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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-21-AHTBT-min Page 1 of 3 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of June 21, 2023 10:15 am Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in the Parker room, Town Office Building Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present for the Public Meeting: Elaine Tung, Chair; Mark Sandeen, Linda Prosnitz, William Erickson Tiffany Payne was absent for the meeting. Lexington Staff present for the Public Meeting: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant Other attendees: Elizabeth Rust, RHSO; Bob Pressman, Margaret Heitz Ms. Tung conducted a roll call to ensure all the members of the AHT Board and members of staff present could hear and be heard. Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 10:22 am. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia for future on-demand viewing. 1. Approval of June 8 meeting minutes The AHT Board reviewed the draft minutes of the meeting held on 6/8/23. Ms. Tung shared her edits to the meeting minutes; there were three edits. Ms. Prosnitz moved to approve the meeting minutes of 6/8/23 as amended. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 3-0-0 (Roll call: Erickson – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Tung – yes). Motion passed. 2. Chair and Select Board Liaison report Ms. Tung shared updates from the MHP (Massachusetts Housing Partnership) Housing Institute held on June 14th and 15th. Ms. Payne had also attended the event. Ms. Tung will be providing a short report on the things she learnt during the seminar. She felt Ms. Payne might be able to share her updates too at the next meeting. Ms. Tung also mentioned that she and Ms. Prosnitz participated in the Lexington Mini Housing summit with the different Boards and committees from the Town as well as staff members. Ms. Rust suggested the Trustees sign up to the MHP’s community notification list to receive updates about their upcoming events and conferences. Page 2 of 3 Ms. Tung shared that there will be Fall Affordable Housing Trust training sessions in September and November conducted by the MHP. She urged members to consider attending the event when the registration opens. 3. Update on emergent opportunities criteria/procedures The draft criteria compiled by Ms. Kowalski and Ms. Prosnitz were reviewed by the Trustees. Ms. Kowalski stated that Ms. Rust had assisted with drafting the framework. Ms. Kowalski provided an overview and explained how the criteria were put together. They were numbered in the order of priority of information; the information critical for the Trust to decide on the application. Some of the information were immediately necessary for the Trust to review, for eg. funding source, ownership or rental, total number of units. Other informat ion could be furnished later, for eg. number of bike parking spaces. Ms. Prosnitz stated that the criteria help evaluate the projects as the applicant seeks funding. The response to the questions will be carried into the grant agreement or commitment letter that spells out the terms and conditions for the Trust to convey funds. Ms. Tung asked if there could be a separate criteria list for emergencies, for instance, someone bidding on a property. Mr. Erickson sought clarification on how decisions are made in the event there is an emergency, observing that there were just two types of emergencies, a property was available to buy, or a catastrophe occurred on an existing affordable property and funds were needed to fix it. Ms. Kowalski and Mr. Sandeen explained the open meeting law exemption process that allows the Board to go into an executive session. Ms. Tung asked whether the open meeting law exemption and the ability to meet in an executive session can be added to the criteria list. In general, an executive session is held with a two-day notice period. Ms. Kowalski agreed to check with the Town Counsel if there is a way to shorten the time for the executive session. She also agreed to follow up and update on whether the open meeting law exemption could be added to the list of criteria. The Trust discussed, and agreed that ‘Eligibility to be included on the SHI’ should be included as a criterion. Based on the discussion, Ms. Kowalski agreed to edit the first set, point 1 – 7 as pre- commitment guidelines and then point 8 to be the post-closing or phase 2 commitments, the exact sub-heading to be determined. Ms. Kowalski agreed to include ‘commitment to all sustainability requirements of the Town’ to the criterion. Ms. Kowalski agreed to collect information about the integrated building policy and the Town’s sustainability requirements and share it with the Trust so the Trust can consider if all of them apply or only a subset, and decide based on that. Page 3 of 3 Ms. Rust, Ms. Prosnitz and Ms. Kowalski agreed to review further in detail whether the Trust will fund property acquisition or would it be only new developments . The members discussed the expiring use units, those units on SHI without a deed restriction. Ms. Rust felt that such units would qualify to be on the emergency criterion. Ms. Heitz mentioned that she is in favor of the Town endorsing real estate transfer fees. She would like to reserve some time to discuss this further. Ms. Tung stated that topic was already planned to be discussed in an upcoming July meeting. 4. Draft Goals, Objectives and Strategies The Trustees reviewed the comments on the Values statement. Ms. Prosnitz walked through her notes and explained her edits to the Values. Ms. Prosnitz felt that the Housing Trust is not intended to be an advocacy group. Mr. Sandeen felt it important to build support in the community for affordable housing. Mr. Erickson explained his inputs and feedback to the Values statement. Ms. Tung agreed to summarize the Values statement based on the feedback received and share it with Ms. Kowalski. Ms. Kowalski will share it with everyone. 5. Three-month Action Plan Ms. Tung indicated that her three-month action plan would be to have everything in place to apply in the Fall for the CPC funds. Ms. Tung relayed that she spoke with Sherry Goehring of MHP who commented that it could be risky for a Trust to proceed without a housing needs assessment. But this will be reviewed at a future meeting. 6. New business Mr. Erickson stated that he would like to see the Lexington Housing Authority’s housing inventory so that he can analyze their zoning and permitting, and provide inputs on the opportunities with those units. Mr. Erickson will reach out to Lexington Housing Authority to drive this further. 7. Confirm next meeting dates The Trustees decided to have their next meeting on Ju ly 13th at 9:30 am. 8. Adjourn Ms. Prosnitz made a motion to adjourn the meeting of June 21, 2023. Mr. Erickson seconded, and the Trust voted in favor of the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 12:02 pm. List of documents reviewed 1. Draft criteria for Responding to timely opportunities 2. Comments on Values statement