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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-30-HPB.min Lexington Housing Partnership Meeting Minutes for October 30, 2008 Attendees: Bob Bicknell, Art Katz, Florence Baturin, Harriet Cohen, Ken Kreutziger, Melinda Walker, Winifred McGowan, Betsey Weiss, Tom Harden, Chris Kluchman. Bob Bicknell chaired the meeting; Harriet Cohen took the minutes. The meeting was called to order at 7:21 pm. 1. Open Meeting The September minutes were approved unanimously. 2. Sub-Committee Reports Report of the Chair – Mr. Bicknell Appendix A: Report of the Chair See for information the following: Consortium of Local Towns Proposal to MHP Lexington Site Analysis League of Women’s Voters Housing Panel Discussion of Affordable Homeownership vs. Renting Bank Proposals for funds to the Lexington Housing Foundation Mr. Bicknell asked for assistance with the Consortium of Local Towns Proposal. Mr. Harden and Mr.Kreutziger volunteered to participate. Report from Lexington Housing Foundation – Mr. Bicknell and Ms. Baturin Ms. Baturin will report next month. Ms. Walker and Ms. Weiss volunteered to help moving the Lexington Site Analysis forward. Report of the Lincoln Institute Lecture on Inclusionary Zoning – Mr. Katz The Lincoln Institute is associated with both Harvard and MIT. It focuses on land use. There were presentations by two professors, one from San Diego State and the other from the Brookings Institute/Rutgers University. They spoke about the European approach to inclusionary housing. In Europe, inclusionary housing is driven top-down from the country government. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see how to translate the European approach into one that will be effective at a town level. 3. Discussion of Survey and Define Report A subset of the Lexington Housing Partnership (“the Partnership”) has been meeting with Ms. Sunnarborg. They suggested changes have gone into what is hoped to be the final version of the report, pending final approval from the Partnership and other parties to the document. The next step is a review of the Statement of Objectives. The target date for delivery of the Statement of Objectives is December 2, 2008. The eventual goal is submission to the Community Preservation Committee for funding, but the submission will not be made until October 2009. Lexington Housing Partnership Motion: The Partnership expresses its approval for forwarding the report Affordable Homebuyer Assistance Programs, Survey of Other Massachusetts Municipal Programs with an explanatory cover letter, to the following groups: Lexington Board of Selectman  Town Manager  Community Preservation Committee  Planning Board and staff  Cary Library  The motion passed unanimously. The next Lexington Housing Partnership meeting will be held in the Legion Room, on the second floor of Cary Hall, on December 11, 2008 from 7:00 to 9:00pm. The meeting was concluded at 8:56 pm Lexington Housing Partnership Appendix A: Report of the Chair The Consortium of Local Towns ( Lexington, Waltham, Watertown, Lincoln and Belmont) were awarded a $35K grant from MHP. The funds will support a specialist who would participate with the towns to define an entity to pursue affordable housing objectives across the consortium. Watertown has the lead. Louise Elving of Viva Consulting has been selected as the consultant to work with the five towns to establish the framework for a housing consortium. We are to select several members to represent the Housing Partnership and LexHAB to begin the process. Early discussions will: 1.Engage in a broad discussion of the organizations’ missions and goals and how they align or conflict; 2.Brainstorm on key issues and goals to see what can be facilitated through collaboration. 3.Discuss impediments to collaboration 4.Discuss the planning process to obtain participant input 5.Identify key stakeholders (local and state) to be interviewed. th A first joint meeting with the consultant is tentatively scheduled for Monday, December 8. Site Analysis: I sent the summary of the work done by Betsey Weiss, Florence Baturin and me to LHP members. I received some comments from Tom Harden related to specific sites at 50 Hill St and 202 Cedar. I need to identifiy partnership members who can continue this effort. LWV Affordable Housing Panel Discussion: Held the first Friday of October. I represented the LHP. LexHAB (Bill Hays), the Planning Dept.(Aaron Henry) and LHA (Ann Whitney) also participated. Many folks attended who asked savvy questions. I think all who attended felt they left with an improved understanding of the roles these organizations play in town with regard to affordable housing. rd Discussion of Affordable Homeownership vs Renting: Held Thursday, October 23 and attended by a number of partnership members. Lots of questions were raised by key players in town. Points raised are being summarized and a plan to address them is being developed. Betsey Weiss, the Planning Staff and I are involved. Bank Proposals for funds to the Lexington Housing Foundation I received a letter from the TD Charitable Foundation thanking us for participating in their 2008 Housing for Everyone Grant Competition, but letting us know that our proposal wasn’t selected for funding this year.