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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-09-AC-min.pdf 10/9/2025 AC Minutes 1 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee (AC) October 9, 2025 Place and Time: Remote participation via a Zoom teleconferencing session that was open to the public; 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Members Present: Glenn Parker, Chair; Sanjay Padaki, Vice-Chair; Alan Levine, Secretary; Anil Ahuja; John Bartenstein; Eric Michelson; Vinita Verma; Lily Yan; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager, Finance (non-voting, ex officio) Members Absent: Sean Osborne Other Attendees: Charles Lamb, Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC); Lisah Rhodes, CEC; Mark Sandeen (Select Board) At 7:33 p.m. Mr. Parker called the meeting to order and took attendance by roll call. All votes recorded below were conducted by roll call. Announcements and Liaison Reports Mr. Levine reported on the October 6, 2025, School Building Committee (SBC) meeting, during which a final project budget and funding agreement was announced that sets the total reimburse- ment from the MSBA at $121.3 million. The agreement must be formally ratified by the MSBA Board of Directors, which is expected to happen on October 29. Ms. Verma reported that the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) has made an announce- ment inviting applications for funding of projects in FY2027. Applications are due on November 1. The CPC will meet again on October 16. Mr. Padaki reported that he has been unable to attend Recreation Committee meetings due to sched- uling conflicts. He noted that agendas of the recent meetings of that committee did not contain items requiring the immediate attention of our Committee. Election of Committee Officers Mr. Parker asked if any members not currently serving as officers were interested in serving. He had previously confirmed that the currently serving officers were willing to continue in their roles. Mr. Bartenstein moved that the Committee elect a slate consisting of Mr. Parker as Chair, Mr. Pa- daki as Vice-Chair, and Mr. Levine as Secretary. The motion was seconded by Mr. Padaki. The mo- tion passed by a vote of 8–0. Committee Report to the 2025-2 Special Town Meeting Mr. Levine had submitted a draft for Article 8 Appropriate for Lexington High School to Mr. Par- ker, who then edited it and published the document on the AC Working Documents page in advance of this meeting. Mr. Parker asked for comments on the draft. Mr. Bartenstein suggested that the wording should make it clear that projections about future student enrollments at the high school come with consid- erable uncertainties. Mr. Bartenstein further suggested that the report should avoid the argument that the school is overcrowded in its recommendation because the cohort analysis currently projects 10/9/2025 AC Minutes 2 a declining enrollment. Mr. Levine responded that future enrollment from new housing would coun- ter this trend, but the timing of new housing availability remains difficult to predict at this time. Mr. Bartenstein also noted that the plan for housing at 331 Concord Ave was recently revised to lower the total apartment count from 200 to 187, with fewer studio and 1-BR apartments and more 2- and 3-BR apartments. Mr. Levine stated that this change increased the projected student enroll- ment from this development from 72 to 85. If more developments follow this pattern, then enroll- ment projections may need to be adjusted accordingly. Mr. Padaki suggested adding a section comparing metrics such as class size and utilization rate for the current high school versus the proposed design. He also asked if the report could quantify the return on investment for the solar power and heat pump features of the new high school. Ms. Kosnoff stated that her financial model assumed about $6.5 million in annual property tax reve- nue, plus another $500,000 from continuing construction work at 440 Bedford St. that has not yet been captured as new growth. After additional analysis, staff now believes there is a chance that the additional $500,000 in annual revenue may be delayed and/or reduced due to real estate market con- ditions. The Town is waiting for a certification from the DoR, which will not happen until the last week of October. Ms. Kosnoff added that there will still be some one-time revenue from new growth that can be appropriated to the Capital Stabilization Fund. Mr. Levine suggested that it was premature to make any serious changes to the financing plan, given that the debt service will not come online until FY2028. Cost Tradeoffs for Solar Energy at Lexington High School Mr. Sandeen presented an analysis of the cost tradeoffs of options for solar energy at Lexington High School (LHS). He began by stating that the MSBA requires the Town to present a list of possi- ble value-engineering options for the approved design. This list would be consulted in the event that final estimates of construction costs exceed the appropriation. One possible option concerns the generating capacity of the solar power arrays. Reducing the capac- ity from 4.8 MW to 3.5 MW (roughly 27% less) would lower the construction cost by $6.93 mil- lion. Mr. Sandeen asserted this change would significantly impact future operating costs, primarily because the current design would provide most of the power needed by the building for the first 30 years. Reducing the generating capacity would require the Town to purchase power from the utility starting in the first year, and it would reduce the ability to shave peak power demand using onsite battery storage. Mr. Sandeen explained that the new 500,000 square foot building will use significantly less energy per square foot (25 EUI)1 compared to the old building (105 EUI). If the new building had no solar power generation, its total energy cost would be comparable to the old building due to the transition from gas heating to an all-electric system with air conditioning. However, solar power generation will greatly reduce the cost of the electricity needed for HVAC. Mr. Sandeen also described the hybrid heating and cooling system design for the new building, which uses a combination of air-source and ground-source heat pumps. The hybrid design allows 1 EUI is Energy Use Intensity, which is the total annual energy used by the building in kilo-Btu, di- vided by the total gross floor area of the building in square feet, or kBtu/ft2. 10/9/2025 AC Minutes 3 the ground-source heat pumps to maintain a balance between the heat added to and removed from the ground, thus maintaining their long-term efficiency. Mr. Sandeen stated that the solar power system was a long-term investment with a lifespan of 30 years for the panels and 60 years for the infrastructure. Mr. Lamb noted that Mr. Sandeen’s presen- tation assumes a 30-year payback schedule, but the current financing plan assumes a 15-year bond (with level principal payments) for the solar power system. Future Meeting Schedule The Committee agreed to meet on Wednesday, October 15, to review the report again. Minutes of Prior Meetings The minutes for June 26 and September 25 were approved by a vote of 8–0. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Glenn P. Parker Approved: October 21, 2025 Exhibits ● Agenda, posted by Mr. Parker