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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-07-18-HPB-min Lexington Housing Partnership Board (HPB) Meeting Minutes for July 18, 2024 Attendees: Nanette Byrnes, Harriet Cohen (Clerk), Margaret Heitz, Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Wendy Manz (Chair), Bob Pressman, Betsey Weiss (Vice Chair), John Zhao (COA). Absent: Cindy Arens (Sustainable Lexington liaison), Jill Hai (Select Board liaison), Samita Mandelia, Sarah Morrison (LexHAB), Melanie Thompson, Guests: Barbara Katzenberg, Jay Luker, Tom Shiple The Housing Partnership Board (HPB) meeting was chaired by Wendy Manz and minutes were taken by Harriet Cohen. The meeting was held remotely via Zoom teleconference. 1. Call to Order: Housing Partnership Board Meeting Ms. Manz called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm. The roll was called. 2. Update on the Affordable Housing Trust Mr. Pressman updated the HPB on the progress regarding the Lowell St. development. On July 23, with a rain date of July 24, a site walk of the property will be held for interested developers. A pre-bid conference will be held later that day. The Town is accepting questions from prospective developers until July 29. The Town will respond by August 2. The deadline for submitting proposals in response to the Request for Proposal (RFP) is August 22. The Town’s goal is to make the award by the Select Board during the week of Oct. 14, so that the developer could apply for credits in this calendar year. It is not known who will evaluate the responses to the RFP. No action is needed by the HPB at this time. 3. Update on MBTA Multifamily proposals. Mr. Hornig reported the Planning Board has received four MBTA multifamily proposals. He provided the following updates. 5 Piper Road: an initial hearing has been held. The Planning Board needs to respond to a number of issues regarding site engineering, particularly regarding the ledge on the site. The developers asked for additional time to respond. The next hearing will be held on August 14. Discussions are in progress regarding a sewer line for the property. 89 Bedford St: There have been two public hearing sessions. The Planning Board and the applicant are close to agreement on an approvable plan with reasonable conditions for 89 Bedford St. Mr. Hornig showed the architectural plans for the lot. The project will have inclusionary housing at 15%. The new building contains 30 units, most of which are 2- or 3- bedroom units. The bulk of the parking is underground. The Town engineers and the project engineers agree that this project will not cause any additional ground water to go to the Lois Lane neighborhood and, as such, there is no water impact to that neighborhood. The PB made suggestions, not requirements. as to possible improvements to the project. The applicants said they will consider the suggestions and respond to them at the next hearing. 231 Bedford St: Mr. Hornig showed the filing for the 231 Bedford Street. There are zoning issues that the applicant must address, including that the retaining walls for the driveway and parking garage are too close to the lot line. As such, a public hearing has not been scheduled. The applicant will be responding to the requirements. The applicant may respond with a different approach to development at the site. 331 Concord Avenue: This is the third development proposal for this site in the last 20 years. This is the largest proposal so far. It is 200 units, of which 15% are inclusionary. Parking is underneath on several levels, given the slope on the site. There is some retail on the ground floor. The first public hearing will be on July 31. Ms. Manz recommended that anyone who is available for this public hearing or the other public hearings attend if they are available. Separately, the Merriam Street project was approved by the Planning Board and has not been appealed. Site work has started. The demolition delay expires shortly. It is likely the developer will demolish the carriage house once the delay expires. Construction is expected to take at least eighteen months and perhaps two years. Mr. Hornig also noted that on July 31, a hearing will be held on a proposal for a conventional subdivision at 85 Pleasant Street. Mr. Luker asked whether the Planning Board has any insight as to whether financing is secure for these projects, given the current level of interest rates and construction costs. Mr. Luker also asked whether the market conditions would make it more likely that conventional subdivisions would be proposed rather than SPRD or MBTA projects. Mr. Hornig, having had a conversation with someone in the Assessor’s office, said that it certainly seems to work for people to build $3.5M houses on lots like the 85 Pleasant Street project. The four MBTA projects are very different in their style and will have significantly different expenses. Applicants are still proposing these projects, so presumably they think they are feasible, even with the 15% affordability requirement. The Planning Board has no visibility into the financing of the projects. 4. Report on status of RETF legislation in the state legislature The RETF will not be passed this legislative session. The Local Option for Housing Affordability (LOHA) has suggested that, for future sessions, a coalition of towns work together. Ms. Heitz suggested contacting Concord to discuss lobbying for an RETF bill in the next session. An RETF bill would have to be submitted by the end of January. It’s Ms. Heitz’s understanding that the LOHA coalition will meet in September and work from that point. Ms. Heitz suggested approaching Representatives Michelle Ciccolo and Ken Gordon sooner rather than later regarding a new bill for the RETF. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board had a campaign to get citizens to write their representatives opposing the RETF. The campaign was very successful. As such, the sooner they know about support of the RETF, the better. Given that the RETF has been proposed in multiple legislative sessions and has not passed, perhaps we should consider other ways to raise revenue for affordable housing. An amendment was proposed adding the RETF back to the housing bill. Ms. Heitz gathered signatures of Lexingtonians in support of the RETF and provided them to Representative Ciccolo, who signed on to the amendment. Some of the less wealthy communities thought that the RETF offered no advantage to them or that the RETF might be disadvantageous to them. Ms. Heitz suggested that the HPB consider whether there is a better way to approach funding for affordable housing, given the failure of the HPB bills to be enacted over multiple legislative sessions. Ms. Manz said she will add the topic to the agenda for the HPB September meeting. Ms. Manz suggested inviting Representatives Gordon and Ciccolo to an HPB meeting to have a discussion with them about funding for affordable housing and to explain their reluctance to co- sponsor bills. Mr. Hornig suggested that the members of the HPB follow the Housing Bond Bill, as it has many relevant items regarding affordable housing. Both of the Lexington surcharge home rule petitions made it out of 3rd reading. That is a good sign, but it’s not clear that they will be passed this session. Ms. Byrnes noted that there was an argument against the RETF that Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding could be made available for affordable housing, but insufficient dollars were spent on affordable housing. Mr. Pressman noted that, while we had asked the Select Board to seek CPA funding for multiple projects, they had declined to do so. 5. Liaison reports There were no liaison reports other than as provided by the Planning Board, above. 6. Review minutes for March 7, 21, April 3, May 9, and June 13, 2024, HPB meetings Ms. Weiss moved approval of the five sets of minutes. Ms. Byrnes seconded the motion. Ms. Manz called the roll and the motion passed. In favor: Ms. Byrnes, Ms. Cohen, Mr. Hornig, Ms. Manz, Mr. Pressman, Ms. Weiss Against: none Abstain: Ms. Heitz, Mr. Zhao 7. New Business The HPB annual report is due in mid-September. Ms. Manz will review the past year meeting minutes and draft an annual report. The HPB will review the report at its August meeting, in preparation for the September meeting. Ms. Manz apologized that the meeting agenda had not been sent to the HPB members. There was a temporary change in process for the meeting agenda. The agenda will be sent to the HPB prior to future HPB meetings. 8. Next Meeting Date The next meeting will be on August 15 at 7:00 pm on Zoom. 9. Adjournment Ms. Heitz moved adjournment; Ms. Cohen seconded the motion. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the HPB voted by roll call of 8-0-0 to approve the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:13 pm.