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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-25-HPB-min :: :: MAP exington Housing Partnership Board Meeting Minutes for November 25, 2019 Attendees: Bob Peters, Harriet Cohen,Jeri Foutter,Wandy Manz, Rich McDonough, Bob Peters, Bob Pressman, Mark Sandeen, Melanie Thompson, Melinda Walker, Betsey Weiss Absent: Mary Haskell, Paul Linton Guests: Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti, Len Morse-Fortier The Housing Partnership Board (HPB) meeting was chaired by Jeri Foutter and minutes were taken by Harriet Cohen.The meeting was called to order at 6:54. 1. Call to Order 2. Approve Prior Minutes Ms. Walker moved approval of the July 23 minutes as amended, Mr. Pressman seconded the motion.The motion was carried unanimously. Ms. Walker moved approval of the September 19 minutes as amended, Mr. Pressman seconded the motion.The motion was carried unanimously. Ms. Walker moved approval of the October 7 minutes as amended, Ms.Weiss seconded the motion.The motion was carried unanimously. Ms. Walker moved approval of the October 29 minutes as amended, Mr. Pressman seconded the motion.The motion was carried unanimously. 3. 186 Bedford Street Ms. Foutter recognized the HPB in general and Ms. Weiss and Ms. Walker in specific for their hard work on the 186 Bedford Street rezoning warrant article.Thank you also to the Planning Board and Select Board. 4. Joint Board of Selectmen & HPB Meeting-40R&40S presentation Mr. Peters commented on the usefulness of the presentation, as did several of the members of the HPB. S. Hosmer House/Leary developments Mr. Pressman reported that, at the beginning of September, Ms. Barry convened a meeting regarding the feasibility of LexHAB securing a grant at CPC including consideration of Hosmer House being a part of the housing on the Leary land.. The initial request from LexHAB was for$75K for design funds for Leary. There was a discussion at the CPC meeting to add $25K to that request to include an evaluation of the financial impact of using the Hosmer House for affordable housing. At the Select Board meeting of Oct. 7, Mr. Malloy discussed having a working group to study the idea of including the Hosmer House as part of the Leary project. A working group was formed. Ms. Hai will chair the working group. Les Savage will represent LexHAB. Ms. Weiss will also participate on the working group. :: :: MAP exington Housing Partnership Board The HPB concluded it is too expensive to mix affordable and historical housing; instead, a more feasible approach would be to build an addition with 6 affordable units. 6. Planning Board Update Mr. Peters said that the new Planning Director was introduced at the last Planning Meeting.The new director is Amanda Loomis, most recently the planning director in Framingham. 7. Council on Aging Update Mr. McDonough reported on a study showing that seniors are being squeezed out of Lexington by high taxes. 8. LexHAB Update Thursday was Pat Goddard's last day as Executive Director. Work is proceeding apace on the Busa property. However, LexHAB still has financial challenges on this work.The contract with the modular company exhausted the money allocated by the under the Community Preservation Act. LexHAB has contributed $90,000 for the modular company. LexHAB requested an additional $320,000 from the CPC for work on Leary. There are two issues related to the latest funding request:first,the Town is interpreting a contract signed previously with LexHAB as LexHAB having committed to no further funding requests.The second issue is that the CPC doesn't allocate money to work that is already committed, so some of the LexHAB work is not eligible. Town Counsel has been asked to determine whether LexHAB can be reimbursed for monies already expended. 9. Lexington Housing Authority Update No update. 10. SPRD Update A report was submitted to Town Meeting. A consultant is coming to inform Lexington as to what other communities have done regarding special permits and to help the committee decide on its recommendations. 11. Brief Comments Ms. Foutter has received feedback from HPB members that meetings run too long because discussions digress from the topic at hand. Ms. Foutter asked everyone's cooperation in keeping the meeting on track and in keeping updates to the point. Ms. Foutter inquired whether the HPB members are feeling heard at the meetings and everyone agreed as they were. Ms. Foutter also asked that when members submit items for the agenda that they include a time allocation for the items. The sentiment of the HPB was to reserve space in the Community Center rather than Town Hall. 12. 40R and 40S and Planning Board Ms. Foutter will work with Mr. Creech regarding the scheduling of a 40R and 40S presentation to the Planning Board.The presentation will most likely be in the spring. :: :: MAP exington Housing Partnership Board Ms. Foutter asked where we could have used Chapter 40R had we acted earlier. It is possible that the Town could have received Chapter 40R funds for Met State, Lexington Courtyard on Lowell Street, and 186 Bedford Street. Ms. Foutter suggested that HPB apply to the CPC for a consultant to identify possible 40R sites within Lexington. Ms. Weiss moved that the HPB investigate the feasibility of applying to the CPC for study funds to identify possible 40R sites within Lexington. Ms. Cohen seconded the motion.The motion was approved unanimously. 13. Housing Choice Bill Advocacy Ms. Weiss provided an updated version of the June letter in support of Housing Choice Bill H.3507.The letter was updated to include that fact that the 186 Bedford Street rezoning was approved, albeit 7 months later than it might have been which substantially delayed development. In email, Mr. Sandeen suggested sending the letter to the entire Lexington state legislative delegation,to the Governor, and to the Select Board members, as well as to the Speaker of the Massachusetts State house. The HPB made some wording changes while preserving the message of the letter. Ms. Walker moved approval of the letter as amended by the HPB. Mr. Pressman seconded the motion.The motion was approved unanimously. Ms. Foutter appointed herself and Ms. Weiss to the newly formed Legislative Letter sub- committee to determine further action. 14. Open Meeting Law Based on recent judicial rulings, any offering of opinions on email, even between only two parties, is not permitted. All deliberations must be done in a public meeting.The updates to the Open Meeting Law will be discussed at the next meeting. 15. New Business There was no new business. 16. Action Items There was no update on action items. 17. Set Next Meeting Date The next meeting will be on Dec. 17. 18. Adjourn Ms. Weiss moved adjournment and Ms. Cohen seconded.The motion was approved unanimously.