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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-01-11-MGWG-min.pdf Subject: 2020 Minutes remailed Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 23:31:44 +0000 . ] MINUTES OF WORK GROUP MEETING Title of Work Group: Managing Growth: Development and Open Space Date, Time, and Location of Meeting: Tuesday, January 11, 2000, 7:00pm - 9:00pm, Selectmen's Meeting Room Members Present: Heather Sweeney [Steering Committee liaison #1] John Andrews Suzanne Caton John Frey Glenn Garber [Staff Resource] Ione Garing Tom Harden Karl Kastorf Marianne Lazarus Joe Marino [Staff Resource] Gerry Moloney Edmond Vail Lee Sinai Members Absent: Larry Belvin, Gary Fallick, Karen Longeteig, Fred Merrill [Steering Committee liaison #2] , Donna Rossi Distributed Information: 1. Meeting Agenda prepared by Suzanne Caton 2. Workplan, Draft 1 prepared by Suzanne Caton 3. List of CPG Participants, Managing Growth, dated 1/10/00 [secretary's note: the list does not include the name of Mike Hanauer, who was present at the 1/6 meeting but not at 1/11 meeting. . .?] Date, Time, and Location of Next Scheduled Meeting: Thursday, January 20, 2000, 7:00pm - 9:00pm [and every other Thursday afterward] location to be determined by chair in consultation with TMgr. The meeting was called to order by acting chairperson Suzanne Caton. Issues Addressed and Agreements Made: 1. Minutes of last meeting were approved with the following corrections: Add to list of members present the name of Marianne Lazarus. Correct the spelling of the name of member Edmond Vail [sic] . Identify the documents for the working group "library" being held by Joe Marino. They are [approximate titles] : "Topical Areas for Fall Forum Breakout Meetings, " "Draft Report of Visioning Process, June Workshop, " "Initiating Committee Conversations, January 1999. " 2 . Agenda Item: Discuss and determine logistics and procedures for future work group meetings. Discussion was based on draft Workplan proposed by Suzanne Caton and Appendix A of the Initiating Committee document "Guidance for Lexington 2020 Work Groups" of 1/6/00. It was agreed: This work group will meet twice a month, every other Thursday starting from 1/20/2000. Meetings will last 2 hours, starting at 7 pm and ending at 9 pm. Suzanne Caton will make arrangements with the Town Manager's office for a location, which hopefully will be permanent and with a table that will accommodate the whole group (about 18) . A quorum will consist of the members present. A quorum for approving reports or other issues for which the chair may call for a vote will be a simple majority of the work group membership--or 8 of the 14 on the current Working Group Members list. A scheduled meeting will be cancelled automatically by the announcement of school snow closure. There will be no specific attendance requirements of the members, presuming that all are dedicated to working together to complete the task. A discussion of the question of whether changes/additions in the membership of the work group were needed concluded with the observation that the needs will not become clear until substantive issues are addressed. At that time the membership can decide who needs to be added and what the newcomers' voting privileges will be. The group will elect a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson. The Chair will develop meeting agendas and will distribute them by Email before meetings as far as possible, with the understanding that the agenda may be revised at the start of the meeting. It was decided to disseminate documents (meeting notices, agendas, minutes, etc. ) to the membership by Email (preferably by using Email text rather than attachments) . Edmond Vail will pass these messages by FAX to John Frey, who does not have Email, and Karl Kastorf will see to it that Ione Garing is similarly informed. [More on this topic later. ] The Chair will ensure that minutes from the previous meeting are written and sent to members. The Chair will bring scheduled meetings to order and assist the group in addressing agenda items, and will bring issues to a vote when group --- decisions must be made and announce vote results. The Chair will maintain a repository of all official work group documents, but additionaly Karl Kastorf will maintain the group's web site where they will be posted. The Chair will maintain a schedule of deadlines for deliverables. It will be the Chair's task to coordinate subcomittees. The Chair will see to it that at the start of each meeting one member of the group, on a rotating basis, is appointed to take minutes. That person will write up the minutes, in the format distributed in the Guidance packet, and distribute them to the members by Email, including a copy to Michael Baker in the Town Manager's office, (instead of by hardcopy as directed in the Guidance packet) . The minute-taker should record dissenting opinions, if any, to group discussions. 3 . Organizational structure and responsibilites were discussed as outlined in Appendix A of the "Guidance" handout: Subcomittees will be identified as needed. Each will organize itself roughly following the larger work group's Workplan, with special attention to communication links with the work group. A person to act as liason with the Core Participants Group will be selected from the work group membership on a shared basis, when needed. Suzanne Caton or Heather Heartshorn-Sweeney will find out more about the liason's responsiblities and role. The membership voted Suzanne Caton to be Chairperson and Marianne Lazarus Vice Chairperson. 4. The agenda item of assignment of one or two people to review existing 20/20 project material which is in Joe Marino's keeping was bypassed. 