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Home My WebLink About2025-03-24 SB-min SELECT BOARD MEETING Monday, March 24, 2025 A meeting of the Lexington Select Board was called to order at 6:00p.m. on Monday, March 24, 2025, via a hybrid meeting platform. Mr. Lucente, Chair; Mr. Pato, Mr. Sandeen, Ms. Kumar, and Ms. Hai, were present, as well as Mr. Bartha, Town Manager; Ms. Axtell, Deputy Town Manager. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approve: Town Manager Committee Reappointments  Conservation Commission: Alexandra Dohan  Historical Commission: Marilyn Fenollosa and Wendall Kalsow To confirm the Town Manager's reappointments of Alexandra Dohan to the Conservation Commission as well as Marilyn Fenollosa and Wendall Kalsow to the Historical Commission. All with terms set to expire March 31, 2028. 2. Approve: Select Board Committee Reappointment  Board of Registrar - Judith Moore To reappoint Judith Moore to the board of Registrars for a three-year term set to expire March 31, 2028. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda. ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION 1. Approve: Select Board Committee Appointments  Ad Hoc Crematory Study Committee II: 5 Community Representative Members o Archan Basu o Michael Harris o Jyoti Puri o Joseph Su o Judith Zola 1 Lexington Area Interfaith Community Member o Rabbi David Lerner 1 Board of Health Member o Jillian Tung The Board discussed a liaison for the Committee. Mr. Pato volunteered for this role. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to appoint the following as members of the Ad Hoc Crematory Study Committee II  Archan Basu, Michael Harris, Jyoti Puri, Joseph Su, Judith Zola (Community Representative Members)  Rabbi David Lerner (Lexington Area Interfaith Community Member)  Jillian Tung (Board of Health Member) and designate the Ad Hoc Crematory Study Committee II members as Special Municipal Employees, and further to appoint Mr. Pato as liaison to the Committee. DOCUMENTS: 2025.02.08 Basu, Archan – AHCSII_Redacte, 2025.02.27 Harris, Micheal – AHCSII_Redacted, 2025.01.31 Puri, Jyoti - AHCSII_Redacted, 2025.01.23 Su, Joseph - AHCSII_Redacted, 2025.02.01 Zola, Judith - AHCSII_Redacted, 2025.01.29 Lerner, David Rabbi - AHCSII_Redacted, 2025.03.10 Tung, Jillian - AHCSII 2. Presentation of Residential Development Impact Study Report Mark Fougere, of Fougere Planning & Development and Jeffrey Donohoe, of Jeffrey Donohoe Associates, presented the study report. The assignment was to evaluate the impacts to Lexington Public Schools resulting from the additional residential development being created by the MBTA Communities Act. In addition, the project team was charged with identifying potential impacts to emergency services, including Police, Fire and Emergency, Medical Services, along with other Town departments. The currently active projects in the community total 1,117 units. This would project 499 new students. 480 of those will be generated by the apartment projects, and the remaining 19 will be generated by the condominium and townhouse projects. 217 of these new students, or approximately 40%, will be in the K-5 grades, 130 in the 6-8 grades, and 152 at the high school. The Superintendent shared that, since 2019, enrollment in the Lexington Public Schools has declined by about 444 students. Adding 499 new students would lead to a net change since 2019 of 55 students over that same time period. The Superintendent indicated that over 200 staff have been added across the school system in that time. A worst-case scenario, assuming no additional decline in enrollment, and an additional 499 students to the current enrollment, which is 6,678 students today in K-12, generated a gross cost of $7,913,000. Middle of the road projections, adding those students and based on lower enrollments, a net increase of 177 students, generated an estimated cost of approximately $202,800,000. Staff at the School District feels that, given the declining enrollment, there is capacity in the school system today with the new addition of the proposed high school Based on the analysis, there could be approximately 119 new Fire calls at build out, 130 EMS calls, and 481 Police calls. Using a metric of officers per 1,000 population, there could be a potential need for four officers and a cruiser. If a new EMS ambulance is purchased, another eight staff would be needed. The proportional cost based on the percentage increase in calls is approximately $32,000 for the Fire Department. As far as future values in