknell, Chair for the Partnership Lexington Housing Partnership Appendix C: Annual Report to Town Meeting by the Lexington Housing Partnership ROLE: To promote and support affordable housing activities and to recommend appropriate actions to the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board. No funds come from the Town’s budget. APPOINTED: By the Board of Selectmen for overlapping 3-year terms: Bob Bicknell, Chair; Kenneth Kreutziger, Vice-Chair; Jeri Foutter, William Carlson, Julia Duncan, Caroline Eaton, Florence Baturin, Mary Haskell, Gay Godfrey, Thomas Harden, Arthur Katz, Betsey Weiss, Iris Wheaton, Ingeborg MacDougall, Winifred McGowan, Paul Linton, Secretary, Harriet Cohen (Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee), Martha Wood (LexHAB), Robert Cohen (Lexington Housing Authority), Gregory Zurlo (Planning Board), Selectman Liaison: Norman Cohen, Conservation Commission Liaison: Richard Wolk, Council on Aging Liaison: Paul Lapointe. HIGHLIGHTS: Provided support for an Accessory Apartments bylaw. ?? Supported adoption of the Community Preservation Act (CPA). ?? Supported providing funds from the WestMetro HOME Consortium for the Supportive Living, ?? Inc. (SLI) Douglass House project for survivors of brain injury. Supported efforts to create and adopt an Inclusionary Zoning bylaw to require an Affordable ?? Housing component for all new projects of three or more housing units. Supported the Battle Green Inn conversion, with its three affordable units for sale at 70% of Area ?? Median Income. Developed a concept for purchasing Deed Restrictions at the sale of smaller homes to make them ?? available to moderate income first time homebuyers. Through the Lexington Housing Foundation acquired consultant services to define the parameters for applying the concept in Lexington. Promoted a pilot project with the Community Preservation Committee to test the viability of the Deed Restriction concept. Participated in workshops on educating citizens about affordable housing and funding sources for ?? affordable housing development including the Soft Second Loan program. Participated in the Lexington Center Collaborative on the Land Use sub panel to explore ?? permitting affordable residential use in the center. Provided materials to the town explaining the Mass Housing Municipal Mortgage Program which ?? is specifically designed to help town employees purchase a home in the town where they work, with no down payment. Promoted awareness of the need for affordable housing in Lexington through posters, ?? presentations and the print media. Began operation of a website at www.LexingtonHousingPartnership.org. ??