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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-09-AHTBT-min Page 1 of 2 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of January 9, 2025 11:30 am Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in Ellen Stone Room, Cary Hall Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; William Erickson, Mark Sandeen, Linda Prosnitz Absent: Tiffany Payne Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Liz Rust, RHSO Director; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant; Mina Makarious, Town Counsel Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 11:34 am. 1. Approve Meeting Minutes The meeting minutes approval was postponed to next meeting. 2. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report Mr. Erickson shared that the next LexHAB meeting is in the end of January, and requested that a Trustee attend because he would not be able to attend the meeting. Mr. Sandeen shared the update regarding the article in Annual Town Meeting Warrant for disposal of Vine Street land. LexHAB had been working on developing 6 units of affordable housing at Vine Street. With their change of status to a nonprofit corporation separate from the Town, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is required to seek affordable housing development proposals, to which LexHAB would be eligible to respond. Ms. Kowalski added that Town Meeting had authorized the acquisition of this land for community housing in 2009, and this article would authorize the Select Board to now seek an affordable housing developer for Vine Street. Mr. Sandeen felt that the Affordable Housing Trust will be involved in this process. Mr. Sandeen reported that a petition was filed by citizens to call for a Special Town Meeting to update the MBTA zoning bylaw. The Special Town Meeting would be deferred from the proposed meeting date of February 3rd to a later date, to be held following the Planning Board’s required public hearings. Mr. Sandeen suggested adding this as an agenda item for a future Trust Meeting as Affordable Housing Trust may be asked to comment on this request. Ms. Kowalski shared that the 50 Valleyfield Street easement is ready to be filed, and Town Counsel is working on recording it. Regarding a question from Ms. Tung on the Housing Needs Assessment, Ms. Rust shared that the Housing Needs Assessment will present the housing needs in town but, per the project scope, it doesn’t set out specific goals and strategies in terms of the number of units to create , as a Housing Production Plan would do. Carol Marine had a question on how does it work legally to place a moratorium on a zoning bylaw. Mr. Sandeen and Mr. Makarious responded to the question, clarifying the process. Mr. Makarious provided an update on the recent Supreme Judicial Court issued decision on Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Town of Milton regarding the Town of Milton’s failure to pass MBTA zoning. The court ruled that the Attorney General can enforce the requirement and can enforce it by seeking compliance, not just by with holding funds. New regulations are Page 2 of 2 anticipated to come in the next few days. Mr. Makarious clarified that Lexington is currently in compliance and the decision does not have a significant impact on the town at the moment. Mr. Sandeen shared that the Planning Board has adopted guidelines on local preference for MBTA zoning applications, for affordable housing. The Trustees discussed the current status of ongoing discussions with MBTA developers regarding buydowns. Ms. Tung stated that H.2740 Commercial surcharge development fees is awaiting the governor’s signature and it is anticipated to be signed today. Ms. Tung asked if the Trust should consider an article for the Annual Town Meeting to reauthorize the residential linkage fee. Ms. Tung stated that for H.2740 Commercial linkage fee, as part of the original Town Meeting vote $75,000 was appropriated in 2022 to produce a nexus study. The Trustees discussed if more than $75,000 would be required for the nexus study because then a warrant article for Annual Town Meeting would be needed. Ms. Prosnitz will work on gathering initial estimates for the nexus study. Ms. Kowalski agreed to prepare a warrant article for the Town Meeting to appropriate up to $100,000 for the nexus study if necessary. 3. MBTA Multi-Family Buydown/The Catalyst Fund Tabled for future discussion. 4. Warrant Article Slide Presentation The Trustees reviewed and proposed revisions to the slides prepared for Town Meeting Warrant Article 10e. Ms. Tung will incorporate the changes based on the discussions. Ms. Prosnitz will check if the Housing Partnership Board has submitted a support letter for the AHT’s CPC application for funding. Ms. Tung reported that she gave a presentation to the Human Rights Committee on Jan. 8th and the following week, she will appear before the Capital Expenditures Committee to discuss the Trust’s CPA funding request. 5. Any other business that may properly come before the Trustees which could not be reasonably anticipated Ms. Tung stated that the resident support programs will be taken up at the next Trust meeting. Mark Lang asked for a status on Lowell St project. Mr. Makarious explained why the Trust has been meeting in Executive Session and that the Town is in the LDA negotiation phase and anticipates the LDA process to complete by end of January. Executive Session Ms. Tung requested a motion to go into Executive session under Exemption 6 to consider 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 Affordable Housing Trust with respect to current discussions on the Land Disposition Agreement for Parcel 68-44. Ms. Prosnitz 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, Prosnitz – 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 12:28 pm.