HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-11-14-AHTBT-min
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Affordable Housing Trust
Meeting Minutes of November 14, 2024 10:00 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, Mark
Sandeen, Tiffany Payne
Absent: Linda Prosnitz
Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Liz Rust, RHSO
Director; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant
Other attendees: Jillian Barger, Town Counsel
Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 10:06 am.
1. Approve Meeting Minutes
Ms. Tung requested a motion to approve the minutes of 4/22/24, and 4/29/24 AHT Executive
Sessions. Mr. Erickson moved. Mr. Sandeen 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. These minutes will be posted after the entire reason for the Executive Session has
finalized.
2. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report
Ms. Payne shared the update from Housing Needs Assessment work session. The Housing Needs
Assessment will be completed by June 2025. There was discussion on the final report and its
review process. Ms. Payne stated that the report will be shared on Lexington website and the
findings will be presented to Affordable Housing Trust.
Mr. Sandeen reported that the Select Board has an agenda item on Nov. 18 for an update of the
applications made to CPC. Mr. Sandeen will be making this informational presentation.
3. CPC FY2026 Application
The Trustees reviewed the draft slides prepared for presentation to CPC. There was discussion
on ideas to consider to financially support eligible residents, in terms of down payment for a
purchase, first and last month’s rent, subsidized rental payment or subsidized energy cost
payments, resident support programs, and creating additional affordable housing units by buying
down market rate unit to a lower income unit as well as buying down affordability and increasing
the number of bedrooms for an inclusionary unit. They explored the possibility of the Affordable
Housing Trust purchasing a property to prevent the loss of an affordable unit. Ms. Rust suggested
mentioning preservation of existing affordable housing in the slides.
Ms. Tung will incorporate the changes to the slides proposed by Trustees and Ms. Rust. Ms. Tung
recited what she had prepared to present to the Select Board.
There were questions on LexHAB’s funding request to CPC for $3M a year. The Trustees felt the
questions surrounding their funding request were best answered by LexHAB.
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Executive Session
Ms. Tung requested a motion to go into Executive session under Exemption 6 to discuss the
value of real property in connection with Lowell Street Parcel 68-44. The Affordable Housing
Trust Chair stated that an open session might have a detrimental effect on the negotiating
position of the Town. Mr. Erickson moved. Ms. Payne 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).
Ms. Tung stated that the Trust will not reconvene in an open session after the Executive session.
The Trustees exited the regular session at 10:48 am.
List of documents reviewed:
CPC FY2026 Application – draft slides for presentation