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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-05-11 SB-minSELECT BOARD MEETING Monday, May 11, 2026 A meeting of the Lexington Select Board was called to order at 6:30p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2026, via a hybrid meeting platform. Ms. Hai, Chair; Mr. Pato, Vice Chair; Mr. Lucente, Ms. Kumar, and Mr. Sandeen were present, as well as Town Manager, Mr. Bartha; Deputy Town Manager, Ms. Axtell; and Executive Assistant, Ms. Katzenback. Mr. Bartha introduced Darah Meister, the Town of Lexington’s new Management Fellow. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Acceptance of Gift: Lexington Pickleball Club Donation to Adams Park Hard Courts To accept the donation to the Town from the Lexington Pickle Ball Club for the adjustment of the fence and the painting of pickleball court lines at the Tennis Courts at Adams Park. 2. Approve Proclamation: Wilda Ward's 100th Birthday To approve and sign a proclamation recognizing Wilda Ward on the celebration of her one hundredth birthday. DOCUMENTS: 2026 Wilda Ward 100 Years Old.pdf VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION 1. Review: Draft Environmental Procurement Policy Ms. Hai explained that MassDEP currently has a requirement that municipalities have an environmental purchasing policy in place in order to be eligible for most of their waste and recycling grants. The Town is likely to apply for such a grant to support the upcoming changes to the waste collection system and thus must have a policy in place by June 1, 2026 to do so. The Sustainable Purchasing Policy is based off the template provided by MassDEP and has been reviewed by the Purchasing Director, as well as all members of the Senior Management Team. No objections have been raised by any staff members. Mr. Lucente suggested that he and Mr. Sandeen review items within the policy that could be addressed as part of a future discussion. Ms. Hai agreed that a second review of the policy should occur before the end of the year. In response to a question from Maggie Peard, Sustainability and Resiliency Officer, Mr. Sandeen explained that the secondary review would be for a sustainable policy to be brought to the appropriate committees for feedback, which could then be considered for recommendations. Mr. Bartha explained that the idea is to approve the policy so that the Town is compliant and then consider potential amendments in the future, as long as the Town remains compliant. DOCUMENTS: Sustainable Purchasing Policy_Draft.docx 2. Work Session - Presentation: Housing Partnership Board Updated Recommendations on Housing Policy and Strategy Ms. Hai explained that last summer, a Housing Summit was held during which the Select Board asked the Housing Partnership Board as its advisory group on housing to draft recommendations in order to reach the Town’s housing goals. The Select Board has received four reports submitted from four working groups within the Housing Partnership Board, discussing four distinct strategies. Wendy Manz, Housing Partnership Board, presented the results of their work, initiated following the July 2025 Joint Meeting on Affordable Housing, to evaluate best practices and recommend strategies for expanding and diversifying housing in Lexington. The documents provide a summary of key findings and recommendations developed by four working groups focused on: increasing affordable housing to 10% of total units; expanding housing diversity in size, type, and price point; advancing a community- supported plan for Lexington Center; and strengthening community engagement and transparency in housing initiatives. The Achieving 10% Policy Working Group explained why achieving a true 10% is important. The Massachusetts subsidized housing inventory includes market rate units in developments that qualify as affordable under Chapter 40B. Lexington currently has 12,252 homes. A true 10% would require 1,225 affordable units. Currently, Lexington has 723 (5.9%) deed restricted affordable units and needs 502 more deed restricted affordable units to achieve a true 10% goal. The newly proposed MBTA developments will add to the affordable units through the 15% inclusionary unit requirement. There was discussion regarding how to obtain more financial support for affordable housing development. In order to achieve a true 10%, Lexington would need to build more 100% affordable developments with no market rate units and to create and implement Affordable Housing Overlay District zoning regulations on certain parcels, requiring units built in that district to be 100% affordable. The expanding housing diversity in size, type, and price point Working Group stated that they focused on smaller scale typologies, “middle housing,” or cluster housing. Some of the recommended strategies include incentivizing the conversion of underutilized parcels or homes that may be at risk of teardown and incentivizing conversion into starter homes. For ADUs, the recommendations are to provide more by- right options, especially for accessible units; allowing increased square footage for accessible units; and