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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-08-LCC-minTown of Lexington Lexington Center Committee Minutes for the meeting of June 8th, 2023 held in Estabrook Hall, basement floor of the Cary Hall Building, Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts. Center Committee members present: Eric Ballard, Upasna Chhabra, Katherine Huang, Frederic Johnson, Pamela Lyons, Jerold Michelson (chair), Pamela Shadley Liaisons: Doug Lucente, Select Board, Sandra Shaw, Council on Aging, John Livsey and Ross Morrow, DPW Engineering, Charles Hornig Planning Board Guests: Sharon Spaulding, 1666 Mass Ave, Michelle Kelleher and Melissa Interess, Human Services We began with the DPW update from John Livsey: DPW and I.W. Harding are working on the punch list from the Streetscape Project. Tree grates are being repositioned, a dead tree is being replaced, there are brick repairs here and there and the new brick sidewalks are in. The bus shelter pad at Depot Square is going in soon and there is a 30 week lead time for the shelter. The MBTA wants to install a Charlie Card kiosk near the Crafty Yankee bus stop (there was some murmuring that this is not a great location.) There will be some repaving where there was a bad batch of concrete last year. Fred asked about demolishing the old kiosk in the Depot L ot. The kiosk will come down when the Police Station is completed which will provide Jimmy Cataldo an office in the Center. National Grid is doing some work around the Battle Green. There were some detailed comments about the logistics of the Battle Green Streetscape Plan. Ross Morrow gave a presentation on the “Conte Bike” bus stop options. Sharon Spaulding gave her view on why keeping the stop away from (and retaining the parking spaces in front of ) 1666 Mass Ave is beneficial to the businesses in the building. Pamela Lyons explained why the current stop is not accessible, is difficult for the MBTA drivers in terms of pulling in and seeing waiting riders. One or more committee members suggested moving the stop further east on Mass Ave and DPW agreed to take a look at other options consistent with this suggestion. Doug Lucente discussed the options for a bike share program to be paid for with state funding. Blue Bikes is very expensive. Revival Café (breakfast and lunch) is coming into the old Starbucks space; Karma is coming to the old Dabin space. Michelle Kelleher and Melissa Interess from Human Services gave an overview of the Free Senior Parking Pilot in Lexington Center. The survey showed a positive response from seniors to having free parking and presented the results of a self-reporting survey. Fred Johnson and Pamela Lyons discussed their memo (attached.) Pamela Shadley moved that the committee recommend to the Select Board that the pilot continue for one more year, loopholes be closed, a small fee be imposed (waived for financial hardship and consistent with other Lexington programs such as Lexpress), limit stickers to one sticker per senior driver, and no stickers issued to non-seniors; and for a survey and data to be collected collaboratively by Human Services and the Center Committee; locations for use (everywhere) and age (65) to remain the same. The motion was seconded and passed by a vote of six to zero. Human Services is scheduled to go to the Select Board on June 21st with their request to continue the Senior Parking Program for 2 more years or perhaps to make it permanent. The Select Board commissioned a study by LDA Architects for affordable housing at 173 Bedford Street; the Depot Lot (and maybe one other location?) Obviously parking will have to be grappled with. We ran out of time and so we did not get into other agenda items such as the Planning Board work plan, update on EDAC/Center Committee summit on Center, approving minutes and additional liaison updates.