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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-02 Joint BOS, SC, PB, and State Delegation-min Joint Meeting Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and Planning Board December 2, 2019 A Joint meeting of the Lexington Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Planning Board was called to order at 8:04 p.m. on Monday, December 2, 2019 in the Estabrook Hall, Cary Memorial Building, 1605 Massachusetts Avenue. Present for the Board of Selectmen (BOS): Mr. Lucente, Chair; Mr. Pato; Ms. Barry, Ms. Hai and Mr. Sandeen as well as Mr. Malloy, Town Manager; Ms. Axtell, Deputy Town Manager; and Ms. Katzenback, Executive Clerk. Present for the School Committee (SC): Ms. Lenihan; Ms. Jay, Chair (no quorum). Present for the Planning Board: Mr. Creech, Chair; Mr. Peters; Ms. Johnson; Mr. Canale. Mr. Lucente noted that the following list of subjects of interest was submitted to the legislators prior to the meeting: Vaping •Early Voting Funding •Climate Change Funding •Regional transportation issues (and money to assist therewith).•Ideas on economic development - both downtown revitalizations and larger-scale efforts •Funding for the 250th Celebration •Bill to require Local Impacts of Enacted Legislation •Fossil Fuel consumption and gas leaks in distribution networks; FUTURE Act; Brookline by law restricting gas/oil pipes in new construction (with exceptions for feasibility, restaurant cooking, etc.) •Senior tax deferral - Delay in the jump in the interest rate on estate transfer •Transportation - Regional transit investigation; Hartwell Ave/Bedford St/Wood St project; Transit and Innovation District for the Hartwell area. Mr. Lucente welcomed Representative Ciccolo and Senators Barrett and Friedman and asked them to briefly share news from the State House: Senator Freidman: Three big bills were signed into law last week by the Governor: the Student Opportunity Act; the Vaping bill; and the Child Wellness bill. The Senate recently passed a Pharma bill addressing drug costs. Looking forward, the Senate will discuss a Climate bill, sponsored by Senator Barrett, plus Health Care and Mental Health legislation. Senator Barrett: The major Climate bill is expected to come to a vote in January 2020. Representative Ciccolo: Two Home Rule petitions have been filed by Ms. Ciccolo in the House and Senators Friedman and Barrett have filed reciprocal bills in the Senate. One of those bills— dealing with Capital Expenditures— passed and was signed into law by Governor Baker. The Select Board bill is still in committee but should be ready for a vote soon. Looking ahead, the House will discuss Transportation Finance.  Board of Selectmen questions for the legislators: Mr. Sandeen: What key parts of the Climate bill will be able to move forward? Senator Barrett: It is notable that the State has never given the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) a statutory mandate. This bill, sponsored by Senator Barrett, would correct that to provide 1 statutory guidance. The inclusion of emissions reduction mandates would require the industry to rethink how it conducts business. Mr. Barrett is hopeful his colleagues in both chambers will support his initiative. Representative Ciccolo: The House passed a far-reaching Green Works bill designed to give cities and towns tools to promote behavior change around climate change and adaptation initiatives. Installation of charging stations, purchase of electric school buses, culvert upgrades, etc. are also part of the bill. A separate climate-related bill gaining traction is the 2050 Roadmap, intended to establish incremental climate target goals for near- and mid-term, leading up to the larger 2050 deadline. Ms. Barry: In 2025, Lexington will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Given the importance of the anniversary and the number of visitors the celebration will draw, is it possible some State funding might be available to offset the costs of event-specific infrastructure and public safety? th Senator Friedman: There is a bill to set up a commission for the 250 anniversary but what sorts of things are you thinking of? At some point, the legislators will have to lobby for their individual towns and districts need. The sooner what is needed is know, the sooner the legislators can work on the requests. Senator Barrett: We need to make sure this bill is focusing on the right year—1775, not only 1776. Mr. Lucente: There is a bill circulating that would require that a study be performed on the local impacts of State legislation. What is the status of that bill? Representative Ciccolo: The bill is H 2674/S 1853. It would require every bill that is passed to have a fiscal impact note. The last hearing was October 31, 2019. It is still in committee. Senator Barrett: The State should always mitigate the impacts of legislation but to require an analysis of impact for every bill for every city and town is more onerous than the system can bear. Plus, it is possible towns could sue if the impact analysis is significantly off. Senator Barrett would not