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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-05-BLUPC-min BUSA LAND USE COMMITTEE MEETING JANUARY 5, 2011 Town Office Building, Room 207 Attendees David Horton (Chair), Bill Dailey, Ric Fulop (arr 7 21 p m ), Ginna Johnson, Pam Shadley, Deborah Strod,Al Zabin (arr 8 19 p m ) The meeting was called to order at 7 05 p m by David Horton, Chairman The December 16, 2010 meeting minutes were approved unanimously The Chairman indicated that he would like to bring representatives of the three groups who had made proposals together to review the site proposals which had been submitted It was indicated an interim report to the Board of Selectmen will be made next Monday, January 10, 2011. That report will detail what the committee has been doing and will not include any information on how the committee evaluates the proposals. The meeting was then opened for public comments. Rick DeAngelis, representing the Lexington Recreation Committee, submitted two documents, one from the Recreation Committee and a second from the Youth Sports Advisory Council The letter from the Council is dated March 12, 2010 and was originally submitted to the Board of Selectmen Mr DeAngelis detailed the continuing need for additional field space and reiterated the Recreation Committee's desire that a playing field be included among the uses to be made of the farm A question was posed by a neighbor regarding the use of town fields by groups from out of town The Chairman indicated this information is available and is included with the information on the committee's website The Chairman made reference to correspondence received from the Town Manager, Carl Valente, reiterating that the charge to the committee is to evaluate each of the proposals, commenting on the merits of each proposal and any concerns which may be evident to the committee. The Chairman then invited representatives of the three proponents to come forward and be present while the scaled site plans produced by the proponents were reviewed and efforts made to determine whether, or how best, the three proposals could be incorporated into the use of the farm Chris Kluchman, representing the Lexington Housing Partnership, Janet Kern representing the Lexington Community Farm Coalition, and Peter Coleman, representing the Lexington Recreation Committee, came forward It was indicated Ms. Kluchman and Ms. Kern had met and had attempted to determine how the proposals put forth by their respective groups could mesh Ms. Kluchman stressed that the proposal made by her group called for "green housing" and also stated that the land for the housing component might need to be separate from the other farm land for legal reasons. She indicated her committee wants to advocate for 12 to 14 units. Janet Kern indicated that the housing, if it were to be placed on the land, would best be placed where the farm stand is located now In response to a question, Ms. Kern indicated the farm operation could probably go forward without the farm stand 6395101 Wendy Manz responded to a question from the Chairman and indicated a separate lot has to be designated for a particular use, such as affordable housing, under Community Preservation Act (CPA) requirements. The use is designated at the outset and cannot be changed at a later date Peter Coleman, on behalf of the Lexington Recreation Committee, indicated his committee would like to have a 40 foot buffer on either end of the playing field He indicated the orientation of the field could be changed If a smaller field were to be incorporated into the land use plan it would require an area 150 feet by 240 feet again with a 40 foot buffer Ms. Kluchman indicated her committee would need 14 units to get the federal credit which would make the financing on the housing proposal more feasible. The plan would be to work with housing to be developed by her group on the Leary property in order to put together a competitive proposal for financing. She explained the cost of a unit goes up if there is not a larger number of units to be contained within the request for federal funding. If there is not a significant number of units, i e, something approaching 20 in total, the cost per unit could increase to $138,000 00 In response to a question Ms. Kern indicated that the farm operation, if the farm stand were to be razed in order to allow for housing to be located on the present location of the farm stand, would lose the ability to operate the farm stand, would lose the perspective shelter that is needed, and would lose the location where refrigeration is presently planned for the produce to be raised Ms. Kern did indicate she felt her group could operate a farm without the present farm stand Ms. Kluchman indicated there was push-back from her committee regarding reducing the number of units being requested Ginna Johnson and Pam Shadley then were invited by the Chairman to lead a discussion regarding possibilities insofar as locating uses on the property Tissue paper sketches were prepared which allowed for the orientation of the proposed playing field, and the orientation of the housing buildings, to be moved around on the site plan All of the attendees at the meeting were invited by the Chairman to gather around the table on which the site plans were laid out and the tissue drawings were placed and reoriented as the discussion concerning the location for possible uses continued Approximately 25 attendees were present(proponents and citizen observers) Mr Zabin indicated there was need for justification for an intermediate size field A resident inquired whether the Rindge field could be used Peter Coleman indicated it is currently used for t-ball and it would not be feasible to have either a full size field or an intermediate field at that location Frank Sandy inquired why a LexHAB house could not be built referencing the fact these houses are built at no cost to the town Ric Fulop mentioned that use of the landfill on Hartwell Avenue for ball field purposes should be considered He indicated there are approximately 15 acres that could be considered and that recycling uses could be part of any development of the field with the entity operating the recycling effort contributing to the cost for the construction of the field Mr Fulop will gather material regarding the concept and present it to the committee Many "trace designs" to scale that depicted potential locations of the components on the land were prepared by Ms. Johnson and Ms. Shadley Ms. Shadley commented that she did not feel the committee would want to suggest there was only one plan for the use of the property 6395101 The Committee focused on whether all three main uses as proposed could be accommodated on the land Taking the full-sized ball field first, laying a tracing of the field on the site map showed that with the required 40' buffer it would not fit in the orientation proposed by the Recreation Department, but would extend onto the Goldinger property and into one of the riverfront boundaries. In considering other orientations, it appeared that the full ball field could not fit onto the property and still allow proper access for roads, parking and the 40' buffers. Ms. Johnson asked if the committee or attendees had any further questions about that or if there were any doubts. After a full discussion concerning the possible orientations for the proposed field and the proposed housing, Ms. Shadley commented that it appeared the efforts to include housing for 12 to 14 units, a recreation field, the needed parking, and the requirements for the community farm created too much activity on the property Ms. Johnson pointed out that the placement of the housing near the abutters would create a loss of natural light to the abutters. It was also discussed that the grade of the property and the location of the greenhouse would complicate the ability to have the desired buffers around the field After a full discussion, the Chairman reviewed the charge to the committee. Ms. Shadley indicated she felt the committee should make a recommendation to the Board of Selectman Other members of the committee felt the charge called more for criteria evaluations of the three proposals. Additional review of the charge to the committee was undertaken and the Chairman then designated members of the committee to prepare comments concerning the three proposals. Ms. Shadley and Mr Horton will prepare the section of the report relating to the farm proposal, Ms. Strod and Ms. Johnson will prepare the section relating to the recreation proposal and Mr Zabin and Mr Dailey will prepare the section relating to the housing proposal Mr Fulop will prepare a section relating to technology The Chairman indicated that everyone should attempt to use the same 14 criteria points as part of the preliminary report concerning evaluations. Each section of the report is to be completed by January 15, 2011 in order that it may be circulated prior to the next meeting which is scheduled for January 19, 2011 at 7 00 p m Ms. Johnson indicated she would undertake to prepare an outline of the final report. The meeting concluded at 9 10 p m 6395101