HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-03-12-LCC-min.pdfPage 1 of 3
Town of Lexington
Lexington Center Committee
Submitted by Kat MacDonald
Minutes for the meeting held on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 beginning at 8:30 am in the
Select Board Meeting Room, Town O?ice Building, Lexington, Massachusetts
Members present: T. Eric Ballard, Richard Brown, Upasna Chhabra, Je?rey Lyon, Kat
MacDonald, Innessa Manning, Jerold Michelson (Chair)
Liaisons present: Jay Abdella and Sandhya Iyer, EDC; Jill Hai and Mark Sandeen, Select
Board; Charles Hornig and Tina McBride, Planning Board
Guests present:
Article 2 Petitioners: Alan Levine, Dawn McKenna and Carol Sacerdote
Business Owners: Dora Braun, Tom Braun
Town Meeting Me mbers: Nanette Byrnes (Pct 4), Monica Davis (Pct 5), Andy
Friedlich (Pct 5), Meg Himmel (Pct 6), Lin Jensen (Pct 8), Pamela Lyons (Pct 5), Carol
Marine (Pct 6), Kathryn Roy (Pct 4), Tom Shiple (Pct 9), Betsey Weiss (Pct 2)
Other Guests: Fred Johnson, Danit Netzer, Maggie Scales (Lexington Observer)
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DPW Update
• DPW is currently focused on clean-up in advance of 250th festivities.
• Meg Himmel reported that volunteers planted over 13,000 red, white and blue bulbs
in and around Lexington Center. Additional annuals and perennials will be planted
in May. Plants are available at the DPW Building for planting along the path of the
250th celebrations.
Article 2 Petitioners Presentation
• Alan Levine, Dawn McKenna and Carol Sacerdote presented their Petition for Article
2 to the Lexington Center Committee. The petitioners requested a vote of support
from the Lexington Center Committee in advance of tonight’s Planning Board
Meeting.
• Alan Levine is a member of the Appropriations Committee and a Pct 8 TMM. Dawn
McKenna is a current Pct 6 TMM. Carol Sacerdote is a current Pct 4 TMM.
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• Article 2 is written to reduce the impact of Article 34 on the town’s development. It
is designed to decrease the pace and scope of develop currently allowed under
Article 34.
• Article 2 will allow Lexington to continue to meet the MBTA Zoning requirements so
that Lexington remains compliant. It does this without counting any development
proposals in the current pipeline. It also freezes another approximately 4,000
potential housing units.
• Article 2 reduces the development districts from 12 to 4. Even based on this
reduction, 11 out of the 12 districts in town would still see additional housing built.
• The 4 zones that would still be covered by the current Article 34 development
guidelines would be:
o East Lexington
o Bedford St/Worthen Rd
o Spring St
o Waltham St
• 9 Projects are currently in the pipeline for development. These developments were
not considered when determining whether Lexington would remain in compliance
with the MBTA Zoning Requirements.
• 15 properties have currently submitted to have their properties under a Freeze. The
Freeze means the zoning in place at the time the freeze was requested (Article 34)
remains for a period up to 8 years, given that the property owner complies with
requirements.
• The question before the Lexington Center Committee is whether to recommend:
o Leaving Lexington Center as part of Article 2
§ This could reduce future residential housing in Lexington Center
OR
o Removing Lexington Center from inclusion in Article 2
§ This would allow additional by-right housing development in Lexington
Center
• Several attendees at the meeting suggested leaving Lexington Center in Article 2
and then addressing Lexington Center zoning specifically at a later time. This would
be an agreement but could not written into Article 2 at this time. No written changes
will be incorporated in Article 2 before being put before Town Meeting.
• It would be possible for Town Meeting Members to bring an amendment to the floor
during Town Meeting to amend Article 2 to create a 5th zone (Lexington Center
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Multifamily Overlay) to be excluded from Article 2. This would need to be done the
night of the Special Town Meeting by Town Meeting members.
The Lexington Center Committee voted by a split vote of 6 to 1 to recommend that the
Multifamily Overlay District (MFO) also known as Lexington Center Business District remain
included in the current MBTA zoning bylaws and not be included in the Article 2 changes
proposed.
Meeting adjourned 10:35.
Next Meeting: Thursday, April 10th 8:30-10:00
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2025 Meeting Schedule:
May 8
June 12
July 10
August 14
September 11
October 9
November 13
December 11