HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-22-AHTBT-min
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Affordable Housing Trust
Meeting Minutes of February 22, 2024 10:00 am
Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in the Parker room, Town
Office Building
Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; Mark Sandeen, Tiffany
Payne, Linda Prosnitz, William Erickson (joined at 10:50am)
Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Liz Rust, RHSO
Director; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant
Other attendees: Margaret Heitz, Bob Pressman, Lin Jensen, Tina McBride, Mark Lang
Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 10:07 am.
1. Approve Meeting Minutes
Ms. Tung requested a motion to approve the minutes of 12/20/23 AHT meeting. Ms. Payne
moved. Mr. Sandeen seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 4-0-0, by a roll call
vote (Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Tung – yes). Meeting minutes approved.
2. Lowell Street and North Street
Ms. Tung reviewed and recited the concerns and public comments received by the Affordable
Housing Trust through emails and at the Feb. 15 information session on Article 33.
Ms. McBride asked about the comment that the Lowell St development is exclusionary. She
wanted to know what the comment was based on. Mr. Sandeen responded that the Trust
cannot speak for someone else or what their motivations were, but that they were only
acknowledging that the comment was made. The Trustees felt an affordable housing
development builds vibrant community, is more inclusionary, and it aligns with the Town
priorities and goals set forth in the Lexington Next plan.
Ms. Jensen felt that affordable housing should be built near the Town center, by the MBTA bus
routes and in locations with better transit options as is done. She asked about the process once
Town Meeting approves the article. She felt Select Board should have more authority to review
the further progression of this project. Ms. Tung responded that the Trust is constantly looking
at other sites in Town in addition to Lowell St. The need for housing is very high, and parcel 68 -
44 is the only town owned land presently available where development is feasible. There are no
other sites currently available, and the parcel is a gift from the state with one of the identified
uses being for housing.
Ms. Heitz commented that the Article 33 delegated more authority to the Select Board and the
article was not giving up authority to the Select Board.
Mr. Lang asked the Trust why the three Town owned sites in Lexington center where the
housing feasibility study was conducted are not available for affordable housing development.
Ms. Kowalski explained the easement and environmental restrictions, physical and financial
constraints that operate on the three sites. Ms. Tung responded that parcel 68 -44 doesn’t have
any competing priorities, a large amount of due diligence was done on the site, and that the
Trust was looking for affordable housing opportunities everywhere in Town. Mr. Lang
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questioned if any evaluation was done to determine if the project was viable for a development
of less than 50 units. Ms. Tung answered that the Trust is not locked into any commitment and
the number of units required for financial viability was not determined. The RFPs, if any, from
the developers will be reviewed and the Select Board will determine if any recommended
proposals by the RFP review working group are acceptable to the Town.
Mr. Pressman commented that the due diligence efforts have established that housing
development is possible on Parcel 68-44.
The Trustees agree to Ms. Tung responding and addressing the concerns discussed and also in
the event any new concerns are raised.
The Trustees agreed to revise the Article 33 motion to state ‘all affordable’ to clarify the
concerns raised on whether the development on parcel 68-44 will be all-affordable or not. Ms.
Tung agreed to meet with the Select Board members to review this further and for their inputs.
3. New Business
Ms. Payne updated that the Lexington Housing Authority voted in support of Article 33 at their
last Board meeting. The letter of support will be posted on the town website soon.
4. Confirm future meeting dates
The next informational session for Precinct 5 and 6 Town Meeting Members and Lowell
Street/North Street neighbors will be on Feb. 27 at 7pm by zoom.
5. Adjourn
Mr. Sandeen moved to adjourn, which was seconded by M s. Payne, and on a roll call vote:
(Erickson – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Sandeen – yes, Tung – yes, Payne – yes), the meeting adjourned
at 11:03am.
List of documents reviewed:
Article 33 – Motion