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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-11-07-BOS-min TJr SELECTMEN'S MEETING November 7, 1977 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, November 7, 1977 at 7 30 p.m. Chairman Battin, Mr Bailey, Mr Busa, Mrs Miley and Mr Kent; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager, Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mr McSweeney, Director of Public Works/Engineering; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present Mr Hutchinson discussed the Hartwell Avenue Sanitary Landfill and Hartwell stated that a serious situation exists and we have been working on a Sanitary timetable required by the Department of Environmental Quality Engineer- Landfill ing for the preparation of an Operating and Closure Plan on the land- fill, which is scheduled for completion on January 1, 1978 The State has advised that they will not accept any plan which calls for the landfill remaining open after January 1, 1978; they have advised us that they will not accept any plan other than the one that says to close the landfill Essentially, the State is saying that it will not accept any plan, and we consider this position arbitrary, especially in the light of good faith efforts of the Town There is no question that this could run to serious economic damage to the community because of its financial consequences He had kept the Board informed and all of this has developed since last week Today, he had talked with Commissioner Stanley, who advised Mr Hutchinson that he must respond to orders from the State by tomorrow regarding how we propose to approach the landfill, and that they fully intend, unless alternate solutions can be found, to go to the Attorney General's office to bring an action to shut down the landfill In fairness to the Board and the Town, we have appropriated money to prepare a plan which contains certain analytical data and intelli- gently addressed the landfill and its problems, and we hoped that that data could be presented to the State so that we might have a chance to honestly debate this question and come up with the solution that would provide for an alternate solution to the landfill but also something on an intermediary basis which would deal with problems of the environ- ment and give us the opportunity to continue with the landfill opera- tion, which he thought has substantially been operated for the better the last six months, and with the appropriate financial support would be even better than that In the event that we receive an order to shut down, hopefully some delaying process could take place but there are estimates that run all the way up to $1 million for shutting down the landfill This would substantially involve going to townwide collection with disposal at some alternate site, landfill or recovery in Saugus that would cost in the neighborhood of $4-500,000 and would mean $2 00 on the tax rate Further, there would be costs on shutting down the landfill, sealing it off, which might cost in the neighborhood of $2-300,000; plus the possibility of a transfer station on all of that it Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 So, we consider ourselves to be in rather a serious situation and also rather an unfortunate one when technology has really not caught up the problem, and that the Town in good faith has gone forward trying to respond to monumental demands, and we consider this approach by the State extremely unfortunate The most important thing is that the Town is trying to live up to the mandate given it by the State and we should try to design something working with them rather than against them Once we review what we do, we will give it to the Representatives, Senators and the press During discussion, Mr Frank Sandy, Chairman of the Sanitary Land- fill Advisory Committee, came into the meeting at 7 35 p.m Mr Sandy commented that there are questions on both sides The Board agreed to discuss the matter further with Mr Hutchinson Mr Sandy retired from the meeting The Board approved the following requests Permit Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the request of Wayne and Ann Maguire, Lexington representatives of the New England Wood Carvers, to use the Visitors' Center lawn on Saturday, July 22, and Sunday, July 23, 1978, with rain dates of July 29 and 30, for an exhibition conducted by woodcarvers Total Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to certify that Ballots 629 ballots had been cast in Precincts 7 and 8 for the special elec- Special tion of a State Representative on November 1, 1977, as submitted by Election the Town Clerk Nov 1 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to proclaim Proclamations Saturday, December 3, as March of Dimes Day in the Town of Lexington Boston Edison Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the re- Petition quest of the Boston Edison Company for a "Leave to Withdraw" a petition Withdrawal dated April 30, 1973 to install six poles at the following location Williams 1 Road Williams Road, northerly side, from a point approximately 120 feet east of Bedford Street Sewer Ext - Mr Philip Glassnos, Manager of the Wild Acre Inn, 50 Percy Rd , Wild Acre met with the Board regarding a sewer extension to service the Inn Inn A letter from the owner, Dr Bernard Udowitz, to the Board of Selectmen stated that "he had appeared before the Board of Selectmen on March 14, 1977 and it was decided that a sewer connection should be made to the system and installed at the owner's expense At this time he requested permission of the Town of Lexington to make this sewerage connection Construction plans for a gravity flow system have been developed by C E Maguire, Inc , and reviewed by the Town engineering department According to this plan (1) An 8" sanitary line would be installed 310 feet up Percy Road to Highland Avenue; and, 47 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 (2) In order to facilitate the gravity flow, a 140 foot section of the existing Highland Avenue 8" sewer