HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-03-04-SBFRC-minAd Hoc Stone Building Feasibility/Reuse Committee
March 4, 2021 8:00 AM
Town of Lexington, MA
MINUTES
Members of the public can view the meeting webinar from their computer or tablet by clicking
on the following link at the time of the meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/97552286002?pwd=Y1dtSzA1YnVMc0hMc0h1ZGNpQmphQT09
Phone +1 929 436 2866
Meeting ID: 975 5228 6002
Passcode: 620474
Meeting began at 8:05am, with a membership roll call,and reading of statement on use of
Virtual Meetings for fulfilling the open meeting requirement
Attending: Members: Jill Hai (Select Board Liaison),Cristina Burwell, Lester Savage,
Anne Grady, MelindaNasardinov, Mark Manasas, Paul Smyke, Carolyn Goldstein, Jeff
Howry (Chair), Meg Muckenhoupt (Appropriations Committee Liaison), Claire Feingold
Thor yn (Car y Librar y Trustees Liaison)
Absent: Devan Marks
Recording Secretary: Cristina Burwell
Approval of minutes from last meeting
Motion to approve by Mark, seconded by Anne.
1.Public forum planning
a.Press release to communicate information about the committee’s charge and
request for input (Carolyn) - A request was made to include EDS’s building use
restrictions, changing the tone of the last sentence to read more aspirational and
less defensive, and adding a link to the committee’s web page. The press
release was approved, allowing for needed editorial but non-substantive
changes. This was motioned by Mark, seconded by Anne and had unanimous
approval.
b.Video for outreach - Devin to provide updates at the next meeting.
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c.Outreach to organizations and media outlets (Mark) - We have a draft of roughly
300 organizations identified by areas of involvement with notation on how these
community groups might be interested in contributing (amplifying
announcements, presenting at a meeting, etc). List is being fine-tuned to tr y to
both limit contacts to organizations and media outlets that may have an interest
in/or ability to share information about the Stone building, while at the same
time casting the net wide enough to inform anyone in the community with an
interest (list is now at a more manageable 53 organizations).Mark has sent the
list to committee members to note who they have updated contact information
for. Stone building committee members will also act as liaisons for community
outreach. T his list will then be able to be used (in conjunction with the press
release noted above) to publicize both the existence and charge of this
committee, and announcement of public forum 1 to solicit input on community
ideas for how they would like to see the building used. It was mentioned that
this list might also be used to solicit a more diverse makeup of committee
membership. It was noted that that outreach has already happened when the
committee was formed and applications sought, and that the authority
overseeing membership is the Select Board.
d.Proposed timing - It was suggested that we aim for mid-April as a working
target for public forum 1. It is understood that this will be online (Zoom). It was
suggested that we have two forums (each with the same topic) to provide
different times that might capture a wider swath of participants and allow for
broader participation, but that committee members do not need to attend both.
For example, one might be during the day, and another in the evening. In hopes
of getting thoughtful and meaningful input, it was suggested that members of
the public submit something in advance if they wanted to speak. It was also
noted that the committee needs to allow for public comment which is
unscripted. At this time, no conclusions for forum design were made.
2.F inancial feasibility - Jeff commented on the need to come up with how much it will
cost to keep the building going (i.e., a hard-nosed real estate study) and indicated that
he will be looking into this in the coming months,and star ting an investigation of the
square footage of the building. It was noted that the committee’s charge is to look into
reuse possibilities for the building to feed into suppor ting Town investment rather than
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how it is financed. It was recommended that Mike Cronin (Facilities Dept ) come back
to a committee meeting after the committee has some ideas about what to do with the
building, and its relationship to the Town budget ).
3.Other
a.It was noted that we missed the public comments section at the beginning of
the meeting, and community member Jaclyn Anderson addressed the committee
and her interest in the Stone building. She also mentioned “Five Sparks” as a
similar cultural institution that might ser ve as a model to learn from.
Adjournment motioned by Mark and seconded by Anne.Roll call for unanimous approval.
Meeting ended at 9:21am
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