HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-19-CPC-min1
Minutes of the Community Preservation Committee
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Remote Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 948 2903 5881
4:00 PM
Committee Members Present: Marilyn Fenollosa (Chair); Jeanne Krieger (Vice-Chair), Kevin
Beuttell (arrived at 4:10 PM), Robert Creech, Lisa O’Brien, Robert Pressman, Mark Sandeen,
Melinda Walker.
Administrative Assistant: Thomas Case
Other Attendees: Melissa Battite, Director of Recreation and Community Programs (arrived at
4:24 PM); Sandhya Beebee, Liaison, Capital Expenditures Committee; Michael Boudett (arrived
at 4:23 PM), Capital Expenditures Committee; Caileen Foley, Executive Director, Lexington
Housing Authority; Rodney Cole, Capital Expenditures Committee; Margaret Heitz, Housing
Partnership Board; David Kanter, Vice Chair & Clerk, Capital Expenditures Committee; Carol
Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager
for Finance; Charles Lamb, Chair, Capital Expenditures Committee; Wendy Manz, Chair, Housing
Partnership Board; Sarah Morrison, Executive Director, LexHAB; Linda Prosnitz, Affordable
Housing Trust; Lisah Rhodes, Capital Expenditures Committee; Kathryn Roy, Town Meeting
Member; Elizabeth Rust, Director, Regional Housing Services Office; Elaine Tung, Chair,
Affordable Housing Trust; Betsey Weiss (arrived at 4:08 PM), Vice-Chair, Housing Partnership
Board.
Ms. Fenollosa called the meeting to order at 4:04 PM.
Community Housing Funding Discussion- The Committee discussed Community Housing
funding with the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC), the Affordable Housing Trust (AHT),
the Lexington Housing Partnership Board (HPB), the Lexington Housing Assistance Board
(LexHAB), and the Lexington Housing Authority (LHA).
Ms. Tung gave a presentation on the AHT that addressed what an affordable housing trust can
do; why, how, and when the AHT was created; the AHT’s relationship with LexHAB, LHA, and
other developers; the AHT’s accomplishments to date; and the AHT’s FY25 CPA goals (see
Affordable Housing Trust CPC Presentation dated 10-19-2023 for more information). The
presentation noted that Community Housing has received the least amount of funding
compared to the other CPA buckets and advocated for making-up the difference over the
coming years. She anticipated that funding requests to the AHT for the period FY25 through
FY29 could total $40.37 million. Ms. Fenollosa commented that despite Community Housing
receiving the least amount of funding, the CPC has almost never turned down a Community
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Housing request and that it is the responsibility of the housing community to present the CPC
with funding opportunities. Ms. Fenollosa requested that Ms. Tung send a copy of the AHT’s
funding guidelines and asked if the AHT would be the project manager for their larger
construction projects. Ms. Tung said that she could send the guidelines and that the AHT would
only be a funding entity and would not be a project manager. Mr. Pressman commented that
CPA funds will not be able to cover all of the AHT’s projected funding needs for the coming
fiscal years, but hopes that a real estate transfer fee and Governor Healey’s new housing bond
bill will provide other sources for funding. Mr. Creech asked about the AHT’s process for
development of the Lowell St / Parcel 68-44 project. Ms. Prosnitz explained that the AHT would
seek a request for proposals (RFP) and could make an award based on the selected developer’s
final package. The funding could cover pre-development and construction, and there would be
strict restrictions around the affordability element. Mr. Creech asked about the difference in
process between this project and a previous proposal where developers had not requested
town funding and proposed making 25% of their units affordable housing. Ms. Kowalski
explained that any action to turn town land into affordable housing would go through Town
Meeting and a warrant article would ask to give the Select Board authorization to enter into a
land disposition agreement and to issue an RFP with the AHT meeting certain criteria, in this
case 100% affordable housing project. Ms. Kowalski shared that there are many subsidy
opportunities for 100% affordable projects in addition to the AHT. The project could also
receive a deed restriction to restrict the parcel to affordable housing in perpetuity. Ms. O’Brien
asked Ms. Tung about the AHT’s current balance and asked about any overlap with the AHT’s
capabilities and LexHAB’s operations. The balance of the Trust is slightly less than $2 million and
the AHT is strictly a funding entity. Ms. Walker thanked Ms. Tung for the presentation on the
AHT, then stated that the purpose of this meeting was for the CPC to develop a policy regarding
pre-funding and the ability for non-AHT housing entities to apply for funding and expressed a
desire to refocus the meeting on that topic. Mr. Kanter asked about the cause of the Town’s
affordable housing losses in the past decade. Ms. Rust answered that the Subsidized Housing
Inventory includes confidential units from the Department of Social Services and Department of
Mental Health that have decreased over recent years.
Ms. Morrison explained LexHAB’s plan to continue seeking funding from the CPC for the
preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of affordable housing properties and to seek
funding from the AHT for property acquisitions. LexHAB does not plan on requesting pre-
funding from the CPC. LexHAB also supports the AHT receiving as much pre-funding as possible
to help address the ongoing affordable housing crisis. Ms. Morrison also shared that LexHAB
plans to requests about $470,000 in CPA funding for FY25. Mr. Pressman commented that the
CPC has never declined to consider a request eligible for CPA funding, and that while LexHAB
can choose not to seek pre-funding, they and the LHA should remain eligible for pre-funding
should they ever apply. Ms. Morrison commented that LexHAB’s previous pre-funding requests
were for unidentified property acquisitions as opposed to identified property and that she
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understands the AHT pre-funding requests to also be for unidentified properties. Mr. Pressman
agreed with Ms. Morrison’s purpose of pre-funding.
