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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-04-SPRD-min RECEIVED 022 01 Juim, 1239 Ilaiiri TOWN CLERK LEXINGTON MA Special Permit Residential Development (SPRD) Ad-hoc Committee Meeting Minutes of May 4, 2022 Special Permit Residential Development (SPRD) Ad-hoc Committee Members present for the Public Meeting:Jill Hai, Chair; Scott Cooper,Joyce Murphy, Charles Hornig, Richard Perry, Wendy Manz, Betsey Weiss, Heather Hartshorn. Lexington Staff present for the Public Meeting: Kiruthika Ramakrishnan, Administrative Assistant. Other attendees:Tom Shiple, from Citizen Cluster Housing Working Group and David Trietsch. Ms. Hai conducted a roll call to ensure all the members of the SPRD ad-hoc committee and members of staff present could hear and be heard. Ms. Hai chaired the meeting and called the meeting to order at 8:02 am. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia for future on-demand viewing. 1. Next steps for by-law development Ms. Hai updated the committee about the acceptance of the progress report prepared by the committee by the Town Meeting and the adoption of Open Space Residential Development amendment to the zoning bylaw. Ms. Weiss expressed her concern over the Alternative Path proposed by the committee, stating that it might be clearer to have the three existing paths with different types of housing for each one. Ms. Weiss added that Balanced Housing and Public Benefit should both be based on Site Plan Review. Balanced Housing could have a required moderate housing component and Public Benefit could have a higher affordable housing component than is required now. Mr. Perry said he preferred the two path method. Mr. Cooper favored the two paths and felt that affordable housing and moderate housing can be dealt with just the alternative path. 2. Outreach planning Ms. Hai asked for Mr.Trietsch's suggestions on public outreach. Mr.Trietsch said that it would be good for the committee to come up with a list of key questions and find answers to them. Mr.Trietsch also suggested to have first conversations with potential allies to test our proposal and then reach out more generally.The committee made suggestions for outreach groups.The committee also came up with a list of completed SPRD projects, the plans and proposals of which will help in arriving at parameters and alternative solutions to help in drafting the by-law. 3. Further discussion of Open Issues/Questions Ms. Hai shared the document showing the status of the committee's progress detailing the previous discussion points and the votes that were taken. Ms. Hai gave a brief recap of the committee's votes and the decisions made. Ms. Hai asked the committee's opinion on whether the number of units allowed must be greater than that allowed by the conventional subdivision and whether there should be allowances for creation of additional below market rate units beyond the minimum requirement. Mr. Hornig said that by implicitly saying that there is no minimum unit size, it is being said that there are no maximum number of units. Mr. Hornig said that OSRD included a maximum number of units and wanted the criteria to be 'GFA allowed' instead of'number of units'. Ms. Hai asked the committee if they wanted to require a minimum number of units to ensure smaller units than what Lexington usually gets, and also make it by percentage.The committee decided that the question should be either minimum number of units or maximum unit size and the recommendation was at least three times the conventional subdivision. Mr. Cooper said that he is concerned voting on three times the size of conventional subdivision. Mr.Trietsch wanted to get some feedback from other housing advocates before arriving at a decision. It was decided by the committee to leave the questions as working questions to get public input and refine based on the input. 4. Upcoming Meetings The Special Permit Residential Development (SPRD)Ad-hoc Committee briefly discussed upcoming meetings and decided to hold meetings on the last Wednesday of every month and that the next meeting will be on Wednesday May 25th at 8 a.m. Adjourn Ms. Hai moved that the SPRD committee adjourn the meeting of May 4th,2022.The SPRD Committee voted in favor of the motion 8-0-0 Roll Call Vote: MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting was adjourned at 9:37 am.