favor a blanket rule one should be done when the impact is major. It also might be that the rule could be optional, adopted by the municipality by Home Rule. Mr. Pato: About tax deferral, particularly Senior relief. The State mandates that we increase the interest rate on a property as soon as it transfers. For heirs/executors, this can be a huge burden—the Town charges less than 2%; the mandated increase is about 16%. Is there any possibility that the State would allow a grace period so that people could both grieve and have time to adjust to a change in their taxes? Senator Friedman: Senator Friedman and Senator Donnelly before her filed this bill for the last 8 years. It passed a couple of times in the Senate but unfortunately died in the house. It includes provisions for veterans and active service members. There is now a new co-sponsor and it might pass. It will continue to be put it forward as a stand-alone bill and also as a part of other bills. It is a no-brainer and ridiculous to have taken this long. Representative Ciccolo: Representative Ciccolo filed it on the House side and has encouraged 2 the Chair of the Revenue Committee to take a look at it. It has not yet had a hearing in the House but it may be heard this session. Mr. Pato: Would it make sense to petition for Home Rule so that it could be coupled with Lexington’s own thresholds? Representative Ciccolo and Senator Friedman: Absolutely. Ms. Hai: There are a lot of traffic and transportation projects going on right now. What do you think would make the biggest difference? Representative Ciccolo: The Transportation bill soon to be in the House is expected to be very comprehensive. It may also have an expenditure component plus new revenues to address a wide range of things across the state ad will require new fees and taxes. New revenue is necessary to provide the kind of transportation needed. RailVision is looking at commuter rail and the MBTA. A coming proposal includes both increased trip frequency and electrification. Even though Lexington does not have rail service, this will benefit the town by taking cars off the road, thus easing Lexington’s traffic problems. Rapid transit bus service in cities and in local corridors must improve, as well as long-haul bus service. A bi-cameral committee has been formed to discuss the disruption to communities that the Alewife parking garage re-build would impact. Like many other communities, Lexington needs to bridge the “last mile” gap which services like the RevShuttle to Alewife has done successfully. Senator Friedman and Rep Ciccolo have sponsored a transit bill that has been endorsed by MAPC, the Middlesex3, the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, and the Town of Billerica. The Lexington Board of Selectmen submitted a letter of support for the initiative. Citizens and communities will need to lend their support in the months ahead for the tough votes that will be taken to move these initiatives ahead. Senator Friedman: The cost of riding the commuter rail is prohibitive for those with lower paying jobs. The T is also becoming more expensive. If costs do not come down, the transportation problem will not be solved for many people. This is what makes the Fair Share amendment important. A gas tax is very unpopular but there has to be short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions to funding. Better quality transportation must go hand in hand with affordability. Senator Barrett: Some last mile solutions in Boston include Ubers, taxis, and Lyfts that are being used, for example, to take commuters from South Station to the Seaport, in lieu of mass transit options. Municipally-funded transportation services—like LexPress—are another solution. Shuttles, now used for distinct populations, can be expanded for wider use. A Senate bill, to complement Ms. Ciccolo’s House initiatives, could provide funding for these types of municipal mass transit initiatives.  Planning Board questions for the legislators: 3 Mr. Peters: A number of boards and committee in Lexington have been talking about adopting Chapter 40R. The incentive funding from Chapter 40R comes from the State’s Housing Trust Fund, a part of the General Fund. What is the stability of that funding? Has there been a time when the funding did not meet the demands from participating communities? Senator Barrett: The governor has proposed an increase the deeds excise tax, the first increment to be dedicated to transportation. But there are other proposals to actually double the deeds excise tax—it would still be a modest amount—and to dedicate the second part of the increase to housing. Representative Ciccolo: Lexington would not be eligible for the 40S reimbursement part of the Governor’s proposal because that part is needs-based. Mr. Creech: Are there ideas being considered such as having more people work from home rather than needing to live close enough to the city to commute; or alternate “no-drive” days? Senator Barrett: There are high-volume congestion pricing ideas but Governor Baker does not like them, at least so far. However, he recently proposed