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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-27-LEXHAB-min HOUSING PROPOSAL WEBINAR— Regarding 116 Vine Street, Lexington, MA HELD REMOTELY January 27, 2020—7 PM Present: Bob Burbidge- LexHAB Chair and President, Lester Savage- Vice Chair, Board members Bill Kennedy, Henry Liu. At 7:01 PM Henry Liu began the recording of the webinar Bob Burbidge, Chairman and President—Welcoming Remarks Roll Call took place—Board members present and Panelist Colin Smith, Architect 7:02 PM— Henry Liu reviewed meeting logistics. This ZOOM Webinar is simulcast live with LEX Media. After the presentation there will be a live Q&A Colin Smith—Architect Reviewed the site plan. Reduced the size of the project down to two (2) buildings with six (6) units. Has been presented to the Select Board. Scheme A is the best to locate second structure further from the neighborhood.Scheme B is the structure on the right. Farmhouse located along the street with a handicap accessible Unit. This is reminiscent of the structure once there. Barn is at the rear of the property which will have four(4) units two (2) on the ground two (2) above, also with a handicap accessible unit. Parking is now 12 parking spaces including two(2)twelve(12)including two(2) handicap accessible spaces. There will also be a trash/recycling closure with bicycle shed. We have begun to develop landscaping. Previous Plan-anticipated underground infiltration structure in parking lot and common green space between the two structures. Side and rear of property bounds divide by split rail fence and reclaimed store wall. Viewed the 3-D views of the Farmhouse and structures. Farmhouse%story structure on right would be a three (3) bedroom unit and a two(2) bedroom Handicap Accessible unit. View from the Southeast you will see a partial view of the Barn. there will be Solar panel southern facing roof. View between the two buildings and hoping to connect to trailhead. Bob Burbidge— Reviewed that we have taken a lot of the concerns presented at the last meeting with respect to the neighbors and thanked Colin Smith. Lester Savage— REVIEWED THAT WE HAVE NET WITH THE Town Design team and reviewed comments from them which were incorporated as well as Mike McLean from the Police Department regarding the traffic study which will occur in March after the winter months. NEXT STEPS: Bob Burbidge — We should take this one step at a time. Move forward with Design process, additional stakeholders to meet with the Select Board Approval. QUESTION AND ANSWERS Michael and Susan Eppling—15 Marley Court - Primary concern was the density and since their last meeting have not seen change. There are still 6 units. - Believe this is a real stretch to say neighborhood concerns were considered. - Recommend driveway to be relocated to 132 Vine Street side and feel it would be safer further from the curve. Residents could turn left and not right. - Issues — Environmental Impact — negative impact on adjacent wetlands in addition to traffic concerns. - Project located very close to Lower Vine Brook. - Meadowbrook considerable proportion of the development- 100-foot buffer - Reviewed Town Wetland Protection Rules. Construction cannot disturb more than 50% of the buffer. - What percentage of the area is within 100 feet of the buffer? Colin Smith—This was delineated 9 to 10 years ago. We are having that re-flagged and will be reviewing with the Conservation staff. Hoping to review this in February and Town will review. Michael Eppling - Helpful to provide what actual percentages are within 100-foot buffer and being developed. Lester Savage—Makes sense—will abide by all Rules and regulations. Bill Kennedy—reduced the density since last meeting and cannot see how we can reduce it further. Michael Eppling—the reduction of density from seven(7)to six(6)units does not represent a compromise. Town meeting article stated 5 to 6 units. 7 Units are not legally compliant with the Town meeting article. Hoping to see a proposal for less. Harold Hemmond—104 Vine Street - Thanked Michael Eppling and totally agree. - Not seen any respect to the neighborhood 's concerns about density being addressed. - Safety—please to finally see a more comprehensive traffic study is being done. Would hope that those conducting the study would recognize Vine Street as a one lane street. Traffic is a concern. 