to consider preserving the existing Special Permit option. It will be important to standardize plans and guidelines throughout the bylaw requirements. Regarding how Lexington can enable more housing in the center to support vibrancy, foot traffic and long-term economic health, the Working Group explained that Lexington is facing a housing challenge at all price points. Today, the median home price in Town is roughly $1.85M and rents are approximately $4,700 per month. The Center presents a unique opportunity. It is the most walkable and accessible part of Town, with transit connections, businesses, restaurant, civic space, and public services close together. Importantly, housing in the Center is not simply about adding units. It is also about supporting economic vibrancy and street vibrancy. Currently, there simply is not enough consistent foot traffic to support the level of vibrancy many residents and businesses want. Current zoning is one of the factors making housing construction in the Center economically difficult. Housing construction in the Center is simply not financially viable right now. In order to encourage more housing in the Center, the Town could allow more flexibility for first floor residential use on selected side streets. Second, the Select Board could add housing and economic perspectives to the Historic District Commission review process. Another idea is the creation of a Lexington Center Housing Committee. One tool that the committee should explore is form-based zoning. The Working Group for strengthening community engagement and transparency in housing initiatives explained that the Town needs to communicate better with the accurate information available and to continue to listen to residents, hear their genuine concerns, and engage them in the project of improving housing opportunities in Lexington without destroying the fabric of the Town. Some of the goals include creating a comprehensive housing website; and convening regular gatherings of residents and housing advocates to disseminate information and encourage participation and engagement of the community. Mr. Pato asked for the following considerations: what kind of incentives, directions, partnerships can be created to create affordable units without increasing the denominator of the housing stock; engagement with the Planning Board; and what type of scope the HDC can legally have in the process. Mr. Sandeen stated that he believes the HPB’s proposed long term goal for a true 10% of affordable housing is a fabulous goal. He asked if the HPB is considering this to be a 10 year or 20 year goal and recommended that the Town set interim milestones for the next 3 to 5 years. He mentioned that most of Lexington’s affordable units are rental units and asked for additional information regarding strategies for creating ownership units. He asked for more information on how the Town can best leverage the available funding with programs like MBTA buydowns. He would like more information on the HPB’s proposal for new overlay districts and how they would relate to existing overlay zoning. He would like more information on the proposed 40Y zoning and how it relates to Lexington’s SRD zoning. He would like to understand if the HPB’s focus on ADUs would also include creation of affordable ADUs. He agrees that creating housing in the center is ideal, from a walkability, bikeability and access to public transportation perspective as well as providing economic benefits for Lexington’s businesses. He is hopeful that this work could be done without creating a new committee. Ms. Hai noted that the Vision for Lexington Committee has created a working group, topic-specific committee, which has sought other community members who are passionate about helping lead specific projects. Mr. Lucente explained that creating a housing stock that is more manageable for young families or people starting out is a great goal. He stated that there should be care taken in creating housing in current commercial districts or converting property, as this may change the whole dynamic of the area. Ms. Kumar stated that this initial presentation is a great set of ideas that need to be dug into to create an integrated plan for Lexington in order to advance the affordability and diversity of housing in Lexington. Ms. Hai noted that the Housing Summit should likely be reconvened to have further discussion. She suggested future items such as determining specific attainable goals and the timelines for them. In parallel, the Housing Partnership Board could host community panel discussions. Mr. Pato stated that there should also be engagement with the Planning Board. Dawn McKenna, 9 Hancock Street, noted that there have been two major discussions about this, where no public comment was allowed. She suggested allowing for public comment before going forward on potential policy items. Ms. Hai stated that one of the main goals is for the Housing Partnership Board to host community panel discussions to address housing topics of concern, disseminate accurate information, and engage the community. This would occur before anything was implemented. DOCUMENTS: