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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-07-13-AHTSC-minThe Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee (ad hoc) Meeting Minutes of July 13, 2022 Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee members present for the public meeting: Kathryn Roy, Chair; Betsey Weiss, Jeri Foutter, Gretchen Reisig, Linda Prosnitz, Tara Mizrahi. Lexington Staff present for the public meeting: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Lorraine Welch, Office Manager. Non-voting liaison of the Select Board: Mark Sandeen Other Attendees: Elizabeth Rust RHSO. Ms. Roy conducted a roll call to ensure that all the members of the Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee (ad hoc) and members of staff present could hear and be heard. Ms. Roy chaired the meeting and called the meeting to order at 4:02 pm. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia for future on-demand viewing. 1. Review the Frequently Asked Questions list prepared by the committee Ms. Roy related a conversation she had with Select Board member Joe Pato for the benefit of other committee members. He agreed that the Affordable Housing Trust itself (not the Study Group) would develop its guidelines and priorities after it was constituted. He felt that the Trust would wait for significant funding until that was developed. Ms. Rust agreed that the initial request could be at least $250k - $500k. Mr. Sandeen related a conversation he had with Charles Lamb, Chair of the Capital Expenditures Committee, who seemed fine with pre-funding the Trust with $1.5M. Ms. Rust informed the committee that Ms. Kowalski found that there are $2M in unspent Community Preservation Act prior year reserves, waiting for a housing project. The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee incorporated changes to address Carolyn Kosnoff’s and Town Counsel’s comments into the Frequently Asked Questions document. There was discussion of when an RFP would be needed. If a developer seeks funding from the Trust for a specific project, there wouldn’t be an RFP. However, if the Trust was buying a restriction or looking for properties to develop, the Trust would issue an RFP. If Community Preservation Act funds were given to purchase a specific property, the Trust would not need an RFP. Mr. Pressman reported that LexHAB received $110k from Community Preservation Act funds. He estimates that there is over $200k in the Brookhaven / Affordable Housing Capitalization Fund. He pointed out that the Affordable Housing Trust won’t exist by the fall Town Meeting. And the Community Preservation Committee will consider grant requests by November 1st to get grants for 2023. So, the Affordable Housing Trust would have to wait another year to gain funds. Ms. Kowalski will check with Town Counsel regarding whether the fall Town Meeting could request funds for the Affordable Housing Trust after the Affordable Housing Trust is approved. Ms. Rust informed that in RHSO communities, 8 towns allow the Community Preservation Act funds to be spent on staffing the Affordable Housing Trust, but Lexington doesn’t allow that. 2. Action plan based on Select Board feedback Ms. Roy said that the plan was to discuss the contents of the document with the committee members, make necessary edits, and with the approval of the committee members send the document to Capital Expenditures Committee, Appropriations Committee, and Community Preservation Committee. 3. Discussion of control by Town Meeting and Select Board of future Affordable Housing Trust Ms. Roy shared a document which described the control by Town Meeting and Select Board over the future of Affordable Housing Trust. Mr. Pressman asked if Town Counsel’s law firm worked with any other RHSO towns. Ms. Rust said that he works with Acton, Concord, and Bedford. The committee discussed the guidance from the Town Counsel regarding the Town Meeting vote for pre-funding the Affordable Housing Trust. The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee will check with Town Counsel on the wording to be used. Town Counsel is working with Rep. Ciccolo on rewording the Residential Surcharge fee so its funds would clearly go into the Affordable Housing Trust, not the Affordable Housing Capitalization Fund. The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee will check with the town procurement officer whether the theoretical situations in this document would require an RFP. ‘The Affordable Housing Trust DevCorp notes’ developed by Carolyn Kosnoff was shared. The question of whether to send this with the Frequently Asked Questions or hold for the Affordable Housing Trust Committee’s internal use was discussed. That question will be resolved in a future meeting of the Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee. The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee discussed whether to send the by-law with the Frequently Asked Questions to the Capital Expenditure Committee, Community Preservation Committee, and the Appropriations Committee. It was decided to send the Frequently Asked Questions after the Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee checks with the other committees to see if there are any additional questions. Adjourn Ms. Reisig moved that The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee adjourn the meeting held on July 13, 2022. Ms. Prosnitz seconded the motion. The Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee voted in favor of the motion 7-0-0 Roll Call Vote: MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Meeting adjourned at 5:40 pm.