a tax break for employers that allow employees to work from home. Because the trend of working from home is already happening, the State wants to hold to see how far it goes without State funding. Senator Friedman: Congestion pricing would affect those who have no other choice for how they get to work. Until there is a robust transportation system that everyone can use, congestion pricing would exacerbate inequity. A lot can be done with efficient bus service that uses dedicated lanes. If major corporations in Boston pay employees a stipend to use the T instead of offering a subsidy to pay for parking, more people might opt to take the T. Public transportation will work if the demand is high enough. Also, looking into absentee/foreign ownership of city real estate is another potential way to address housing shortages and transportation. Mr. Canale: Town Meeting just passed a 25% schematic design plan for roadway improvements in the Hartwell Avenue area. A separate initiative to redevelop the Hartwell corridor that would increase the commercial tax revenue is also moving forward. To be eligible for government funding of the re-development initiative, a significant amount of housing—480 units— must be included. There must also be a strong transit component but, currently, the Hartwell location is not served by last mile transportation. What can we do here with respect to transportation? Representative Ciccolo: MassDOT is bullish about developing a Better Bus project that includes bus rapid transit and the creation of dedicated bus lanes. This will be controversial because it will require a whole highway travel lane to be dedicated to rapid bus use so that the buses are fast and efficient. Partnering with other towns and organizations through MAPC, MassPort, and the MAGIC subregion group is the best approach to take. Coincidentally, there is a deep desire in the House to deal with the transportation crisis. Ms. Johnson: Are there any big ideas statewide about how to address Climate Change? Do you envision impacts on Lexington as a result of initiatives or due to foreseen hazards coming our way? Senator Barrett: Anything done at the State level has local impacts. The NetZero Energy Stretch Code, enabling legislation, is potentially up ahead and Lexington could adopt it. The objective is 4 to create a NetZero building environment to mitigate or eliminate the emissions impact of new construction. Electric school buses—which cost 4 times the amount of a conventional school bus—could be subsidized by State and Federal government and regional bulk buying could achieve favorable pricing. The scale of Climate Change requires massive efforts and investments. Representative Ciccolo: The Property Clean Assessed Energy program for Residential has been filed which will help homeowners retrofit their houses for efficiency and to install renewable energy systems. This is especially beneficial for older homes. A resident can borrow funds from the program and pay back over time through the tax bill. Ms. Ciccolo noted that a lot of ideas like this have come from the local level.  Questions from the School Committee: From Committee member Ms. Colburn, read by Ms. Jay: Are there any new accountability measures that the School Committee needs to be aware of? Will towns be receiving any more money for Special Education or for Special Education transportation? Senator Friedman: There is now a hard cap of $48,000 for when the Special Education circuit breaker can be applied. Special Education transportation is included in that cap. This means more money will come Lexington for these purposes. Accountability is a piece of the legislation and improvement plans will need to be filed with the State. The Department of Education will define those requirements. Ms. Jay: Is more funding coming into the Massachusetts School Building Authority as a result of the Student Opportunity Act? Is there a timeline for when the MSBA will allow more projects into the pipeline? Senator Barrett: The funding cap was raised with the idea of getting more buildings into the pipeline. Ms. Lenihan: Will the HPV vaccine be added to the mandated list of vaccinations? Senator Friedman: We believe the hearing scheduled for tomorrow will take place to discuss whether the religious exemption will be rescinded. The HPV vaccine discussion, however, is being subsumed into the larger discussion about vaccines in general. The larger question needs to be addressed before HPV can be taken up. Opposition to vaccination is very vocal. From Committee member Ms. Sawhney, read by Ms. Lenihan: Is there an update on anti-vaping legislation? Senator Friedman: Legislation was passed to ban vaping by anyone under the age of 21. All flavored products have also been banned, including menthol. Rep Ciccolo: Taxes on vaping products will fund public health programs. ADJOURN 5 Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 to adjourn at 9:19 p.m. The Planning Board and the School Committee both voted unanimously to adjourn at 9:19 p.m. A true record; Attest: Kim Katzenback Executive Clerk Kim Siebert Recording Secretary 6