would be relaid at a lower depth. This project would proceed according to a number of other requirements imposed by the Town as outlined by Mr William J Martin, Assistant Town Engineer It is anticipated that construction would be completed two-three weeks from the date this project receives approval by the Board of Selectmen He would like to have this job completed before the close of this construction season " Mr Hutchinson read a report from Mr McSweeney, Director of Public Works/Engineering, and then recommended approval of the Board Mr Glassanos informed the Board that he had no comments as all those points had been discussed at length with Mr Martin, Assistant Town Engineer, and they are certainly willing to comply with all of them Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant per- mission for a sewer extension to service Wild Acre Inn located at 50 Percy Road, subject to the following conditions 1 That the petitioner show evidence that he has an agreement with a contractor acceptable to the Town to begin work immediately after receiving permission, and fulfilling all other stipulations 2 That the petitioner post a bankbook in an amount acceptable to the Town to insure payment to the contractor 3 That the contractor provide the Town with an insurance certificate indemnifying the Town for the usual and customary coverages and limits, and also provide an acceptable per- formance bond 4 That the contractor provide suitable evidence that he has sufficient materials on hand, or available to complete this project is an expeditious manner 5 That optimum backfill compaction measures be employed, and that the trench be patched in segments as soon after con- struction as is practical 6 That the petitioner provide for all necessary police de- tails, signs, lights and barricades 7 That the Town reserve the right to inspect and accept or reject all aspects of the project, and to order the job shut down and cleaned up in the event of impending bad weather, or notice from hot mix bituminous batch plants that they intend to shut down for the winter Mr Glassanos thanked the Board and retired from the meeting Chairman Battin read a recommendation from Mr McSweeney, Director Contract - of Public Works/Engineering, that the Board award the contract to the DPW Bldg Roof lowest qualified bidder for roofing and flashing repairs to the DPW building at 201 Bedford Street Authority for the work is contained 48 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 in FY78 DPW Account #5250, function 373-10 Three bids had been re- ceived D & S Roofing, Inc , Framingham, $19,190; John F Shea Co , Inc , Mattapan, $9,133; Gilbert & Becker Co , Inc , Boston $11,800 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract to repair and replace tar and gravel roofs in two areas at the DPW building at 201 Bedford Street to the lowest, qualified bidder, John F Shea Co , Inc in the amount of $9,133, subject to Town Counsel's approval as to bid form Traffic Chairman Battin read recommendations from Mr John J McSweeney, Signs Chairman of the Traffic Safety Committee, for approval of the in- Freemont St stallation of two "Caution Children" signs on Freemont Street and Blossomcrest Road Blossom- Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the crest Rd recommendation of the Traffic Safety Committee to install "Caution Children" signs at #63 and #70 Freemont Street, and at #11 and 200 feet westerly at #56 Blossomcrest Road The Director of Public Works was instructed to make the necessary arrangements for the installation of the signs at those locations Traffic- Chairman Battin read a report from the Traffic Safety Committee, Meriam St in response to a request from Mr Marshall Duane, 16 Meriam Street, for two 30-miles per hour speed signs on Meriam Street, recommending that the request be denied as speed signs cannot be erected on such a street until a speed zone study has been conducted by the Massachuw setts Department of Public Works and the Registry of Motor Vehicles The committee's experience has been that these studies many times result in speed limits higher than the existing limit of 30 miles per hour For this reason, we have forwarded Mr Duane's letter to the Police Department, which assured us that priority will be given to Meriam Street in their selective enforcement program Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to deny the request for two 30 MPH signs on Meriam Street A letter is to be written to Mr Duane, 16 Meriam Street, informing him that the Board had accepted the recommendation of the Traffic Safety Committee to deny his request, but priority will be given to Meriam Street by the Police Department in their selective enforcement program Hancock School Mr Miller Blew and Mr Howard Stevenson of the Lexington Loft Proposal Company, Cambridge, met with the Board Members of the School Sites Conversion Committee were also present Lexington Chairman Battin asked for an overview of their proposal, citing Loft the number of units, range of prices and the purchase price to the Town Mr Blew said that they propose 19 units with a price range of $45,000 to $72 or $73,000; half the units would be in the $60,000 cate- gory On the optimistic side, we hope that more than half the number of units would be in the under $60,000 category but, as of now, we are willing 49 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 to guarantee that 9 of the 19 would be in that category There is a wide range from large, efficiency-type units with a loft area in the top floor up to 2-bedroom plus There is a wide range in the 19 units and that accounts for the wide range sale price The price to the Town is $50,000 Basically in our proposal we tried to balance three complete objectives for the development of the property The first objective is of addressing housing opportunities which are not presently available in Town so to the extent possible we have been trying to get as many units as possible into the price categories which are not presently served Some of you may know that Drummer Boy