40% increase in traffic will double the concerns and number of times people must stop. - Driveway is at bottom of the steep lined curve. There are problems with congestion and safety. - When looking at this variant plan, sees 12 parking spot lots and a dumpster shed. It is a tremendous eyesore. - Would like to see the financial transparency about development of affordable housing. - LexHAB could support and ton wide disclosures of keeping Lexington affordable of modest needs. - Big houses together with large parking lots is not what we want. This complex is moving away from that goal. - Requires development and what about all the extra tax revenue? - How can we address affordable housing in Lexington in a transparent way? Pamela Lyons—51 Grant Street—Town Meeting Member Precinct 5 - Regarding parking spaces. Understood there were 167 applications for Farmview. - Suggested limiting one vehicle per unit,advertise this.With that many applicants you will not lose all, and you do not need all those applicants. - Due to this location, units are more affordable. - Town Meeting voted to declare a climate emergency last Fall. - Spend less by building fewer parking spaces, need less engineering infrastructure. - You are using CPA funds and you are permitted to jump housing density zoning regulations. - Suggest one space per unit,two more for guests and delivery. Bob Burbidge — thanked Pamela. Reviewed the requirement that we be bound to follow DHCD requirements. Will have to research if we can limit applicants to only one car. Colin Smith —the calculation was based on one for each two-bedroom unit. Two cards for each three- bedroom unit. Police wants us to include several guest parking so there is no Parking on street as there is no shoulder there. Pamela Lyons requested to look at the parking regulations. Bob Burbidge — indicated he does not believe the number of vehicles is addressed in the requirements. Indicated that we cannot limit applicant car spaces based on car need. Lester Savage—Reviewed Jennifer Gingris will be able to respond to this inquiry. George Burnell—Selectman at the time this project was established. - Meets all parameters set at that time. - Density is appropriate. - Please with what LexHAB has done. Anne Englehart—107 Vine Street - Thanked Colin for the drawings. Echoed neighbors' concerns. - Density currently calls for the same as Farmview. - To try to shoehorn the same density does not look right. - Traffic and safety are of concern. Putting a driveway to the right off property is worth looking at. Lester Savage—there are terminology issues. Number of units Farmview located on 20K square foot lot. Vine Street is located on 30K square foot lot. Vine Street is lower density. The number of units does not get into square footage. Square footage is not out of sorts compared to the homes on the street. We reduced the impervious surfaces, size of structure is smaller, Parking lot is smaller, and number of units has dropped. We are in apposition to try to create affordable housing with open land around it and it provides a good spot. We are trying our best to not impact neighborhood. Joelle Gunther-35 Woodcliff Road - Project is beautiful. - There are McMansions in her neighborhood that create a tremendous negative impact. - Highly commends the project. Harry Hammond-(104 Vine Street - Seem to come back to density. Dropping from 7 to 6 units is a concern. What did town meeting initiate? - Density has many meanings. - How about comparing to one family zoning? - This is a density that is six times higher. - How many cars will there be coming and going out of property. Betsy Weiss-8 Dover Lane, Town Meeting Member and Housing Partnership Board member - Supports this project. - The density of this is smaller than one house across the street. Parking will be screened with landscaping. - 6 units is very appropriate. - Housing Partnership voted for six (6) units. Lin Shu—117 Vine Street Precinct 5 Member—Town Meeting Member - Has not seen any improvement. - Remembered it was up to six (6) units. - Density of traffic and number of people living there. - Street is not overly wide. When driving down Vine Street daily it is difficult. Michael Epling, 15 Manley Court - In response to Betsy Weiss regarding the replication of Leary Property. - It never had a large parking lot and about houses across the street—the key point is being lost which is Traffic and Safety. - Asked every member on Panel and LexHAB—is anyone open to the number of units less than 6? Bob Burbidge—This is a concern we have. If we continue to reduce the number of units, it will increase square footage cost. We are governed by prevailing wage concerns and constraints. We must be very careful. It will be financially challenging. Lester Savage-Very Few opportunities for construction of new units. A need in the community is present. Stated he agrees to stay with six (6) units. To have larger families in this grouping of homes. Preference to have three (3) and Two (2) bedroom homes—cost and construction a concern and difficult process. Bill Kennedy—Support this and it meets requirements— ideal location with 30 square foot lot. Will not be overbearing and it is well designed. Requirements of Lexington are being met to provide more affordable housing. Henry Liu —This town has changed dramatically and economically. It is not an affordable town to live in. Supports affordable housing to maximize the opportunity. Due to the pandemic, it is difficult to measure correctly. Do not see a lot of other opportunities to build for affordable housing. Important to think about the big picture. Moving the driveway to the other side and bring houses access to conservation land. Hope that people appreciate what LexHAB is doing for the Town. Joyce Murphy-1505 Massachusetts Avenue - Familiar with this neighborhood. - Has