HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-03-30-MGWG-min.pdf Sunday,April 2, 2000 Minutes of 03/30/2000, Lexington 20/20 Page: 1
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Subject: Minutes of 03/30/2000,Lexington 20/20 Subgroup
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2000 13:51:09 EDT
Minutes of 03/30/2000, Lexington 20/20 Subgroup
Managing Growth-Open Space Committee
Date, Time, & Location of Meeting: Thursday, March 30, 2000, 7:00 - 9:15
p.m. , Town Hall
Members Present: Tiffany Papadonis, Karl Kastorf, Fred Merrill, Ione Garing,
Mike Hanauer, John Andrews, Tom Harden, Marilyn Nordby, Markus Pinney, John
Frey, Marianne Lazarus, Jerry Maloney, Ed Vail, Josh Murray, and Karen
Longeteig
Members Absent: Donna Rossi, Larry Belvin (at concurrent Core Group
,.eeting) , Maryann McCall-Taylor, Gary Fallick, Lee Sinai
Tom Harden has volunteered to replace Suzanne Caton as chairperson. He
called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Karen Longeteig volunteered to take
minutes.
Old Business: John Andrews asked about the Vision Statement and whether it
was finished yet. Tom Harden said that it wasn't finished, but doesn't have
to be right now. We will work on the goals first.
Fred Merrill (from town Planning Board) said we are doing a good job, and
brought a message of thanks and appreciation from the Steering Committee.
Marianne Lazarus asked Fred for suggestions about Outreach activities. Fred
said he didn't have the answer to that yet, but the steering committee will
talk about it tomorrow. He believes that a massive outreach effort will not
be required.
Karl Kastorf said that one of the innovative parts of this process is the use
of the Web by the town, but, frustratingly, it just doesn't work very well -
it is perhaps a poorly managed service.
Mike Hanauer handed out some material on sustainability from the city of
Santa Monica, particularly to Fred Merrill, and noted that the City of
Cambridge uses parts of it.
Marianne asked Fred how our work fit in with the Planning Board's work. Fred
said that our work is on broader policy issues, whereas the planning board is
ooking at specific sites. Eventually the Planning Board may use our goals
as guidelines. The Commonwealth mandates every town to have a Comprehensive
Plan; most do not, but Lexington is trying to develop one. Marianne
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commented further that the article in this week's Minuteman makes it look as
if the Planning Board is doing the same job we are doing. Fred replied that
it is co-incidental that the Town got money last year to do a study on 30
-)arcels of open land, at about the same time 20/20 started. But that again,
the Planning Board does specifics, and that the 20/20 study will be finished
long before the Planning Board's.
Minutes: Tiffany was asked to re-send minutes of the 3/16 meeting, as some
didn't have them. As it was obvious also that some hadn't read them, it was
moved, seconded, and approved to put off discussion of them until next week.
Upcoming Meetings: A Core Participants meeting is scheduled for Thursday,
April 6, from 7 to 9:30 to deal with public participation issue. Ed Vail
will attend it representing our group. Our next meetings are Thursday, APRIL
6th and Tuesday, APRIL 18th. Karen Longeteig noted that she has a conflict
for April 6th so will not be able to present these minutes personally, but
will e-mail them around.
Public Outreach: Tom Harden recommends that we put this on hold until our
goals are finished. He noted that the Steering Committee is calling for a
10-page document, preceded by narrative.
Goals: Karl Kastorf put the goals in a matrix in the order he received them
from Working Group members. After some discussion of a way to prioritize
them, we found that the 31 or so goals could fall into a smaller number of
broader categories.
Discussion began with Goal 1, which was found to be similar in subject to
goals 11, 12, 15, and 28-DR. More discussion was held on the definition of
"Open Space", whether it was open in a natural state, or open but landscaped,
or whether privately or publicly owned. Marilyn Nordby noted that the USE of
pen areas owned by the town could change, so its preservation is worth
including as a goal. Karl said that as editing by committee is not usually
effective, he will attempt to meld these goals on similar topics.
Goals dealing with traffic were found to be, more or less, 2, 4, 9, 10, 18,
20, 23, 27, 29-LB, and 32. It was noted that the 20/20 Subcommittee on
traffic is more focused on how to provide transportation and public
transportation, whereas we are looking at noise pollution, air pollution, and
access. John Andrews pointed out that the town has not discussed the effects
of traffic on social aspects of the community. Up to now there has been no
measurable way of judging the traffic problem, which is why it is proposed as
a quantifiable measure in goal 2. Mike said that there should be measures of
PEDESTIRAN access and safety, not just of smoothly flowing intersections.
Goal 3 was similar to 8, 9, 11, 16, 19, and 25, on the character and history
of the town. When support was expressed for "preservation", debate ensued on
what that meant: NO change? Others felt that some change might be good,
especially regarding density of housing which leaves land free for open
space. Karl suggested that as these definitions were difficult to arrive
at, we should identify they characteristics of what we want to preserve in
the town.
Goal 4, similar to 20, 20, 21, and 27, brought a discussion on
sustainability. Other discussion followed on how to move forward? It was
finally felt that the editor (Karl) would be requested to merge the similar
goals, after which we could vote on or prioritize them in some way. Karl
said it would be HIS goal not to change the meaning of any goal, or "lose any
_language" .
Karen Longeteig, who has had to miss recent meetings, offered a (late) goal
on biodiversity. She promised to send it out by e-mail, but since she is
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doing the minutes anyway, here it is:
Goal #: 31
oal: To increase the biodiversity in the town.
objectives: To improve soil, air, water, and ameliorate insect problems.
Actions: Employ a biodiversity/environmental coordinator and educator.
Measures: Take a biodiversity survey, beginning with public-owned parks and
school grounds.
Resources Needed: Town funds for salary and program goals.
Meeting adjourned at 9:15.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Longeteig
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