revenue, the estimation is for a net increase in property taxes of $4.6M with approximately $326,000 in excise taxes, and $143,000 in ambulance fees, for a total potential income of $5.1M. Mr. Bartha explained that this study was never intended to be a final analysis of what may happen in the community from a built-out perspective. It was meant to focus on what can be done to anticipate the impact of the projects and to receive metrics to use in moving forward. The upper range of costs identified for the scope of work was approximately $8M. This would be an impact on the operating budget with offsetting revenue of approximately $5M. Mr. Sandeen stated that he’d like more information on the potential timing and pacing of when these developments are expected to be occupied. He has heard from residents’ questions about how apartments are valued from a property tax perspective. He suggested it would be helpful if we all shared a common understanding regarding how that property tax will be calculated moving forward. He also asked that the Town consider how the increased number of people living in Lexington will result in positive impacts in terms of additional local business revenue and taxes. Mr. Pato stated that he would like to better understand how assessments work for the large apartment facilities, in particular, as opposed to them being isolated without comparable sales opportunities. Mr. Lucente asked if there is anything unique about Lexington in comparison to the other communities. Mr. Fougere stated that the number of students found in market rate units is much higher than the affordable units. In most communities, the ratio of children in affordable units far exceeds that in the market units. This analysis showed a significant number of children in one-bedroom units, which was surprising. The market rate units are generating most of the school children versus the affordable units, which is not the norm. Mr. Donohoe stated that the number of children in one-bedroom units is very surprising. Of the 499 projected new students, 138 of those would be in one-bedroom units. This is an overwhelmingly large number. It speaks to the quality of the school system, that people want to move here, and are willing to do what they need to in order to get their kids into Lexington Public Schools. Ms. Hai stated that she would like to know how this will become embedded in budget conversations moving forward. Ms. Kumar asked about the threshold at which service levels would start to change. Mr. Fougere stated that it will be important for the community to track the project timeline. Ms. Kumar asked at what pace the Town should build. Mr. Fougere stated that this is community-specific and up to the community to decide. Mr. Pato commented on the statement regarding Lexington having a higher percentage of students coming out of one-bedroom units. He noted that, even though that number is larger, it is still significantly less than what would be seen in two- and three-bedroom units. DOCUMENTS: MBTA Multi-family Impact Study presentation, Residential Development Impact Study Report 3. Review Select Board Report to Annual Town Meeting 2025 The Board reviewed the Select Board Report to Annual Town Meeting. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to approve the Select Board’s Report to the 2025 Annual Town Meeting, incorporating any edits or adjustments discussed this evening, and any sent into the Office of non-substantive nature, and to authorize the Chair to finalize and submit the report to Town Meeting. DOCUMENTS: DRAFT Select Board Report to 2025 ATM 4. 2025 Annual Town Meeting - Select Board Article Presenters, Discussion and Positions The Board discussed the 2025 Annual Town meeting articles, including some recent amendments. Mr. Sandeen noted that he was a ‘yes’ on Articles 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. On Article 30, Mr. Sandeen stated that he would like to get to 15% inclusionary housing. Ms. Hai stated that she believes it would be better to approve the Article at this time and then work toward the 15% calculation. Mr. Pato noted that Sustainable Lexington is planning to disapprove the resolution in Article 28. Ms. Hai and Mr. Pato stated that they would like to change to ‘waits’ on this Article. DOCUMENTS: Select Board Working Document - Positions 2025 ATM, Moderator's proposed schedule for 2025 Annual Town Meeting as of 3-19-25 ADJOURN VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to adjourn at 7:13pm. A true record; Attest: Kristan Patenaude Recording Secretary