HPB Topline Presentation; HPB UPdate - Achieving 10%; HPB UPdate - Expanding Housing Options; HPB UPdate - Center Zoning Exploratory.pdf; HPB Update - HPB Community Outreach 3. Work Session - Discussion: Select Board FY2026-2027 Goals Next Steps and Preparation for Financial Policy Summits Ms. Hai stated that the upcoming Fiscal Summit will be held on June 10th. The Select Board's FY 26-27 goals were adopted in December 2026. This discussion is a check-in on progress. It is also a discussion on next steps to continue forward progress, to identify any impediments, and to determine what resources/collaborations may be warranted. Upcoming meetings are scheduled for individual Select Board members and SMT members working on particular goals. The Board discussed the proposal goals. There was a suggestion for a separate agenda item regarding a conversation on Town values, and services which may be undervalued or overvalued. Ms. Hai reviewed some of her proposed actions, such as continuing to support the Housing Partnership Board, advancing the bike/ped plan, and bringing forward conversations to continue to make the community accepting, welcoming, and supportive of everyone. Ms. Kumar reviewed some of her proposed actions, including economic and community vibrancy for revitalizing the Center. This can be broken out into a number of tasks and tied into other goals such as fiscal stability and revenue generation. Mr. Lucente stated that one of his actions of interest is identifying options for revenue diversification and commercial tax base growth. Mr. Pato stated that his topic is moving the high school project along. Mr. Sandeen mentioned that the Integrated Building Design and Construction Policy requires that the high school project is required to present to the Select Board at each stage of the project, which includes a fiscal responsibility element. Mr. Sandeen agreed it is important to keep the Select Board’s goal of avoiding operational overrides. He encouraged focusing on the top two or three key budget drivers versus the Select Board’s key priorities for services, looking to identify essential needs versus ‘nice to haves’ during the upcoming off cycle financial discussions. In response to Mr. Bartha’s comment about things in our control and thing out of our control, Mr. Sandeen mentioned that fossil fuel energy costs are rising rapidly, while renewable energy costs are decreasing and are now lower than fossil fuel energy costs. He recommended that within the clean, healthy, resilient Lexington goal that the Select Board consider accelerating the Town’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in a way that helps protect our budget against rising costs. He suggested considering developing a town wide infrastructure plan to accelerate that transition. The Board reviewed the Fiscal Summit goals for June 10th. These include the trajectory of where health insurance is going and available options to manage it; opportunities for either increasing existing revenues or building new ones; redeploying the funds once reaching pension full funding; options relative to the new trash contract;OPEB funding; the capital plan after the high school project; school budget sustainability; how to handle energy rebates; and the capital stabilization fund policy. DOCUMENTS: Select Board FY26-7 Goals.pdf 4. Discussion: Townwide Referendum Regarding 2026 Annual Town Meeting Article 31 Regulation of Refuse Disposal and Potential Vote to Call for Special Election Ms. Hai explained that Article 8 of the 1929 Special Act to create the Representative Town Meeting form of Government in Lexington, provides that an action of Town Meeting may be overturned if: 1) a petition signed by at least 3% of registered voters is submitted to the Select Board within 5 days following the end of Town Meeting, not including Sundays. This means it must be submitted by Saturday May 9th. 2) The Select Board then must call for an election within 10 days of such submittal. Assuming it is submitted on May 9th, this would be required by May 19, which is before our next scheduled meeting. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to call a town-wide special election to be held on the 16 of June, 2026, to determine whether the Town should vote to approve the action of Town Meeting, amending section 90-9 of the General Bylaws to (1) provide for free residential trash disposal up to a threshold level to be set by the Select Board and (2)permit the Select Board to charge reasonable fees for trash disposal in excess of that baseline and that the Town Clerk be authorized to prepare the ballot and take all actions necessary to conduct the election. 5. Reorganization of the Select Board VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to elect Mr. Pato as Chair of the Select Board, effective July 1, 2026. VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to elect Ms. Kumar as Vice- Chair of the Select Board, effective July 1, 2026. ADJOURN VOTE: Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Select Board voted 5-0 to adjourn the meeting at 8:53p.m. A true record; Attest: Kristan Patenaude Recording Secretary