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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-09-20-CPC-min Minutes of the Community Preservation Committee Monday September 20, 2010 3:00 pm Room 207 Town Offices Present: Betsey Weiss, Chair; Joel Adler, Norman Cohen, Marilyn Fenollosa, Vice Chair; Jeanne Krieger, Wendy Manz, Nathalie Rice, Admin. Asst; Sandy Shaw and Dick Wolk. Absent: Leo McSweeney Also in attendance were David Kanter, member of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC), and Glen Parker, Chair of the Appropriations Committee (AC). The meeting was called to order at 3:05 PM by Ms. Weiss. 1.Chair Announcement – Ms. Weiss commenced the meeting with an announcement that she would be stepping down as Chair of the CPC. She read a prepared statement in which she reflected on the passage of the CPC in Lexington and the many accomplishments of the Committee since 2006. She highlighted the Douglas House as one of the most important projects the CPC has funded, and thanked Marilyn Fenollosa for her excellent work as Vice Chair. She thanked Committee members for their hard work over the years, and recognized Ms. Pearson’s and Ms. Rice’s work as Administrative Assistants. Members thanked Ms. Weiss for her tireless efforts over the years and noted with great appreciation her enormous dedication to the CPC. Mr. Wolk reflected on her tenure as Chair, stating that she had been so successful due to her “fire” for the cause, a rare and necessary quality for leading a new endeavor. Mr. Cohen, Ms. Fenollosa and Ms. Manz also spoke in appreciation of Ms. Weiss’ leadership of the CPC, and Ms. Fenollosa presented her with flowers on behalf of the Committee. Ms. Fenollosa wished to memorialize Ms. Weiss’ accomplishments with a vote of thanks and support and moved “to recognize Ms. Weiss with an expression of gratitude and respect for all her service, and to wish her well in her future pursuits”. Members unanimously approved this motion, supporting Ms. Weiss with a resounding and unanimous vote of thanks. Ms. Weiss will remain as a member of the CPC. Ms. Shaw then moved to appoint Ms. Wendy Manz as the new Chair of the CPC, which was unanimously approved. Ms. Krieger moved to re-appoint Ms. Fenollosa as the Vice Chair, and this motion was also unanimously approved. 1 2.Discussion of the Selectmen’s Summit Meeting of September 13th – Ms. Manz asked the CPC for their reaction to the Selectmen’s CPA Summit th Meeting of September 13. Reactions were mixed regarding the value of the meeting, with general agreement that it “cleared the air”. Ms. Manz felt that there had been an acknowledgement of the CPC’s authority to select projects for submission to Town Meeting and a willingness on the part of the finance committees to give technical assistance. Mr. Adler voiced his concern that he felt that the CPC was being criticized and even instructed. There was a general discussion of the perception that the CPC did not receive the same information as the finance committees and that requests for further information had been problematic. Mr. Kanter assured the CPC that the initial information that CEC members received on the various projects was exactly the same as that given to the CPC. It was felt, however that the CPC would be well served to have a representative at CEC meetings to foster better communication. A motion was made and unanimously voted to have Mr. Adler be the CPC representative to the CEC. Ms. Manz asked Mr. Parker if a representative would be useful for communication between the AC and the CPC. Mr. Parker responded that it would probably not be necessary, since the AC doesn’t “vet” CPC projects. Ms. Rice suggested sending the AC (and CEC) occasional updates during the CPC review process to improve communication. Ms. Manz asked Ms. Rice to do so. Ms. Manz also brought up the CPC’s Needs Assessment Report, and noted that it had been some time since the CPC had specifically consulted the Report. She noted that it had a complete set of Guidelines that the CPC had developed for their review process. She also suggested that the Town’s 5- year capital plan should be added to the source documents in the Report to provide more context for CPC consideration of municipal projects. She said that the Report should help the CEC and AC better understand the CPC’s guidelines and procedures for project review. 3.CPA Budget and Upcoming Projects – Ms. Rice presented a preliminary breakdown of the estimated revenue and anticipated projects to date. The financial information on the chart was in draft form; final numbers will be available when Town Finance Director, Rob Addelson presents the CPA financial model at an upcoming meeting. Ms. Rice read through the list of upcoming projects with known amounts, and noted projects for which there were no known costs. The latter included projects such as the Fire Station, Leary land planning costs and upcoming LexHAB projects. Members made changes to the list of projects, which Ms. Rice will incorporate into the spreadsheet. Mr. Kanter noted that the Community Preservation Fund's share of the monies received by the Town as premium and accrued interest from the February 25, 2010, sale of the bonds--which included funds for the Busa land acquisition--had not been incorporated into the spreadsheet." This 2 amounted to some $217,287, and he noted that it had not yet been decided how to return this money to the CPC. He urged the Committee to follow up on this matter with Mr. Addelson or with Town Manager Carl Valente. 