has $63,000 plus basement plus options and there are not presently condominiums available in the prices under that To that extent, we have been successful in having a substantial number of units in prices well below those levels The second conflicting objective is that of historic preservation of the architecture of the building here As we discussed before there is the problem of getting occu- pancy of the top and bottom floors and the problem of getting enough light and ventilation We have met with the Historical Commission and discussed informally the plans that you see in your package and while it certainly is premature to evaluate their reaction, they did encour- age us in some of the thinking that we have done The third objective is that of optimizing the impact on the neighborhood, if possible We have felt from our discussion with various people in the neighborhood that we have a very emotional commitment and attachment to this build- ing It has always been an integral part of the neighborhood and we have tried to address that in our thinking about the site development in particular and about the price categories of the units We would hope that we would be able to set up an exchange program for any unit owners in the neighborhood who would want to trade in their large house for a condominium These three objectives all interplay with one another - pricing structure of the units, impact on the neighborhood, and historic preservation Mr Busa asked about their picture of the Hancock School having a potential solar system Mr Blew said that the potential has not been fully evaluated either from a feasibility point of view either from the cost side or from the savings in hot water costs As he understood it, because of the orientation of this building, we have a unique opportunity for substantial worthwhile savings in net water costs He had discussed it with the Historical Commission and that's just one of those things that 10 or 15 years from now, most buildings are going to have to deal with and although they might not want to do it now, it is important that the owners' association would have the right to do it at a later time The Historical Commission would have to speak for themselves on this; they recognized that it was a difficult situation but is is some- thing that we are all going to have to deal with at some time or another Mrs Anne Grady stated that the Historical Commission is not opposed I III to solar heating panels on the roof 50 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 Mr Bailey asked if within this price range they would be willing to make any guarantees on a range within which they would hold those prices until the final sale date? Mr Blew said that they would have to discuss it, they hadn't thought about it in that way The costs are not based on true cost estimates as they came in higher than they hoped; there would be 9 under $60,000 and we hope the smaller ones would drop under $50,000 In response to a question from Mr Grossimon, Mr Blew repied that the information on rehabilitation costs would be confidential Mr Colwell of the School Sites Conversion Committee asked if the number of mix of bedrooms is because of the architectural possibilities within the building or is it a deliberate marketing decision Mr Blew said that the final design might have to change that rate a little bit We have gone pretty far on the design and we don't in- tend to change it much All of the design work is completely feasible as far as the unit mix; it basically fits within the existing classroom divisions with one major exception, the center section instead of dividing it into two classrooms it gets divided into three apartments, and that's what gives us the wider range The answer is that it is a little of each; the larger units flow from the natural subdivision of the building and the smaller units are deliberate and you have a mix of the two, and we didn't try to go to a maximum density Mr Grossimon asked for square footage figures so that they could tie in with the range of square feet area in each apartment with the range of prices; at least the smallest and the largest Mr Blew said that would be a little misleading if studied carefully because we are proposing building a mezzanine-type loft area in some of the units so the square footage figures that he has are for the main floor only and do not include the additional space available Including the mezzanine, the largest units are 1,325 sq ft plus some loft space, so that is a pretty good size for one bedroom; 8+ to as high as 10 5 square feet plus, so that is a bit larger than industry norms Obviously, each unit doesn't have its own yard, so there are trade-offs Mr Hutchinson stated that we are very fortunate to have a very high calibre proposal from both developers, and a great deal of prepara- tion has gone into their proposals Mr Butters of the School Sites Committee said that the present price of the apartments is higher than the earlier figures he had assumed, and he asked if they cared to explain Mr Stevenson said that basically they got far enough in the de- sign stage to get fairly thorough take-offs on costs and prices from two independent estimators and they frankly have come in considerably higher than the original estimates were based Some of this was due to the original measurements that were taken in the building, the struc- tures became more complex; ceiling height, for example, is not an easy thing to deal with in that building; some of it is to meet health and safety fire codes which are due to the structure of the building and II/ 51 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 would not pass safety codes, and we had to assume that modification would be made for each fire code The mechanical systems in our judgment are useless and would have to be gutted, which entails demolition costs and obviously restoration costs You start with hopes and the more carefully you study them on average renovation, the more likely you are to run into problems We looked at this one care- fully and