HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-23-VISION2025-min
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Town of Lexington
Vision for Lexington Committee Meeting
February 23, 2024
Remote Meeting
7:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Minutes
Members Present: Sara del Nido Budish, Margaret Coppe, Marian Cohen, Andrew Dixon, John Giudice,
Jill Hai, Dan Joyner, Bhumip Khasnabish, Carol Marine, Bob Peters
Absent: Kathleen Lenihan, Shannon Murtaugh, Ambilu Sivabalan, Min Zou
The meeting was called to order: 7:49 am
The Remote Meeting Script was read by Margaret Coppe
Roll Call Vote: Budish, Aye; Coppe, Aye; Cohen, Aye; Dixon, Aye; Giudice, Aye; Hai, Aye; Joyner, Aye;
Khasnabish, Aye; Marine, Aye; Peters, Aye
Minutes:
• The approval of minutes from January 26, 2024, with minor edit, was moved by Bob Peters and
seconded by Jill Hai.
Roll Call Vote: Budish, Aye; Coppe, Aye; Cohen, Aye; Dixon, Aye; Giudice, Aye; Hai, Aye; Joyner,
Aye; Khasnabish, Aye; Marine, Aye; Peters, Aye
The vote was unanimous.
Meeting Highlights:
VFL Website Report on Emails
Dan Joyner reported that there have been changes to the Zoom account. He will let the committee
know the updates for future meetings.
Asian Participation on Town Committees
Sara del Nido Budish, Dan Joyner, and Shannon Murtaugh are starting work on next year’s report.
Update on Subcommittee on Voter Participation in Lexington
Marian Cohen reported from the subcommittee. The town has released a YouTube video on voting
(Your Guide to Early Voting: 2024 Annual Town Election & Presidential Primary (youtube.com)
Question about ownership of the YouTube account was raised. Also question about analytics from the
YouYube video. Jonas Miller, Town PIO, will be contacted.
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The subcommittee is putting together voter information by precinct for the past 12 years. Marian Cohen
will be preparing graphs.
Concern about low turnout in municipal elections continues. Among reasons given in the town wide
survey was that the results are forgone.
Concern about how to get information out about candidates without a local newspaper with a large
subscription base. There are numerous forums, but how to get that information out is problematic.
Could the VFL have a role in this? And civic engagement remains an important component.
Discussion on new study, report, or recommendations
What can VFL contribute that the town is not already doing? The challenge is that there is an infinite
demand of housing both in Lexington and regionally. Should Lexington have a role in regional housing?
There are lots of concerns about transportation, state-wide economy, conflicting interests.
For Town plans, Town Meeting has the final word, primarily through zoning. The recent Comprehensive
Plan’s first element is housing.
To build more affordable housing units, developers need to increase density. Is there a role for VFL in
educating citizens on this? Can we consolidate resources to educate people?
Can VFL collaborate with other committees in town already working on housing? The Affordable
Housing Trust, Lex Hab, Lexington Housing Authority.
Studies about how residents view development, in particular 40B developments (exempt from local
zoning requirements for number of units) around increasing school age children, increase traffic,
decreasing property values show that initial fears did not materialize.
Lexington has already changed over the years. What can we add to the conversation? In particular, what
does it mean to change the character of the town?
It was agreed that representatives from local housing organizations should be invited to the next
meeting to continue this discussion.
Next Meeting: March 22, 2024 @ 7:45am by Zoom
Motion to adjourn:
Roll Call Vote:
Roll Call Vote: Budish, Aye; Coppe, Aye; Cohen, Aye; Dixon, Aye; Giudice, Aye; Hai, Aye; Joyner,
Aye; Khasnabish, Aye; Marine, Aye; Peters, Aye
Adjourn: 9:06 am