HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-23-AHTBT-min
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Affordable Housing Trust
Meeting Minutes of October 23, 2024 11:00 am
Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in Parker room, Town Office
Building
Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; William Erickson, Tiffany
Payne, Mark Sandeen, Linda Prosnitz (joined at 11:10 am)
Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Ragi Ramachandran,
Administrative Assistant
Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 11:03 am.
1. Approve Meeting Minutes
Ms. Tung requested a motion to approve the minutes of 9/12/24, 9/16/24 and 9/23/24 meetings.
Mr. Sandeen moved. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 4-0-0, by
a roll call vote (Erickson – yes, Tung – yes, Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes). Meeting minutes
approved.
2. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report
Ms. Payne provided an update on CHAPA Annual Regional Housing Meeting. It was attended by
housing advocates, providers, and stakeholders from across the state and there was discussion
on challenges and effective policies within the affordable housing sector. Ms. Payne reported
that it was insightful to learn about both the successes and ongoing gaps that communities across
the Commonwealth were facing. She agreed to share the link to the meeting recording when it
is available on CHAPA website.
Ms. Tung reported that Select Board voted at their meeting on Oct. 21 for Affordable Housing
Trust to begin negotiations with Causeway Development for Parcel 68 -44. The Affordable
Housing Trust is scheduled to appear before the Select Board on Nov. 18 to review the Land
Disposition Agreement.
Ms. Tung mentioned that Select Board is not joining in with the Trust on FY26 CPC application.
Ms. Prosnitz shared Housing Partnership Board’s liaison report. At their last meeting, the Housing
Partnership Board (HPB) discussed their goals, and local preference for inclusionary units. The
Trustees felt the Trust should have an opportunity to weigh in on local preference for projects as
they come in. Ms. Prosnitz will coordinate with HPB for the letter of support for CPC application.
Mr. Erickson reported that LexHAB had a good fundraiser on Oct. 18. Mr. Erickson will coordinate
with LexHAB for their letter of support for the CPC application.
Ms. Payne shared that Lexington Housing Authority had discussed budgets and policies, HUD
repositioning, Section 8 program changes and project completion updates in their last meeting.
The Trustees agreed to Ms. Tung making a statement at the Planning Board meeting on behalf of
Affordable Housing Trust, on 3 – 5 Militia Drive development requesting the Planning Board to
consider ‘rounding up’ the inclusionary unit count.
Mr. Sandeen suggested conveying to the Planning Board the Trust’s interest in engaging in
buydown discussions with the developer as any development opportunity come up.
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Ms. Tung and Ms. Prosnitz will be meeting with Cabot, Cabot and Forbes – Concord Ave
developers on Oct. 24, for buydown discussions.
3. FY26 CPC Application
The Trustees reviewed and had a detailed discussion on draft FY26 CPC application, and
continuation sheet. They proposed changes to the documents.
Mr. Sandeen moved that the Affordable Housing Trust submit the application to the
Community Preservation Committee for $3M, consistent with the changes discussed in the
meeting. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 5 -0-0, by a roll call
vote (Erickson – yes, Tung – yes, Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes, Prosnitz – yes).
Mr. Erickson and Ms. Prosnitz will incorporate the changes discussed in the meeting. Ms. Prosnitz
will sign the CPC application as vice chair if Ms. Tung is unavailable to sign. Mr. Erickson will share
the final CPC application with Ms. Kowalski. The application will be submitted to CPC by Nov. 1st.
Ms. Tung will prepare the slides for presentation to CPC, and Trust will review the slides at the
next meeting on Nov. 7.
4. Lowell Street Parcel 68-44
Dave Traggorth and Dan Hubbard from Causeway Development attended the meeting. The
Trustees and Ms. Kowalski congratulated Causeway on their selection to be the lead developers
to develop affordable housing on Parcel 68-44.
Mr. Traggorth and Mr. Hubbard provided a walkthrough of their next steps in the process. The
next steps are to finalize the LDA, and to submit the pre-application approximately by the end of
November. They shared that without the project being permitted, they may not be considered
for funding in the Nov. round but submitting a pre-app will enable initial discussions with EOHLC,
to be considered for funding in the next round. They mentioned conducting the traffic study,
Phase 1 due diligence, holding community engagement meetings to gather community input, and
submitting the project eligibility letter.
Ms. Kowalski advised working with Jonas Miller, Director of Communications on c ommunity
engagement meeting notifications, and that meetings be scheduled with ample notice.
5. Adjourn
Ms. Tung requested a motion to adjourn the Affordable Housing Trust meeting. M s. Prosnitz
moved. Ms. Payne seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 3-0-1, by a roll call vote
(Tung – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Payne – yes, Erickson – abstain).
The meeting adjourned at 1:18 pm.
List of documents reviewed:
1. FY26 CPC Application Fillable Form
2. CPC Application Continuation Sheet