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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-08-25-HPB-min Meeting Minutes for August 25, 2022 Attendees: Cindy Arens (Sustainable Lexington liaison), Harriet Cohen (Clerk), Jeri Foutter (Chair), Mary Haskell, Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Paul Linton, Wendy Manz, Joe Pato (Select Board liaison) Bob Pressman, Maureen Rynn (LHA liaison), Melanie Thompson, Betsey Weiss, John Zhao (COA) Guests: Margaret Heitz Absent: Sarah Morrison (LexHAB liaison) The Housing Partnership Board (HPB) meeting was chaired by Jeri Foutter and minutes were taken by Harriet Cohen. 1. Call to Order: Housing Partnership Board Meeting Ms. Foutter called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and the roll was called. 2. Affordable Housing Resource Ms. Heitz provided an update on the meeting with Mr. Malloy and Ms. Kowalski re Lexington’s hiring of a housing specialist. The committee met with both Mr. Malloy and Ms. Kowalski and then followed up with Ms. Kowalski. The Town is looking favorably on hiring a housing specialist. Management held a meeting re town staff and a full-time staff person is added to the organization chart. The staffing proposal is subject to Mr. Malloy’s review and subsequent review by the Select Board. Mr. Malloy is proposing that the housing specialist salary be covered by CPA funding for the first one to three years. Town Counsel has agreed that that this is a permissible use of CPA funds. If the housing specialist is added, the plan would be to staff the position after fall Town Meeting. Mr. Hornig expressed his concern about an additional party for housing planning. Ms. Foutter and the committee members will meet with Mr. Hornig to address his concerns. 3. Housing Section of Comprehensive Plan Ms. Weiss sent the HPB comments to the planning board. Ms. McCabe had requested them as soon as possible after the last meeting. Please advise Ms. Weiss of any additional comments. She will update the material sent to Ms. McCabe and the planning board. Mr. Hornig: The Planning Department is collating the many comments that have been received from all sources. That will be folded into a new draft of the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Board will review the completed draft. A new version is targeted for Sept. 4 with review targeted for September 28. 4. Land Acquisition Subcommittee The Land Acquisition subcommittee met. Ms. Weiss sent a draft of the proposal to Ms. Kowalski and Ms. Kowalski sent her comments back. The subcommittee is working to address the comments. 5. HPB Charge & Membership Mr. Pressman and Ms. Cohen have applied for another term. Ms. Haskell is not re-applying. Ms. Foutter recognized Ms. Haskell’s service to the committee and thanked her for her work. 6. Board Member Updates Planning Board: has been working diligently on the Comprehensive Plan. The review has been completed. The Planning Board has not yet addressed MBTA Communities Housing as it has been focused on the Comprehensive Plan. In addition to future work on MBTA Communities Housing, the Planning Board also needs to address several permitting matters. There have been several significant changes in the MBTA Communities Housing guidance relative to Lexington. Because Lexington only has bus and not rail or transit service, Lexington only needs to zone about half as much land as originally called for. Some area limits have been tweaked. Even with these changes, Lexington is still required to zone between 50 and 83 acres depending on the zoning density. At least half of the zoned acreage must be in one contiguous area. Each parcel zoned for the MBTA Communities act must be no less than 5 acres. The act does not have a requirement for an affordable housing component. If Lexington adds an affordable housing component to the zoning, there are strict requirements to be met. SPRD: will meet after Labor Day. The committee has not met since before the last HPB meeting. LexHAB: Ms. Morrison was unable to attend tonight’s meeting. Mr. Pressman reported that an effort is underway to draft local legislation to convert LexHAB to a 501(3)(c). LexHAB is working with the Town on the draft. The goal to go to fall Town Meeting with a proposal to convert LexHAB to a 501(3)(c). If Town Meeting approves, the goal to ask the legislature for approval as soon as possible. LexHAB would continue to manage its current housing units. The Town’s sustainability officer has reached out to LexHAB to determine if there are sustainability improvements that could be made to LexHAB units. There is opportunity for funding from MassSave or several different non-profits to fund such improvements. If implemented, these improvements would lower the residents’ utility bills. There have also been communications regarding lowering electric bills by ensuring residents are on the reduced residential rate as well as income-controlled rebates for joining community solar. COA: During the pandemic time, people with disabilities suffered hardships and have had significant challenges. The Commission on Disability has done a survey to understand the impact of those challenges. The goal is to provide feedback to Town on policies or services that might be provided to people with disabilities to mitigate the impact of a crisis such as the pandemic. The survey also intended to obtain input on the challenges faced by seniors. The Select Board appointed Mark Sandeen as the liaison to the COA. Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee: the committee was given an update on LexHAB’s current transition plan. There was discussion about the 28 LexHAB units that are not counted on the SHI. LHA: Countryside Village community, a federal program, is undergoing a full and partial renovation through October. The bathrooms are being renovated with new sinks, toilets, and showers, new flooring. All internal doors are being upgrade with frames. The purpose is to maintain and improve the property as much as possible as funding for new development is, at best, extremely limited. 7. Change subcommittee to working group None of the subcommittees have a quorum of HPB members at their meetings. Ms. Foutter proposed changing the subcommittees to working groups which are not required to post meetings publicly. Each subcommittee has updated the HPB as to the status of the work and that information is publicly available. According to the Open Meeting Law, there cannot be a quorum of the HPB at a working group. This means that there may be a maximum of 4 HPB members at a working group meeting. Also, the working group can’t be tasked to provide a specific objective. An HPB member can be tasked with a specific objective and then ask for assistance from 3 or fewer HPB members and any number of non-HPB members. The HPB member tasked with the objective and the people recruited by the member would form the working group. All information and recommendations of working groups comes back to the HPB for action. Ms. Cohen moved the dissolution of the 3 subcommittees and further moved to assign the responsibilities of those committees to Ms. Weiss, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Heitz. In addition, Ms. Cohen moved that Ms. Cohen be tasked with putting forward a series of memos regarding affordable housing matters. Ms. Weiss seconded the motion which passed unanimously. The named individuals may request assistance from no more than 3 HPB members and from non- members. 8. Annual Town Meeting Report Ms. Foutter had sent a draft of the Annual Town Meeting report. The report has a 350 word limit. Ms. Weiss moved approval of the report. Ms. Cohen seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. Ms. Foutter will submit the HPB report to the Town. 9. OSRD Update The Planning Board had a hearing. Feedback on the OSRD was provided by a variety of sources. This feedback is being incorporated into the OSRD for review on September 7. 10. New Business Mr. Linton said that some Zoom meeting requests may be delayed due to his being inaccessible while on vacation. 11. Approve July and Aug. 4 minutes Ms. Weiss moved approval of the minutes for July 14 and August 4. Ms. Cohen seconded them motion. The motion was approved unanimously. 12. Set Next Meeting The next meeting will be September. 22 at 7:00 by Zoom. 13. Adjournment Ms. Weiss moved adjournment; Ms. Cohen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:52 pm.