Ms. Foley expressed the LHA’s support for the AHT and shared the LHA’s intentions of using the
AHT as a resource in the coming years. Ms. Foley also expressed support for the LHA’s ability to
continue applying for funding from the CPC. LHA’s anticipated projects for upcoming years
include rehabilitation, acquisition, and creation.
Ms. Weiss expressed support for allocating more CPA Undesignated and Unbudgeted funds to
affordable housing in addition to Community Housing funds. Ms. Heitz commented that
Governor Healey’s housing bond bill was only just introduced and would likely take a couple of
years to take effect and expressed support for a CPC policy to help inform the various parties on
how best to acquire funding.
Mr. Lamb, Mr. Cole, Ms. Beebee, and Ms. Rhodes expressed appreciation on behalf of the CEC
for the AHT’s development of a 5-year plan. Mr. Boudett expressed concern for targeting 100%
affordable housing projects that require town funding and subsidies when there are plans for
other high-funded town projects and when traditional housing projects typically have a certain
percentage of affordable housing. Ms. Walker and Ms. Prosnitz explained that there are many
subsidies and incentives for 100% affordable housing projects that do not involve town funding
and would comprise the majority of a project’s cost. Ms. Tung added that these incentives for
full affordable housing are not available for mixed housing.
Ms. Fenollosa asked Ms. Kosnoff about the possibility of funding affordable housing projects
with debt when CPA funds are inadequate. Ms. Kosnoff explained that debt financing would
have to be a policy decision but that the Town has tried to avoid debt financing due to high
interest rates and added that debt financing would decrease the available funds for future CPA
projects. Mr. Lamb commented that the CEC is cautious about incurring CPA debt and added
that the AHT as a program cannot be funded with debt. Mr. Sandeen expressed his opposition
to debt financing especially considering current interest rates.
Ms. Fenollosa proposed the following takeaways to be the CPC’s policy on Community Housing
funding: (1) the CPC will welcome all applications from all the various groups for housing
projects; (2) it is the decision of the individual housing groups to request funding from the AHT
and/or the CPC; (3) the CPC may utilize more than just the Community Housing funds for
affordable housing projects, while also acknowledging the CPC’s responsibility to projects in
other categories; and (4) the CPC will prefer cash funding over debt funding for housing
projects. Mr. Sandeen commented his understanding that the CPC’s current policy is to
consider all applications from the community housing partners. Ms. Walker concurred with Mr.
Sandeen but stated there was a concern if CPA funding were only to go to the AHT and the
housing partners were only able to request funds from the AHT.
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Mr. Kanter expressed support for AHT’s pre-funding being used to target and fund new projects
as opposed to funding ongoing projects. Ms. Heitz commented that while the CPC has other
categories of project funding, she hopes that affordable housing applications are strongly
considered due to the extent of the housing crisis. Ms. Beebee asked if the AHT is eligible to
incur debt. Ms. Kowalski replied that borrowing is within the powers of the Trust but that it was
advised not to do so. Ms. Tung added that if the AHT borrowed, they would have to set aside
their current funds as collateral and would be unable to distribute those funds over the length
of the loan. Ms. Beebee asked if the Town could incur debt on behalf of the Trust instead of the
CPC. Ms. Kosnoff explained that the Town could borrow, but they would have to collateralize
the debt with the tax levy, which would be unpreferable.
Ms. Fenollosa and Ms. Krieger expressed thanks to the affordable housing groups on behalf on
the CPC for their time and participation. Mr. Sandeen and Ms. Walker thanked their fellow CPC
members for meeting to discussing affordable housing funding.
Ms. Beebee, Ms. Bettite, Mr. Boudett, Mr. Cole, Ms. Foley, Ms. Heitz, Ms. Kowalski, Mr. Lamb,
Ms. Manz, Ms. Morrison, Ms. Prosnitz, Ms. Rhodes, Ms. Roy, Ms. Rust, Ms. Tung, and Ms. Weiss
left the meeting at 5:40 PM.
Minutes- After a motion duly made and seconded, the Committee voted by a roll call vote to
approve the minutes from the Public Meeting on 2-9-2023 and the Public Meeting on 9-21-
2023 (8-0).
Committee Business- The Committee discussed the upcoming meeting schedule for CPA
request presentations and discussions. The Committee agreed to meet on October 26, 2023 at
4:00 PM via Zoom to discuss a CPA request for a Cary Memorial Library project.
Mr. Sandeen asked if there would be any CPA funding requests for the Munroe Center. Ms.
Kosnoff replied that she nor Public Facilities is aware of any pending requests and do not expect
any for FY25. Ms. Kosnoff also shared that there would be no requests for the Stone Building
and that there may be a CPA request for a land acquisition.
Mr. Pressman asked Ms. Kosnoff if she might be able to provide the Committee with an
updated CPA Fund Balance spreadsheet. Ms. Kosnoff replied that she could provide the fund
balance information for their upcoming October 26th meeting. Ms. Kosnoff also stated that the
Town’s Financing Plan would be completed in a few more weeks and that could adjust the
Town’s final CPA request totals.
Mr. Creech left the meeting at 5:50 PM.
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After a motion duly made and seconded, the Committee voted by a roll call vote (7-0) to
adjourn at 5:52 PM.
The following documents were used at the meeting:
1) Housing Summit Memo 10-19-2023
2) Affordable Housing Trust CPC Presentation dated 10-19-2023
3) Draft Minutes 2-9-23
4) Draft Minutes 9-21-2023
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas Case
Administrative Assistant
Community Preservation Committee
APPROVED 10/26/2023