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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-21-CPC-min Minutes of the Community Preservation Committee Tuesday, December 21, 2010 10:30 am Legion Room Cary Memorial Building Present: Board Members: Wendy Manz,Chair; Marilyn Fenollosa, Vice-Chair; Joel Adler, Norman Cohen, Jeanne Krieger, Leo McSweeney, Sandy Shaw, Betsey Weiss and Dick Wolk. Administrative Assistant : Nathalie Rice Also in attendance was David Kanter of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC). The meeting was called to order at 10:30 am by Ms. Manz. The purpose of the Meeting was to discuss and take votes upon the ten projects before the CPC for review. th 1.Minutes – The minutes from the meeting of December 6 and the minutes th from the Public Hearing held on December 7 were approved as amended. 2.Review of Projects – The CPC discussed and voted on each of the ten projects before the Committee for review. Critical discussion and votes on the projects are as follows: a.)Archives and Records Management – The CPC discussed this project (and all projects) in light of notification that a Lexington citizen will be submitting a citizen’s petition to reduce the CPA surcharge from 3% to 1%. Members agreed that a reduction to 1% would have a severe impact to on-going projects such as the Archives Conservation project. Members agreed to support this project, (9-0). b.)Planning Funds for the development of Affordable Housing on the Leary Property – Members had a lengthy discussion of this project. Ms. Weiss noted that the Leary Land Task Force had recommended to the Board of Selectmen that CPA funding be sought for stabilization of the Leary farm house and for design funds for housing on the land. She expressed her objection to the Selectmen’s vote to seek only planning funds and to exclude stabilization funds from the request. She stated that she would be voting against this project on the basis of her displeasure with this process. Ms. Fenollosa commented that she too was opposed to the Selectmen’s vote, and objected to the project request for $30,000, since it would allow the demolition of the Leary House. She noted that 1 the Historical Commission had not endorsed the project and referenced their letter to the CPC, dated December 17, 2010. Ms. Manz reminded the Committee that the only issue before the CPC was the approval or disapproval of the $30,000 in planning funds, and that the matter of the Selectmen’s vote on the use of the Leary house was outside the focus of the CPC discussion. After considerable discussion, the CPC voted (6-2-1) to approve the project. c.)East Lexington Fire Doors - Replacement – Ms. Manz voiced her objection to this project, noting that despite the East Lexington Fire House being in a Historic District, the building itself did not have historic significance in her opinion. The CPC voted (8-1) to approve this project. d.)LexHAB Request for Set-aside Funds – The CPC discussion of this project questioned whether the full amount of $450,000 was an appropriate level of funding. The Committee noted that LexHAB had sufficient funds to be able to complete acquisitions should the CPC vote a lower amount of support for this project. Ms. Fenollosa expressed her opinion that LexHAB should “have an equity stake” in the purchase of affordable units. The Committee agreed that a set of guidelines for CPA funding would be necessary for the CPC to vote affirmatively on the project. Members noted the receipt of a submittal from LexHAB, which contained a set of preliminary guidelines prepared by co-Chair Bill Kennedy. The CPC voted (8-1) to approve this project, with the provision that it remain pending subject to final agreement on acquisition guidelines with a provision that the CPC review all LexHAB acquisitions. This project will be brought back to the CPC for a vote of confirmation. e.)Muzzey Condominium Unit Owners’ Replacement of Windows - Discussion focused on the poor state of the Muzzey Building, the economic status of its residents, and specific terms of the appropriation should the CPC approve the project. Members were in agreement that if the CPC appropriated the $253,915 for the project, they would consider the appropriation to be an interest free loan. Loans would be granted to individual unit owners with the stipulation that the loan be repaid upon sale of the unit. The amounts of the monies returned would not include any depreciation on the windows, but would be the entire amount of the loan. Members agreed that the inclusion of this provision would be the only way the proposal would be likely to be approved at Town Meeting. Ms. Fenollosa noted the Historical Commission’s recommendation for approval of the project. Ms. Manz commented that repurposing historic buildings as affordable housing could leave residents subject to unaffordable requirements for