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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-03-14-LCC-min Town of Lexington Lexington Center Commi?ee Minutes for the mee?ng of March 14, 2024 beginning at 8:45 am held in the Parker Room, basement level of the Town Offices Building, Massachuse?s Avenue, Lexington, Massachuse?s. Members Present: Eric Ballard, Upasna Chhabra, Katherine Huang, Frederic Johnson, Pamela Lyons, Innessa Manning, Jerold Michelson (Chair) and Pamela Shadley Liaisons: Doug Lucente, Select Board, Charles Horning, Planning Board, Sandra Shaw, Council on Aging, Sandhya Iyer, Economic Development Director, Dave Pinsonneault, DPW, Lorraine Welch, Economic Development Coordinator, Sgt. Tim Colatos?, LPD Guests: Huma Wasim and Danit Netzer We began with the DPW update with Dave Pinsonneault: spring cleanup from Hancock to Woburn Street is star?ng sooner this year – not much snow – in an?cipa?on of Patriots Day. The ability to hang large banners across Mass Ave is gone because the new Streetscape poles do not align. Addi?onal sand is coming in to fill in some spots between the bricks. An info kiosk is coming to the rear end of Grain Mill Alley. DPW is looking into the budget to see if there are sufficient funds to start weekend trash pickup sooner. There’s about two months work le? for the Ba?le Green Streetscape – work to begin right a?er Patriots Day. DPW will be looking into ligh?ng levels and adjus?ng them as appropriate. The area at the th base of the Belfrey will be redone to make it more accessible. The 250 monument will be placed there. There are four different proposals (semifinalists) in play. th June 20 is the official move in date for the Police Sta?on. EDD update with Sandhya Iyer: Zen (?a Karma) is coming into the Dabin space. Ta?e has the victuallers license and will be in the Bertucci’s space in August. Revival (old Starbucks space) is looking at a June opening. Avenue Deli might go into the Signature Sta?oners space or perhaps a kitchenware store. A candy store will go into the Fancy Flea space. Jerry Michelson is recommending to the Select Board that the Rev bus stop be moved to the long side of Brookline bank facing Emery Park. We had looked at the spot in front of Lexington Liquors but there is a HP space there now (which we were unaware of at our last mee?ng.) But there are a number of elements factoring into placement of an HP space – so the Brookline Bank loca?on makes more sense. Brookline Bank was agreeable to having the Rev Stop (limited to 7-9 am on weekdays only) move to that loca?on. Charles Hornig took us through Ar?cles 49 (usage table) and 47 (signage): The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to advise the Select Board of our support of Ar?cle 49. As far as Ar?cle 47 is concerned, the HDC will review their guidelines to make them consistent with Ar?cle 47 and remove content restraints. HDC’s guidelines will s?ll be more restric?ve. The Center Commi?ee voted 7 in favor, 0 against, with 1 absten?on, to advise the Select Board of our support of Ar?cle 47. Innessa Manning will dra? a statement for Town Mee?ng. Doug Lucente discussed Ar?cle 39, a home rule pe??on to increase the number of wine and malt alcohol licenses. Right now we have seven and we are seeking five more. We have some available full alcohol licenses. The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to advise the Select Board of our support of Ar?cle 39. The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to advise the Select Board of our support of Ar?cle 12j. There was some discussion of Ar?cle 31 (ci?zens pe??on that seeks to prohibit sale of water in single serve plas?c bo?les.) Eric Ballard (a chemist!) discussed the complexity of the manufacture of plas?c bo?les and their components. The consensus view was that we supported the inten?on of the ar?cle but that more work is needed to achieve the desired result. The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to advise the Select Board that we do not support Ar?cle 31 as wri?en. The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to advise the Select Board of our support of Ar?cle 41 (calling for improvement to our MBTA service in light of Lexington’s support for Ar?cle 34 last year.) Jerry Michelson asked us to review the Lexington Center Workshop materials for our April mee?ng. The Center Commi?ee voted 8 to 0 to approve the minutes of our February, 2024 mee?ng.