just found that costs came in higher than we thought Chairman Battin thanked them for a very thoughful, complete proposal and Mr Blew and Mr Stevenson retired from the meeting Mr Hutchinson introduced Mr Stanley Sydney and Mr Kirk Noyes Hancock of Sydney & Noyes Associates, Newton Highlands, to present their School proposal on the Hancock School Proposal Mr Noyes said that we propose to convert the building into 18 fairly large sized condominium units and the price to the Town is Sydney & Noyes $100,000 for the building and if the units should go up in price, the Town could share the return on that increase in price by an additional 12 percent above that $100,000 We would make a subse- quent payment at a later date for the difference The idea being to protect the Town in terms of future revenue to us, you would also share in the revenue potential of the building We have also out- lined a fairly concrete timetable that we would file a building per- ' mit within 60 days of the time that we were named developers and start construction 14 days after that date We already have all the planning necessary to carry it out The floor plans that were sub- mitted with this are floor plans that we can live with and we can build those We know our construction prices are accurate, at least within the ballpark if not within the infield The units are all large size, considerably larger than most rental units that are on the market these days and they have features we felt would make them even more attractive, like the large eat-in kitchens, particularly in those in the back of the building that face onto the rear hill We also expect that since the building would be changing hands after January 1st, the property would still be in the hands of the Town when it was time to look at it as a tax revenue-producing property We are saying that we are willing to pay taxes during that year of construc- tion so your revenue from taxes would begin as soon as we take owner- ship of the building We would also respect the exterior architecture of the building and not destroy it or alter it in any way other than any ways we have pointed out in the booklet So we are basically just including some flat windows that fit in the plane of the roof on the back side of the building to provide light and ventilation for some bedrooms, also, a light and ventilation requirement for the eleva- tor, by code, for the elevator shaft which would not extend beyond the roof, lowering four window npenings on the front of the building to provide terraces for the units in the basement - just removing the sill and dropping the brickwork down about 5 feet and do the same thing II/ with two buildings in the back at the stair towers to provide fire 52 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 egress requirements Also, we are willing to guarantee that the prices of the completed units would be within 5 percent of those prices that are shown in the booklet $38,000 for 1-bedroom, and going up from there, the most expensive one being $54,000 for 2-bedroom with a two- story living room, dining room, and spiral staircase Mr Sydney added that these are base prices and when people come in and ask for certain betterments beyond what we have programmed, it would obviously affect the price If someone wants a $1,500 magic oven or range, it would add to the price, additional kitchen cabinets, different kinds of carpeting, but these are the base prices that we are talking about here Mr Noyes said that they would start sales early enough so that people could have choices on those kinds of things, even to the extent of having hardwood floors if they desire You also said to restrict sales to the owner/occupant so that we can avoid the possibility of the investor/buyer coming in and buying it up and then turning around selling at a profit, and we would put on a time constraint on selling at a profit, we would put on a time constraint on how long they can own before they can resell We think those are realistic kinds of sales gimmicks, if you will, that also protect the interest of the Town in terms of whether or not you are really selling a building below market value and then providing a revenue producing opportunity for someone to come in and rip you off later We have also said we would stand behind construction and the management and operation of the building until an owners' association can be established and ready to take over the building The last thing is we said we would have this ready by January 1, 1979 Mr Bailey said that they have presented a summary of construction costs in the brochure, and he asked if those costs are exclusive of such things as construction superintendent, insurance contingency, profit, overhead Mr Sydney said that when you start to mention profits in the build- ing business that's not treated as a separate factor here and wouldn't be included in these figures here The supervision, insurance, taxes, all direct field costs are reflected in here in terms of pro rata on those various figures There are other non-construction costs that have significant impact into the units, acquisition costs of $5,000 per unit plus carrying charges for a year, taxes, construction financing, possibly some permanent financing discounts that we have to pay, archi- tectural services, legal services, management services, sales, real estate agent's sales and commission, etc But this relates strictly to the construction In response to Mr Bailey's question if the figures in the brochure were pretty conclusive for getting the job done, the answer was, "Yes " Mr Bailey asked if the base price will provide a condominium that someone can move into and live in comfortably, also, if you did want to go first class, approximately how much more is the percentage of the base price to be? , 53 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 Mr Sydney replied that he had done a lot of apartments that went into the thousands particularly where people like to spend money, such as wall coverings; they would provide a painted wall surface, one color