4.Deadlines for Municipal and Land Acquisition Projects – Ms. Manz opened the discussion on this topic, noting that the Needs Assessment Report had a section on Procedures which she suggested might be used as a starting point. Members commented that the process of reviewing the Town Office Building project had raised many questions about the timing of initial project review, but most importantly the timing associated with reviewing additional information requested by the Committee. Members felt there needed to be a set of deadlines for the receipt of addenda, particularly for projects in varying stages of design. Mr. Kanter stated that the CEC expects to receive their th initial packet about October 15 and that the Town Manager is expected to th submit the proposed budget to the Board of Selectmen about January 15. Ms. Manz suggested having a representative from the Town Manager’s Office come to the next CPC meeting to outline the time frame for the review of municipal projects, particularly those that might come in at less than a 100% design stage. The issue of deadlines for land acquisition projects was also discussed, and Ms. Manz asked Mr. Wolk to outline the general guidelines as he saw them. He felt this was particularly difficult, but said that the Conservation st Commission should let the CPC know by November 1 if there are any land acquisitions being considered by the Commission. He said he felt there had to be time to get a second appraisal, and questioned whether the Conservation Commission should just plan on having two appraisals for each future acquisition. Mr. Wolk said he would discuss these issues with the Conservation Commission and report back to the CPC at its next meeting. 5.Signs for the Leary Land – Ms. Rice explained that the Conservation Commission would be erecting a standard conservation sign for the Leary conservation land, purchased with CPA funds. She showed the Committee three options for lettering for the sign, and the Committee agreed that, “Funded by the Citizens of Lexington through the Community Preservation Act” would be most appropriate. Two alternate sets of wording were approved should the initial statement prove too long for the space available. 6.Signs for CPA Projects in Progress – Ms. Shaw expressed her intent to re- energize the Committee’s interest in having CPA signs at on-going CPA- funded projects. She showed the Committee the format for a sign (used by the Town of Concord) and said she would look into the costs of fabricating such a sign for Lexington. Ms. Fenollosa suggested talking to Dawn McKenna, Chair of the Tourism Committee, since she had been responsible for procuring the historic site signs in the Town Center. 3 7.LexHAB Proposal – Possibility of a Housing Trust – Ms. Weiss explained that LexHAB Chair Bill Hayes had called her to suggest the idea of LexHAB receiving funding from the CPC without detailing specific projects. The Committee discussed this issue, and it was agreed that what Mr. Hayes was suggesting was a Housing Trust, where CPA funds would be regularly dedicated to the Trust, but not for a specific purpose. Members understood the interest in such a Trust, but noted that there are other competing housing groups, such as the Housing Authority, and questioned whether it would be fair to establish a housing trust for only one group. Mr. Hayes will be invited to discuss the idea with the CPC at a later meeting, and Ms. Rice will send her research on Lincoln’s Housing Trust to the Committee. 8.Needs Assessment Report –Ms. Manz noted that the Committee is required to update the Needs Assessment Report. She requested that each member of the Committee review it before the next meeting. It was decided that Ms. Manz would update the report first, primarily the introductory sections, after which she would request Committee members to update their sections and submit their proposed changes to Ms. Rice, who will coordinate the second editing phase. 9.Next Meeting - The next meeting was set for Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 2:30 PM in Room 207 of the Town Office Building. The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 pm Two documents were reviewed or presented at the CPC meeting; (1)A working spreadsheet entitled, “Community Preservation Committee, Anticipated Revenue, Projects and Expenses”, dated September 20, 2010. This document is on file with the CPC. (2)The CPC Needs Assessment Report, entitled, “Town of Lexington, Community Preservation Plan: Needs Assessment Report” dated October, 2010. This document is available on the CPC website. . Respectfully submitted, Nathalie Rice Administrative Assistant Community Preservation Committee 4