empathy for neighbors. - In full support of the project and understands the needs for more affordable housing. - Design is beautiful. - Admits Vine street is narrow. Marianne Boswell—10 Grant Place, LEXRAP - Have a few families who are tenants of LexHAB. Transformative that we can help families live in our town. - Developers come in and put-up cluster housing with components of affordable housing. - Important to keep track of the 10%affordable housing. - Pretty large piece of land and the design looks lovely. Tina McBride, Town Meeting member Precinct 7 - Familiar with this area. - Very difficult watching an old space getting filled with new buildings. - We need affordable housing. - Very difficult to watch smaller homes getting knocked down. - For sake of compromise-would designers be willing to eliminate parking spaces to make it smaller - Would alleviate some of the concerns. Lester Savage — will look in to adjusting driveway location. Also, with Town requirements and DHCD regulations. Don McKenna-9 Hancock—Precinct 6, Town meeting member - What is the square footage of the units? Lester Savage- 1100 Square foot plus or minus two-or three-bedroom units, one may be low 1000 Sq Ft and the other 1200 Sq Ft Wil fit in nicely with landscaping. - Worry about reducing parking. - Neighbors concerned about traffic, concerned with guests and where they will park. - Concern that the Town is at a point of building too much affordable housing units. - Feels design will fit in nicely with the landscape. - Worried about parking being reduced. Referred to the project at Lincoln Park. Concerned about parking for visitors. Harry Hemmond - Address representations - Note for the record Leary Ad Hoc committee — nobody from the neighborhood was on that committee. - Architectural firm study stated the Leary Farm was available. - Neighborhood have spent time and effort for the historical preservation as an icon of agricultural preservation. - Density—no one from the neighborhood has supported this. - Traffic study—Stated that it is tough to do during pandemic and winter. - This has been documented and ignored. - Economics of scale. Question is one of balance. Not being presented with any fiscal transparency - Why cannot the town discuss some use of general resources for people to live with modest means. Marianne Boswell(10 Grant Street) - Suggested having Vine Street turn into a one-way street or a restriction to not go right out of the property. This may help some of the neighbors' concerns. Lin Shu-117 Vin) - Comments on the parking lot - Sometimes visitors park on the street, visitors having a party is a concern. - Uses public Transportation and is feasible. - Wife had three accidents—three times on Vine Street. Michael Eppling - Traffic— in favor of prohibiting a right hand turn out of development. Knows police indicated it would be difficult to enforce. - Morning traffic—people use Vine Street as a cut through to Woburn Street. - Parking Spaces—parking on Vine Street should be restricted. - Challenging to produce fewer units — Can LexHAB produce financial analysis if we produced number of units. Lester Savage—This is a good point, and we will investigate this as far as analysis of cost. We agreed we would have no right turn statements in the leases, but it is not easy to enforce it. Robert Pressman, Community Preservation Committee - Lexington has multiple interests which we try to advance, open space, affordable housing, and others. The Leary purchase was 14.2 acres. 13 and 3-4 acres are permanent open space. That is a large benefit to the entirety of Vine Street. There are paths providing access to this land and the opportunity to connect with other trails for longer walks. - The 2020 Vision Statement provides that we also advance affordable housing. This is the only piece of Town-owned land now available for affordable housing. I recently noted that in another area a developer paid 3.6 million dollars for 3 plus acres. It is going to be difficult to provide other land for affordable housing. Regarding parking,just think of entering Vine Street from near Mass. Ave. The houses are packed together and often many cars are parked perpendicular to homes, sometimes making it difficult to proceed up the street. The current diagram for this project shows well-shielded parking. Consider other parts of Town. Worthen Road across from Captain Parker Apartments. People in 5 of our splendid houses look across the street at cars. The same on Emerson Gardens Way. - Regarding issues raised.This project will have to comply with the Conservation Commission's normal rules.There will be a traffic study. If we are going to advance multiple Town interests, this is what we must do. Bob Burbidge thanked all participants and noted that we will be moving the process forward. We developed what we presented and will consider all concerns moving forward. Anyone interested in being on the contact list, please reach out. Telecast of this presentation will me on Lex Media. Roll call to end meeting took place— Bob Burbidge, Bill Kennedy, Lester Savage and Henry Liu Meeting adjourned