for all walls and ceiling surfaces, and if someone comes in and wants to put on vinyl wall covering, we would make that available to them, but obviously the vinyl will cost substantially more than painted walls It won't change the quality or character of the construction but there would be a more durable wall finish We will have certain standard appliances we will be providing and if someone wants some- thing different, we will provide them We will provide a 4-burner self-cleaning range but will not provide a radar range; we will provide a dishwasher and disposal, and will have a kitchen exhaust, a frost- free refrigerator but not one with an ice maker or juice dispenser In the bathroom, we haven't really decided whether we are going to use a fibreglass tub or steel tub with ceramic tile There are all sorts of limits to what we can do with ceramic tile We may have an option for a separate shower stall If someone wants all wool carpeting at $30 00 per yard, obviously it will push the price up There is no limit as to how many extras we will provide Mr Grossimon said that you have the guarantee of the base con- dominium sale price within 5 percent on the total, and how would you so guarantee beyond your suggestion to pay an additional 12 percent to the Town? You say you would guarantee to stay within 5 percent of the prices Mr Noyes said that the guarantee could be a personal guarantee between ourselves and the town or a written guarantee if the town would care to protect itself in terms of the guarantee We feel very com- fortable in terms of construction numbers and what it will cost us to build it within the next 12 months, and we certainly wouldn't want to guarantee that price two years from now but if we were to start next spring, we know how to build it for that kind of money Mr Grossimon said so that guarantee would be in addition to the promise to pay the additional payment of 12 percent, and Mr Noyes said it would Mr Olson of School Sites Committee said that the mix of bedrooms was a marketing decision or growing out of architectural configurations, when they get further into the study and find that it doesn't work quite the way you want, is that going to be a problem to you? Mr Noyes said that he had a general reluctance to put in too many 1-bedroom units because you end up with a specific kind of clientele; 2-bedrooms are more salable Some people want the larger condominium with 2-bedrooms and make one a den or a study Probably the more dominent element in terms of actually how that number broke down due to the architecture of the building, the idea was not to work against the building but go with it, and two bedrooms with a study worked very well We don't think we could change it very much as the bedrooms are a dictation of the size of how many feet you can get into 54 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 a bedroom The windows are really the first thing you look at and you want your bedrooms to be at least 101/2 to 11/2 x 14 or 16 feet; those units are so big and the windows are laid as such that you couldn't really move any more bedroom units into the wall space you've got so you might as well go as big as you can This building is so small and so simple that the floor plan split the building down the middle, and you've got one floor plan on either side; it can be done the way it is now Mr Butters asked if they got partway into the job and found out there were problems in codes and in the interior of the building that were quite beyond what you anticipated, what if things turned out to be different? Mr Noyes replied that he was referring to things that were prevalent in the building industry years ago and they aren't any more In fact, a building like this is so small and easy to deal with that you know what the problems are liable to be and you get in there and find them; the number of problems that come up is really very small If something does come up, we would be willing to put a bond up against that construction cost and we would finish the job We will get the job done even if we have to come in and rip off the roof and put on a new slate roof because of something like termite damage Mr Charles Cole of the School Sites Committee complimented them for their plans and taking advantage of existing air vents and the old gravity system of the school Mr Noyes said that except for the windows, we put no holes through the roof at all to interfere with the skyline view of the roof at all A woman said that you intend to retain ownership of the development until all the units have been sold; a lot of people think this may not be in the best interests of the school Mr Noyes said that if you don't do that, whose responsibility is this? From our standpoint, we would want to sell it and get out as quickly as possible, which is probably what the town doesn't want a developer to say, but in a situation like this as soon as you can get a little home into the owners' hands and have them responsible for it, the better off everyone will be We want to protect our investment and make sure there is proper management, etc Until all the units are filled but to turn over ownership if the ownership association finds it still has one or two units left and it can't sell that unit, that last unit is really your profit Mr Hutchinson said that we are very fortunate to have two very high quality proposals before the Board and depending on what the Board wants to do you will be notified in the very near future The Board will be going to go into Executive Session to discuss matters of sale, price of units, etc in order to make a decision Mr Sydney said that we are certainly willing to negotiate a sales price on the building with you in terms of increasing or reducing it having the impact on the selling price of the units We did make a proposal which we think is fair. We had the feeling that to sell these units at an 00 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 average price in the middle 40's was what we take to be the consensus of the Board, so we have geared our