HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-25-LCC-min Town of Lexington
Lexington Center Committee
Minutes for the meeting of Thursday, April 25th, 2024 in Estabrook Hall, Cary
Memorial Building, Lexington Massachusetts, beginning about 8:30 am.
Members present: Eric Ballard, Richard Brown, Upasna Chhabra Frederic Johnson,
Jeffery Lyon, Pamela Lyons, Innessa Manning, Jerold Michelson (Chair)
Liaisons: Doug Lucente, Select Board, Michael Boudett, Capital Expenditures
Committee, Sandhya Iyer, Economic Development Director, Lorraine Welch,
Economic Development Coordinator
Guests: Kat MacDonald, Ting Fang
Materials: Results of Lexington Center Survey on ideas to improve Center vitality
(see attached document)
Innessa Manning described the survey — a compendium of action items drawn
from the Center Charette and our own ideas — and the results of how the
Committee rated the items in terms of importance within short/medium and long
term goals for the Town.
Fred Johnson gave us a history of the Grain Mill Alley. Fred noted that the kiosk
must be maintained with updated information. Fred strongly recommended that
the kiosk in the GMA bike node be remotely updatable electronic and not paper
behind glass. Fred also noted the beneficial effects of greater building heights in
the Center (especially in relation to Mass Ave's great width.)
There was a lively discussion regarding the public and private alleys leading from
the parking lots into Lexington Center. We need to unearth all past plans to figure
out how to address the alleys. There was some feeling that we should tackle the
public alleys first. We then discussed the factors that should be taken into
consideration by the architects working on the Waltham Street parking lot. Trash,
deliveries, size of trucks, location of dumpsters, etc. (Did we put together a
prioritization list?)
Innessa noted that all the reports on Center vitality point to having more events.
Sandhya Iyer does not have the staff and there are quite a few events planned for
2025. Fred noted that current marketing of events is inadequate. For the 250th,
four towns have hired someone to plan and coordinate events.
There was an extended discussion of the survey and the committee agreed on
short/medium and long-term goals. See attached document for ranked results.
Doug Lucente noted that the current relationship between businesses and the
parking lots is like that of a strip mall, i.e. trip specific. Jerry Michelson said that
many people entered his store from the back but left out of the front door.
Richard Bown felt that the backs of stores could be inviting and strongly urged the
redesign of the CVS lot because it backs out on to the bike path.
The Lexington Center Committee voted 8 to 0 to approve the minutes of the
meeting held on April 1P, 2024.