maintenance and restoration as has happened at Muzzey. She stated that she was not inclined to approve this 2 kind of reuse in the future. The CPC voted (8-1) to approve the appropriation of $253,915 for this project, contingent upon it being structured as a loan. Ms. Rice will contact Ginger McGuire of the Muzzey Condominium Association to inform her of the CPC vote and ask that she obtain agreement from the condominium owners. f.)Battle Green Monument Restoration – Ms. Manz noted Town Manager, Carl Valente’s directive to keep this project separate from the Battle Green Master Plan project. Mr. Kanter of the CEC noted that his committee would be willing to entertain a joint proposal for $100,000 if the Battle Green Master Plan project becomes sufficiently detailed. Ms. Fenollosa noted that the Historical Commission recommended approval of the project. The CPC voted (9-0) to approve this project. g.)Battle Green Master Plan Implementation – The Committee noted that this project remained poorly defined to date, despite the receipt of the Draft Master Plan document. Members agreed that restoration of the walkways by the various monuments should not be done in an “ad hoc” manner. Mr. Wolk voiced his objection to the project, which he felt was “not well thought out”. Ms. Weiss suggested keeping the application before the CPC as a placeholder, pending submittal of further details on the sidewalk restorations. The CPC voted (8-1) to keep the project application in as a placeholder, pending more definitive information. This vote included a provision that the $50,000 appropriation could only be used for the restoration of walkways surrounding the monuments restored in the Battle Green Restoration project. h.)Center Playfields Drainage – Phase II - The Committee discussed the increase in the amount requested for this phase of the project after further testing had revealed additional drainage requirements. Members had questioned the applicants as to whether they could expect further increases in the third phase of the project, expected to come to the CPC next year, but had been assured that testing had been completed and that no further increases were anticipated. The Committee voted (9-0) to approve this project. i.)Housing Partnership Down Payment Assistance Program – There Committee noted that this project, while assisting individual home buyers, does not add a single additional unit of affordable housing to the Town. It was also noted that while some eligible applicants for affordable housing might be barred from proceeding without this additional assistance, there were other applicants who did not need the additional assistance, so that there were eligible applicants for all available units. The Committee also noted the advice of Town Counsel, Kevin Batt, who suggested that the project was not eligible for CPA funding because of a lack of public benefit. Mr. Adler also questioned 3 this project in the context of a warrant article calling for the reduction of the 3% surcharge. Members voted (2-7) not to support this project. j.)Vynebrooke Village Drainage Work – The Committee noted that capital expenditures on the drainage systems at Vynebrook were necessary for it to continue to be used for affordable housing. It voted (9- 0) to approve this project. 3.Needs Assessment Report – Having reviewed the Needs Assessment, as amended, since the last meeting, the Committee voted (9-0) to approve it. 4.Town Report – Ms. Manz brought up the finalization of the Town Report, but some members had not received it. The Report will be distributed and members will make their comments to Ms. Rice. 5.Discussion of the Busa Farm Property – Ms. Weiss brought two Boston Globe articles for the CPC to review regarding Busa Farm and the progress of the planning committee. Ms. Weiss and Ms. Shaw had planned to speak to this agenda item. The Committee ran short on time, however, and this item will be discussed at the next meeting. 6.Next Meeting – The next meeting of the CPC will be on Thursday, December th 30 at 3:00 pm in the Legion Room. The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 pm. Four documents were presented at the CPC meeting: A document from LexHAB regarding their project, entitled, “LexHAB, Guidelines for Acquisition of Housing”. The document is undated, and is on file in the CPC office. Two Boston Globe newspaper articles relative to the Busa Farm planning process, (1) “Lexington committee gives community farm proposal thumbs”, dated December 17, 2010, and (2) “Changes at Land’s Sake”, dated January 31, 2010. Both documents are on file in the CPC office. And a spreadsheet entitled “Notes for Meeting of December 21, 2010” prepared by Ms. Rice for the discussion and vote on projects. This document is on file in the CPC office. Respectfully submitted, Nathalie Rice Administrative Assistant Community Preservation Committee 4