purchase price of the building based on the selling price of $36,000 to $54,000 Obviously, if the selling price of the building goes up, these prices could go up and we think they would still be marketable If you felt our selling price of the units were a little too high and were willing to reduce the price of the building, we would reduce the price of the condominium but, basically, we are talking about a 12 percent factor on the purchase price as an acquisition cost of the building So, we are somewhat flexible in that area We think that 12 percent figure is a reasonable figure due to the condition of the building and the investment we have to make in terms of demolition to put it in the condition we want to remodel Chairman Battin thanked them for a thoughtful proposal, and Mr Noyes and Mr Sydney retired from the meeting, with the understanding that they would be informed tomorrow of the decision of the Board Later on in executive session, the Board evaluated both proposals presented by the Lexington Lift Company and Sydney and Noyes Associates It was agreed to go out of executive session and vote in open meeting to accept one proposal Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the Sydney Vote - & Noyes proposal for the Hancock School, which will be presented to the Hancock Special Town Meeting to be held on December 5, 1977 School The Board discussed the final decision to be made on imposing a temporary moratorium on sewer connections in the Vine Brook Watershed Sewer area until a review in the late spring as to whether it would be termi- Motatorium nated or continued Mr Hutchinson said that we have revised the wording to reflect a health condition rather than a hazard, and what we are really saying is that you must have an existing building or dwelling to be able to connect to the sewer system and demonstrate a health condition to be able to do so The matters of economic injury should be addressed to our Town Counsel subject to this policy being adopted If they have any grounds to oppose the policy they should deal with him The only reason you connect would be to an existing building and you would have a recommenda- tion from the Board of Health It is our hope that this remain temporary as we just want to assess what we are doing Mr Busa raised questions about people who have already begun the process of construction of houses; a person who wants to add on another lavatory Mr Bailey stated that the contractor could proceed at his own risk and, although he was sympathetic with some of the dilemmas that builders will face as a result of this moratoriup,he didn't see any way other than stopping it and giving ourselves the chance to see how our new system works; we have to have that experience behind us to see how it works Mr Hutchinson said that when someone wants to put on an addition, most people do have a sewer connection, but if they don't they might be 5b Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 111 in a situation where they do have a health problem and would be allowed to do so Mr Busa asked what happens if they are already connected? Mr Hutchinson replied that they will not be connected Mr Kent said that we all recognize that in its very nature a moratorium of this sort causes hardship and we would rather not im- pose it at all but the question really comes down to an exercise of judgment as to what the needs of the town are with respect to a serious condition The advise that we have calls for this kind of a full moratorium in the broad health interests of the community and therefore for us to confine our exceptions to this policy, the health conditions that relate to existing buildings, seemed to him to be about as far as we ought to go in that regard if we are going to have a moratorium We've had so much difficulty in attempting to standardize any notion of hardship to come up with a workable standard other than the one we have before us He had come to the conclusion that this is the one that we need Chairman Battin concurred and commented that as we do as a Board, or don't do, can hurt someone and we have to be very careful of what the impact is and have to make the choices To let it continue might harm more people than the ones that are being harmed by ordering the moratorium Mrs Miley agreed and moved to adopt the moratorium for the Vine Brook Watershed WHEREAS The Town of Lexington has been experiencing periodic sewage overflows within its sanitary sewer system, and WHEREAS Said overflows have caused the Town to prepare a Con- tingency Plan for dealing with these overflows, and WHEREAS Current studies are underway to propose solutions to problems within the sanitary sewer system, and WHEREAS The Town's Contingency Plan for dealing with overflows needs evaluation for its effectiveness, necessitating a temporary period for review, and WHEREAS It is felt that to add substantial volumes of sewage to an existing problem at this time might further ag- gravate a difficult situation, NOW, THEREFORE We, the Board of Selectmen impose a temporary moratorium of sewage connections in the Vine Brook Water Shed area, except in cases of existing dwellings or buildings that are confronted with a health condition which necessitates connection to the system Said temporary moratorium shall be reviewed for its termination or continuation in late spring of 1978 Signed by Margery M Battin, Fred C Bailey, Alfred S Busa, Mary W Miley, Robert B Kent III Treasurer Mr Louis A Zehner, Town Treasurer, met with the Board to request 57 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 approval of borrowing $68,000 for the Cranberry Hill land owned by Foley and Sayre, as approved under Article 44 of the 1977 Annual Town Meeting Seven bids had been received and he recommended approval of the lowest bid submitted by the New England Merchants Bank Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Town Treasurer to borrow $68,000 for conservation financing from the New England Merchants Bank at 3 00 percent, notes to be dated November 10, 1977 and due May 2, 1978, interest