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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-07-16-HPB-min :: :: MAP Lexington Housing Partnership Board Meeting Minutes for July 16,2020 Attendees: Harriet Cohen,Jeri Foutter, Mary Haskell, Paul Linton, Bob Peters, Rich McDonough, Melanie Thompson, Melinda Walker, Betsey Weiss Absent: Wendy Manz, Bob Pressman Guest: Bob Burbidge, LexHAB 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 7:11 pm. 1. Call to Order 2. Approve Prior Minutes Mr. Peters moved approval of the minutes. Ms. Walker seconded the motion.The motion passed unanimously. 3. Board Member Updates ■ Planning Board Mr. Peters reported that most items on the Planning Board agenda for this year have moved to the coming year's agenda. A key item is the revision to the Comprehensive Plan and a re-start of the Hartwell initiative. The goal is to solidify the Comprehensive Plan for discussion purposes by end of CY 2020. When the Plan is presented and adopted, the next step is a Housing Production Plan. ■ LexHAB Mr. Burbridge reported that LexHAB is focused on meeting the needs of its tenants. DHCD has approved changes in utility allowances and median income. Mr. Burbridge is satisfied with LexHAB's progress given the challenges at hand.The Farmview 6 units—should be up and running soon. LexHAB members has offered to provide tours of the housing to the Select Board,Town Meeting Members, and members of relevant committees and boards. LexHAB will present Farmview to the Select Board to Farmview next week. When Farmview is opened, LexHAB expects to have 78 units online. ■ Lexington Housing Authority Ms. Walker reported that there were reports of instances of parties at the housing not following social distance rules.The director followed up with the tenants and the problems seem to have been resolved. All residents are doing well. CAAL has stepped up and helped the residents with food delivery and other essential services. ■ Council on Aging No updates. ■ SPRD Committee The consultant did a lengthy presentation at the last SPRD meeting.The attendees discussed cottage style housing and smaller units. Nothing was decided at the meeting regarding the new SPRD. :: :: MAP Lexington Housing Partnership Board There is no timeframe at this point, given all of the uncertainties around COVID. 4. 40R&40S and Select Board The HPB had arranged to have a 40R and 40S presentation to the Select Board. Mr. Sandeen said his impression was that the Select Board would look favorably on a 40R proposal. Mr. Peters said that he was also favorable to 40R. Some parcels at Hartwell have been noted as potential 40R sites. Mr. Peters said he thought it would make sense to look at 40R overlay districts in Lexington. 40R is in the to-do list of the Planning Board, but is not highest priority. It does dovetail with the Housing Product Plan work. S. Housing Trusts/Corporations Ms. Weiss. At the SPRD meeting, the issue of public bidding came up. Someone at the SPRD mentioned that housing trusts and housing corporations are not bound by the requirement to do public bidding. Ms. Weiss will be doing some further investigation. Mr. Sandeen noted that the $111,000 will not build even a single unit of housing and that it might be possible to raise additional funds, for example with a housing transfer tax(as Brookline has done). Mr. Peters suggested that the town could leverage the money in a variety of ways to produce affordable housing, not just purchasing units. Ms. Walker pointed out that a housing corporation might be able to bring together a variety of funds from a combination of sources such as (but not limited to) loans, CPA funding, or grants. 6. Exclusionary Zoning This discussion was tabled. 7. Housing Choice Bill Ms. Walker said that at several of the governor's briefings the Housing Choice Bill has been mentioned as a potential engine of economic development. Ms. Walked asked whether anyone on the HPB has done any advocacy for the Housing Choice Bill. Ms. Walker suggested that we contact friends in other districts to ask them to ask their representatives to support the Housing Choice Bill. (The Lexington representatives are already in support of the Housing Choice Bill.) 8. Vine Street Ms. Walker reminded the HPB that Mr. Pressman had previously suggested ways the HPB could assist LexHAB with the discussions with the neighbors regarding the housing work on Vine Street. He also suggested that the HPB discuss how we could help LexHAB with discussions during the neighborhood meetings. Mr. Burbridge said the plan had been to meet with the Vine Street neighbors in person in September or October. It's not clear that the meetings will happen in that timeframe (or happen in person), given the COVID situation. He thought that Mr. Pressman's idea are spot on. Once LexHAB meets with the neighbors and gets their feedback, the design process will begin. :: :: MAP Lexington Housing Partnership Board Ms. Foutter suggested that we discuss this further with Mr. Pressman at a subsequent LHP meeting. 9. Community Endowment of Lexington (CEL) The Lexington Housing Foundation (LEF) had submitted a grant proposal to CEL, requesting funds for hiring a consultant to identify 40R districts. Ms. Cohen reported that CEL did not provide a grant to LEF. CEL thought that it was a worthy project, but they are focused on projects with a shorter-term payback than the project LHF proposed. Ms. Cohen suggested that, at a future meeting, the HPB consider submitting a CPC proposal for CPA funds to hire a consultant for the purpose of identifying possible 40R overlay districts. 10. H.R. 7301 The Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020 Ms.Thompson recommended that we follow the progress of HR 7301, now passed in the House of Representatives. 11. Website Comments No updates. 12. New Business Ms. Walker brought to the attention of the HPB a program to provide rental assistance to people who had lost their jobs during COVID.The Select Board decided that it would use funds from the Takeda grant for emergency rental assistance. Several other communities have allocated CPA funding for emergency rental assistance, which is a permitted use of CPA funds. Ms. Walker spoke with Marilyn Fenallosa (chair of the CPC). Ms. Fenallosa asked if the HPB would be willing to make an application to the CPC for using CPA funds for emergency rental assistance. Ms. Walker will be gathering additional information from the town. Ms. Walker strongly urged the HPB to read the material sent out related to rental assistance. 13. Action Items No update. 14. Set Next Meeting Date The next meeting will be on Thursday, August 20 at 7:00 pm. 15. Adjourn Ms. Weiss moved adjournment and Ms. Cohen seconded the motion.The motion was approved unanimously.