HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-11-05-HPB.min
Lexington Housing Partnership
Meeting Minutes for November 5, 2005
Attendees:
Bob Bicknell Bill Carlson Arthur Katz
Iris Wheaton Mary Haskell Julie Duncan
Martha Wood Jeri Foutter Harriet Cohen
Bob Bicknell chaired the meeting and took the minutes. This was a special meeting called to prepare our
position on Article 2 of the Warrant for the November 7, 2005 Town Meeting This Article is for the
conversion of the Battle Green Inn to condos and retail space under a mixed use CB zone. The chair,
noting that a quorum was present, opened the meeting at 3:40 pm.
Discussion:
Members reviewed the PSDUP for the project and discussed changes to our position presented to Town
Meeting relative to Article 4 of this spring’s Town Meeting, the previous version of the proposal.
Iris Wheaton expressed her desire that the partnership study the need for and develop a position with
regard to family affordable housing in Lexington. She feels this is a strong need and is not being met by
current proposals, including the current Battle Green Inn conversion. Others noted that the current
proposal being considered contains 2units with 2 bedrooms and 1 unit with 1 bedroom. The 2 bedroom
units might contain children, but the site itself without any yards or playing areas is not particularly
appropriate for families with younger children. Martha Wood stated that LexHAB has fewer applicants
for larger 3 bedroom family units than for smaller units, with a number of applicants needing 1 bedroom.
It was agreed that the partnership should study the need for affordable family housing in town and
develop an appropriate position that could be applied to future projects.
We discussed the possibility of declaring our support for housing in the center. Since this meeting was
called specifically to consider our endorsement of the warrant article, it was determined that a general
position on the desirability of housing in the center was not an appropriate topic for this meeting.
The following motion was proposed, seconded and passed by a majority of those present:
Voted: “To support the proposal before Town Meeting as Article 2 to the warrant with its three affordable
units for sale at 70% of AMI (2, two bedrooms and 1, one bedroom) which is 10% of the total units.”
Arthur Katz was appointed as spokesperson for the Partnership at Town Meeting and was charged with
preparing the exact wording to be presented noting that we had presented a position in favor of the
original proposal and that the current recommendation was passed by majority vote of the Partnership.
Bob Bicknell agreed to inform Marge Battin, the Moderator, that Arthur would be speaking for the
Partnership on the Battle Green article.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Bicknell, Chair