at maturity Mr Zehner retired from the meeting The Boarddiscussed the letter from the Middlesex County Clerk of 1978 Edward J Sullivan, regarding recent enactment of Senate Bill #1481- Jury List An Act Regulating the Selection and Management of Jurors for Middle- six County, and the future appointment of a jury commissioner to supervise the operation A summary of a report from Mr Cohen stated that Boards of Select- men have a limited role in the selection of jurors from their communi- ties They are responsible for generating a list of all eligible residents and, following the random selection of potential jurors from that list, for preparing a data form for each juror, to be used by the jury commissioner in the creation of a master list The Act holds selectmen liable for wrongful conduct in the execution of these responsi- 1 bilities The Board agreed to reply to Mr Sullivan thanking him for his in- formation and also express the feeling of the Board that, hopefully, the information that is required will be simple and will not place an added burden on municipalities, financial or otherwise Board members agreed that all petitions on compulsory and binding Binding arbitration are to be submitted to Jim Wood, Lexington Coordinator Arbitration Also, a letter of thanks is to be written to Mr Wood thanking him Petition for his valuable assistance in the petition drive Mr Hutchinson discussed Chief Bergeron's recommendation on the Fire Engine award of the contract for the new fire engine The lowest bidder, Farrar Company, did not meet the specifications and the recommendation is to approve the award to the next lowest bidder, Maxim Motors Division, in the amount of $72,249-basic engine, $3,960-hose option, $4,919-equipment option, less $1,500 trade-in on Engine 6; total cost of $79,628 Mr Hutchinson said that he had inspected a Maxim engine in Arlington and found the workmanship and service to be acceptable; the costing of bids had been checked and approved by the Comptroller; the entire Maxim bid had been checked and approved by Town Counsel Bids ranged from $76,286 to $93,122 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Fire Chief to the Town Manager that the contract for the new fire engine be awarded to Maxim Motors Division, in the total amount of $79,628, with a delivery date of 120 working days 58 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 Transfer- Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve a transfer re- Hayes Lane quest Trunk Sewer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request approval of the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Article 23 of the 1973 Annual Town Meeting in the amount of $4,299 90 for payment of final bills for engineering services for the Hayes Lane Relief Sewer Sewer Mr Hutchinson read a recommendation from Mr McSweeney, Director Betterment of Public Works/Engineering, that Mr William Potter's request for an Deferment abatement of sewer charges not be granted, but could be deferred until Walnut Farm such time as the land owned by the Walnut Farm Trust was built. upon or Trust sold The lay of the land along this portion of the Golf Club is sub- stantially below street grade and, therefore, a gravity sewer connection is not possible It would be possible, however, for any future struc- ture to connect to this sewer through use of a pump It is pointed out that under the betterment statutes "available" is defined as meaning a gravity connection The amount of the betterment assessment against the Golf Club is $2,447,39 and represents an assessment against approxi- mately 340 feet of the 875 feet of frontage owned by the club Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, under the provi- sions of Chapter 159 of the Acts of 1950, to defer payment of the sewer betterment on Lot 4/43, Walnut Street, owned by the Walnut Farm Trust, in the amount of $2,447, without interest, until said land or any part thereof is developed, sold or until the expiration of three years from the date hereof, whichever event occurs first, provided, however, that this extension of time shall terminate immediately if said land or any portion thereof is developed or sold Sewer Mr Hutchinson read a recommendation from Mr McSweeney, Director Betterment of Public Works/Engineering, that Mr Karl A Walczak's request for an Walczak abatement of sewer betterments not be granted, and the amount of $821 91 be paid Abatements should be granted only when sewer serves no useful purpose to a lot or when it is not physically available Deferment of betterments can be made in hardship cases or when the land is used for agricultural purposes This request does not meet any of these require- ments and, therefore, the betterment should not be abated or deferred We concur that the construction of a sewer service to Concord Avenue would be more difficult than one to Chadbourne Road; however, it would not be any more difficult than some others we have seen Lots can be bettered for sewer on only one street and, if and when sewer is installed in Chadburne Road, this lot would not be reassessed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering not to grant the request of Mr Karl A Walczak for an abatement of a sewer better- ment assessed on the property at 16 Chadbourne Road in the amount of $821 91 1 5i) Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 Mr Hutchinson read a recommendation from Mr McSweeney, Director Sewer of Public Works/Engineering, that Mr David E Gomper's request for Request permission to install sewerage in Hartwell Avenue near Hartwell Place Gompers be denied for the following reasons (1) We are estremely concerned about the effects of developing this parcel as regards storm water run- off to Bedford, and the ability of this site to meet minimum acceptable cellar floor elevations These issues will be addressed in much greater detail under the provisions of the Wetlands By-Laws, (2) The proposed sewer for this facility would be tributary to the Vine Brook Area and, as such, may increase the potential for