HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12-08-PB-minPLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF DECEMBER 8, 2004
A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office
Building, was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Chairman Kastorf with members Davies, Galaitsis, Harden,
Manz and planning staff McCall - Taylor, Sobol and Tap present.
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Mr. Kastorf recognized Selectman Chair Dawn McKenna who informed the Board about an action the
Selectmen took at their meeting on December 6. Mr. Joseph Marino, Homes Development, Inc., asked the
Selectmen to consider a "friendly 4013" proposal for eight housing units it would like to build on land at
Piper Road, Waltham Street and Route 2. This would use the Local Initiative Petition process in which
the Board of Selectmen act as the Special Permit Granting Authority, in partnership with the developer.
The benefit to the Town would be the inclusion of affordable housing units that would count toward
Lexington's DHCD affordable housing inventory.
Mrs. McKenna indicated that the Selectmen want to refer this project to the Planning Board for evaluation
and negotiation through its normal subdivision process. She noted that the Selectmen feel strongly that
the dwellings should be connected to town sewer system in Waltham Street and not to a septic system, as
proposed at an informal meeting with the Selectmen.
Ms. McCall - Taylor noted that Mr. Marino is scheduled to make a preliminary presentation of the proposal
at the Planning Board meeting on December 15.
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Public Hearing on Lexington's Consolidated Housing Strategy and Plan Planner Karen Sobol: Mr.
Kastorf opened the public hearing on Lexington Consolidated Housing Strategy and Plan at 7:45 p.m. He
explained that writing the plan is one of the steps the Town must take before it is eligible for federal
affordable housing funds. Planner Karen Sobol and Mr. Robert Bicknell, Housing Partnership Chair, were
present. There were three people in the audience.
Ms. Sobol presented PowerPoint slides illustrating trends in Lexington's demographics and housing stock
in the decade between 1990 and 2000, based on federal census data. The discussion that followed
highlighted a number of issues, including:
• More housing is needed for persons between the ages of 18 and 34 and for a variety of income
groups.
• More rental housing is needed.
• For what purposes should federal funding granted to Lexington be used?
• How could the demolition delay bylaw be made more effective? Mr. Bicknell indicated that he
would like to call positive attention to the potential for creative uses of old homes and raise
awareness of these possibilities among the development community and realtors.
• Perhaps it is time to reconvene the CPA Review Panel to reconsider adopting the Community
Preservation Act. The Board agreed to follow up on this at a future meeting.
Mr. Bicknell thanked Ms. Sobol for pulling together disparate Lexington data into a coherent form
acceptable to the Home Consortium.
The hearing was closed at 8:45 p.m.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ARTICLES FOR 2005 TOWN MEETING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Center Parking Amendment Mr. Howard Levin, Center Committee, and Mrs. Manz presented their most
recent wording of the proposed amendment to the center parking requirements. In brief, the measure
would remove the perceived disincentive for a change of use in a building and base the parking
requirement for center restaurants on square footage, requiring one parking space for every 250 square
Minutes for the Meeting of December 8, 2004
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feet of building. It was agreed that paragraph two of Mrs. Manz draft amendment should be included in
the warrant and that a numerical estimate of its impact on total parking would be developed prior to the
hearings..
REPORTS *x *x * *x *x * *x * * * * * * * * * *a * **
Planning Director Search Mr. Davies and Mrs. Manz reported on the planning Director search:
• Eight candidates will be interviewed on Friday, December 9 by the two interview panels.
• The Town Manager's Office staff will check the references of the three or four candidates
asked to return for a further interview at a Planning Board meeting.
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Review of Minutes The Board agreed to postpone consideration of the minutes until their meeting on
December 15.
On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m.
Wendy M , Clerk