5. An informal discussion of the work group mission statement (from "Guidance" Appendix B) and its key questions was held, with the following points: Is our mission to define the physical character of the town in 20 years or the means of controlling growth? Answer: the physical character will be defined by what growth takes place. What are the factors that make the town nice to live in? Answer: among others, open space, clean environment, little noise. Are we deciding what land use and open space there will be? or how do we/can we control those? What are the limits? For example, do we want high density all over town, or the current density all over town, or some dense and some preserved? The town's "Values" discussions gave us the town's guidelines--open space, diversity, etc.--that can provide a framework for our group's definition of values, which could be our starting point. On the other hand, resources such as maps can be used to analyze the existing character. We need to assess the relationship between values and character. Mapping resources are being developed by others in town (i.e. computer graphics) . We can use them to study demographics. Check out what was done for the bike path. Look into what Brian Gilbert is doing. The Conservation Commission's land aquisition study committee chaired by David Williams and assisted by John Andrews made extensive colored maps in their project of identifying endangered open space in town, along with criteria for evaluating properties, such as types and numbers of wildlife, biodiversity, etc. Because the properties are vulnerable the Commission protects their identity; special arrangements for sharing the Commission's information with us will have to be worked out. Ione Garing introduced as background material several reports made to past Town Meetings--"Town Open Space Plan, " "Land Use Change in the 80's, " a population report, a solid waste committe report. She was appointed to assemble a list of these and other suggested background reading materials, which should be available at Cary Library (probably in the Lexington Room) . Glenn Garber reported that the Planning Board is working on a comprehensive plan for the town, expected to be completed in two years, which will include detailed zoning proposals to be brought to Town Meeting for approval. They expect to complete a first phase, site analyses of undeveloped spaces and assessing growth potential under current zoning, by the end of the summer. Glenn described what he saw as our group's role in relation to the Planning Board. Our task is to define values that can serve as guidelines for the Board's more specific actions, and to answer questions such as: what are desired densities? what character do we most value? what ultimate residential and commercial growth levels are wanted? We should supply the endorsement for the Planning Board's going in a particular direction. He advised reining in "creative" ideas for practicality's sake. Recommendations for specific sites such as changing the use of one on Clarke Street to a parking lot or garage should be avoided; instead, this site might be used as an example to help focus on the need for additional parking in the center. We should regard our project as an opportunity to look not 3 to 5 years ahead but 20, starting from an examination of what is already in place. Then, consider: Do we want to maintain growth? Slow it down? Do we want certain parts, like the center, to grow--change density--differently from others? We'll need to address the question of erosion of the older urban core. We'll need to address people's dependency on the automobile (although 58% of the population--children, the elderly, and lower income people--does not drive) . Are there alternatives to automobile travel? The relationship of transportation availability to the location of developments such as the proposed redevelopment of the Met State property. What will validate the decisions our small group makes for the town at large? Answer: our ability to back up our suggestions with information, and ultimately the actions taken by Town Meeting in response to Planning Board [and other?] proposals. Where do we begin? By working on the questions outlined in Appendix B, especially in light of the question, What do we value? Other documents to research: The Mercer Report, and the Initiating Committee's 3/29/99 report to Selectmen. Joe Marino will make/get copies of the latter and Marianne Lazarus will distribute. Watch the web site for reports on availabilty of further documents, posted there by Joe or by Karl. Respectfully submitted, Marianne Lazarus, January 12, 2000 (mailed later) . 1 1 ) / 7 Doo Gcf (1)2 .r vIAA Subject: 2020 Minutes,follow-up Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 11:35:37 +0000 From: Alan and Marianne Lazarus <malazarus@worldnet.att.net> To: John Andrews <jwa@alum.mit.edu>,Larry Belvin<lnbelvin@world.std.com>, Suzanne Caton<scaton@sybase.com>, Gary Fallick<gary_fallick@waters.com>, Mike Hanauer<michaeha@quintus.com>, Tom Harden <tharden119@aol.com>, Karl Kastorf/lone Garing <karl_kastorf @ wgbh.org>, Marianne Lazarus<malazarus@worldnet.att.net>, Gerry Moloney <Halyardbld@aol.com>, Donna Rossi <Donna.T.Rossi@saic.com>, Edmond Vail/John Frey <edvail@aol.com>, Karen Longteig<klongteig@aol.com>, Lee Sinai<lsinai@worldnet.att.net>, Fred Merrill<flmerrill@sasaki.com>, Heather Hartshorn-Sweeney<Heather_Sweeney@mma.org>, Glenn Garber<ggarber@ci.lexington.ma.us>, Joe Marino<jmarino@ci.lexington.ma.us>, Maryann McCall-Taylor<mmccall@ci.lexington.ma.us>, Marilyn Nordby <mnordby@ci.lexington.ma.us> CC: CC: Michael Baker<mbaker@ci.lexington.ma.us> To: 2020 "Growth" Workgroup From: Marianne Lazarus Please note that there are two errors in my list of email addresses to which the minutes for the Jan. 11 work group meeting were sent: Larry Belvin is at <lnbelvin@world.std.com> Fred Merrill is at <flmerrill@sasaki.com> Larry adds the correction that Diana Rossi was at the Jan. 6 meeting. Larry asks how to access the website. I believe it's described on one of the last pages of the document titled Agenda that was handed out at the Jan. 6 meeting, but I haven't tried it yet. Briefly, the address is <www.habama.com/lexington>.