future sewage overflows The denial of this request would be in keeping with our recommendation that no additional sewerage connections be authorized to sewer tributary to the Vine Brook area Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering to deny the request of Mr David E Gompers, 16 Welch Road, that the sewer line on Hartwell Avenue presently terminating at Hartwell Place be extended 600 feet A copy of the temporary sewer moratorium is to be sent to Mr Gompers Mr Hutchinson read a recommendation from Mr John McSweeney, Di- Sewer rector of Public Works/Engineering, that the request from Mr Charles Betterment Kelley and Ms Barbara Najarian, Boston, for an abatement of $685 80 Cliffe Ave sewer betterment assessed on 101 Cliffe Avenue be denied as the parcel consists of three separate house lots, each having frontage on a different street We concur with the fact that betterments have been paid on Hillcrest Avenue and Albermarle Avenue and are not being assessed on Cliffe Avenue, but this most recent assessment is an improvement to the third lot and, if abated, only two of the three building lots could be considered having sewer available Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering to deny the request from Mr Charles Kelly and Ms Barbara Najarian for an abate- ment of $685 80 sewer betterment assessed on 101 Cliffe Avenue Mr Busa recommended a review of the intent to take sewer ease- Sewer ments on the property owned by the Misses Harrington at Curve Street Easements and Mass Avenue He had requested information from the Engineering Harrington Department on the grade line coming out of the Adams School Mr Hutchinson agreed to review it with Mr McSweeney and the matter will be discussed at the meeting of November 14 Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that additional information is Bus Shelter being gathered on the suggestion from Honeywell for a bus shelter for Honeywell M B T A. patrons to be installed at the corner of Forbes Road and Marrett Road The Police Department has a question about the need, and the Traffic Safety Committee would like to know where it would be located 60 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 The Board agreed that Mr Hutchinson is to come back with the necessary information on the possibility of the bus shelter Recycling Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that a public informational Program meeting will be held on Wednesday evening regarding the recycling program which was instituted on November 1 The Town was pleased with the response from the residents but it is hoped to double the paper and glass collections Extensive material is being prepared for publicity purposes Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen's meetings of September 26 and October 24, 1977 MCAB - Mrs Miley informed the Board that a general meeting will be held County by the Middlesex County Advisory Board in Estabrook Hall on November Budget & 17 to discuss the status of the Middlesex County budget and justifica- Highway tion for continued existence of the County Highway Department MCAB's Dept questionnaire asks if retention or abolition of the County Highway Department is favored There is a different consensus among Advisory Board members Small towns like Groton and Wayland use the County Engineering Department far more than a town like Lexington; we use them for Chapter 90 roads and they were a great help in doing the bounds of the town last year, they also have records of County roads, which would be applicable for small as well as larger towns Mrs Miley recommended that the number of employees in the Middlesex County Engineering Department be reduced by attrition Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously voted to recommend to the Great and General Court that the number of employees in the Middlesex County Engineering Department be reduced by attrition Orders of Mr Cohen recommended that the Board sign an order of taking of Taking - land owned by Foley and Sayre Cranberry Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the order Hill land - of taking for conservation purposes the land owned by Reta L Foley Foley, with an award of damages in the amount of $64,989 Also, to sign the Sayre order of taking for conservation purposes the land owned by Woodrow Wilson Sayre and Edith C Sayre in the amount of $8,940 Great Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that the Town of Arlington had Meadow replied to our request for signs to be erected at entry points in Signs Lexington to the Great Meadows, and Arlington has erected four signs Mr Busa recommended that a sign be installed at the Sheila Road access as many violations occur in that area The Board agreed that these signs prohibiting motorized vehicles from entering the Great Meadows, plus the continued weekend patrol by the Lexington Police Department, should alleviate the situation A letter of thanks is to be written to the Town of Arlington, and a re- quest for an additional sign at the Sheila Road access is to be included in the letter 61 Selectmen's Meeting November 7, 1977 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call Executive vote to go into Executive Session, with the intention of resuming the Session open meeting, for the purpose of discussion of the sale of real property After discussion of the Hancock School property, it was voted to go out of Executive Session and resume the open meeting The Board agreed to accept the proposal submitted by Sydney & Hancock Noyes Associates, Newton Highlands, for the Hancock School, and the School vote is so recorded on Page 55 of these minutes Proposal Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll Executive call vote to go into Executive Session, with no intention of resuming Session the open meeting, for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation After Discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session and adjourn Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 40 p m A true record, Attest cc J✓ Executive Clerk, Selectmen