HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-10-DAC-min
Lexington Design Advisory Committee Minutes from March 10, 2026
Attendance: Hema Bhatt, Chris Johns, Zhu Liu, Danit Netzer, Steven Vincent.
We reviewed plans for 419 Marrett Road. Our comments will be submitted to the Planning
Board for their March 11th meeting.
The project is for 9 units (condos), none are inclusionary.
The first impression is that this building looks like many other multi family housing
buildings located anywhere in Massachusetts, in fact anywhere in the U.S. Nothing
interesting, beautiful or charming about this design. The developer recycles the same
design for his projects throughout town.
The exterior building materials seem cheap and could be improved to elevate the
building. We recommend:
o The use of authentic brick which blends with the surrounding buildings as we
detected brick masonry in a few buildings in the vicinity.
o Replace stone veneer with real stone or brick.
o We question the choice of aluminum ship lap siding as it is easily dented during
construction.
o We recommend painted fiber cement clapboards, or another more commonly used
siding material that better emulates wood siding.
The flat roof is simple and not suitable to New England winters or the surroundings
where we saw gable roofs.
The balcony design is overly simplified. We recommend adding trim and detailing to
balcony posts and floor to give more definition and human scale with the added
articulation and shadow lines.
We were not partial to the choice of siding colors leading to monotone and repetition.
The stone on ground floor should be continued down around the garage door to cover the
unsightly concrete foundation that will be seen from the street. The current design looks
odd with the stone “floating” and we believe it could be improved if heavy material such
as stone or brick begins at ground floor. This is an example of how the developer “cuts
corners” in design and materials. The pedestrian door next to the garage door can be
moved to allow for the continuation of the stone or brick.
We question the ability of a firetruck to turn around on the access road.
Nine trash barrels were noted in the parking lot level, but we question where these barrels
in addition to recycling bins, will be placed outdoors for trash pickup. A designated
outdoor location is necessary and preferably by access road and not on Marrett Road
which would be an eye sore to neighbors and passersby.
We reviewed plans for 331 Concord Avenue. This is the second time the DAC reviewed these
plans, and we compared the original plan with the new updated plan.
While we previously commented that this building has large massing and would like the
massing reduced, we noted that there is an overall increase in gross square footage.
To minimize massing we suggest:
o Return to the previous design for the lower step up of the second building (in
orange). The height increased from 330.3’ to 340.9’ from the first design and we
feel this change is not aesthetic and contributes to the large building massing.
o The retaining walls on the sides of the building below the windows significantly
add to the massing. The wall material should be changed or made a darker color
for contrast. Landscaping, including trees and large shrubs could also cover some
of the large and unsightly retaining walls.
o Bay windows were added for variability, but we recommend different materials to
these windows to add interest to the façade and break up the massing.
o The colored mesh garage screen should be in a different color to break up the
monotony of the large green massing.
288 parking spaces exceeds the requirements of one parking space per a unit.
So many cars entering and exiting this building will surely contribute to traffic
congestion in the nearby intersection and roads.
We like the increased size of the units and the larger courtyards.
The meeting was adjourned.