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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-25-REPSC-min Residential Exemption Policy Study Committee (Ad Hoc) Meeting minutes Friday, May 25, 2018 Hudson Room, Cary Memorial Building Attendance Mark Andersen - chair, Vicki Blier, Sara Bothwell Allen(acting secretary), Howard Cloth, Katie Cutler, John Zhao, Joe Pato, Selectman Liaison, absent: Thomas Whelan Resident observers: Bob Pressman, Pamela Tames Mr. Andersen called the meeting to order at 8:32AM Approval of Minutes The minutes of the May 11, 2018 meeting will be reviewed at the next meeting. Public Comment Period Ms Tames reported there has been a lot of curiosity about the Public Hearing announcement on Lexington List—anticipate engaged attendants at hearing. Mr Pressman expressed that the Committee is early in its exploration and not yet ready to discuss a final report to Selectmen Final Preparation for May 29 Public Hearing Logistics—Mr. Pato previously requested LexMedia cover the event and will check back with them to confirm. Hearing timeline was revised at the last meeting and agreed upon. Public awareness of upcoming hearing—Ms Cutler reported that some public feedback has been impression that a decision to implement a Residential Exemptions has been made, therefore we need to be careful of our tone/language so that people understand this is an exploratory committee with nothing yet determined by BoS. Mr. Zhao reports conversation among the Lexington Chinese community reflects understanding this is an ongoing exploration. Ms Blier suggested making FAQ available ahead. Mr Andersen reports Glen Parker suggested people come to meeting to get materials rather than ahead of time. In the context of Committee members observing many questions in community groups about RE and about the hearing, Mr. Pato reminded that Committee members cannot discuss Committee work outside of open meetings. Discussion of FAQ document—committee members gave Ms Blier feedback for FAQ revisions. Review of presentation and slides Mr Zhao initiated a conversation about sticking to facts versus hypotheticals in the presentation before he needed to depart the meeting. This conversation continued, covering areas of uncertainty with regard to potential indirect effects of Residential Exemption implementation, likely variable levels of familiarity with RE in the upcoming hearing's audience, defining our goals for the public hearing, and where the Committee's progress is relative to its charge. With limited time and no more Committee meetings between today and next Tuesday's public hearing, Mr. Cloth suggested we postpone holding the hearing until we are more prepared. Mr, Pato advised we could postpone the hearing, likely until fall, but that we should still plan to present a status report to the BoS on June 25. Ms. Bothwell Allen suggested, given the degree of public interest in this hearing, it would be better to hold the hearing but narrow our focus to explaining RE and soliciting public input. General consensus was agreement with refocusing the hearing on explaining and illustrating how RE works, listing the areas of potential indirect effects, allowing as much time as possible for public input, and that 5min be inserted into the public hearing schedule (between Mr. Pato's introduction and Mr. Andersen's presentation of the main content) for Mr. Cloth to share his personal testimony regarding why he is serving on this committee. Mr. Cloth agreed to speak. The slideshow presentation was substantially revised,primarily by removing content outside the refocused scope, but also with suggested edits to retained slides. Future Committee Work Gathering public input at the upcoming hearing is a priority, and will be discussed at the next Committee meeting. Also to be discussed at the next meeting will be defining areas of novel data to collect, for which data gaps we may be able to fill. This future work plan will help focus the upcoming status report to the BoS. Mr, Pato recommends the status report should include 1) Where are we in our work plan, and 2) What did we learn from the public hearing. Future Meetings Schedule May 29 7-9PM Public Hearing June 1 & June 8 8:30-10AM Committee meetings June 25 7-9PM Selectmen's meeting Mr. Andersen will create an agenda for the June 1 meeting; Ms Blier will serve as acting chair for June 8 meeting in Mr. Andersen's absence. Mr. Zhao departed at 9:1 OAM. The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Andersen on behalf of the Committee at 10:05AM.