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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-16-BLUPC-minBusa Land Use Proposal Committee ( BLUPC) Minutes of February 16, 2011 Cary Hall Auditorium Full Committee was present. The Chair opened the meeting at approximately 7:05 p.m. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the corrected minutes of the meeting of February 9, 2011. The Chair then opened the floor to the public to address the Committee. Mr. Robert Pressman urged the Committee to recommend more housing as well as a playing field on the Busa land. He made reference to the Newton Community Farm (NCF) as a successful CSA farm that operates on two acres of land. According to Mr. Pressman, the NCF obtains additional materials (food) from other CSAs to sell. Further, he sees this as an opportunity to request the Conservation Commission for the use of Field No. 2, a field under its jurisdiction accessible from Waltham Street, as a second site of the proposed Lexington Community Farm (LCF) operation. By having the LCF at two locations, land would also be available on the Busa property for a playing field and housing. He also suggested that the traffic of all the expected volunteers and customers would far exceed the traffic from a few housing units. Mr. Meyer Billmers, 66 Lowell Street, speaking on behalf of himself and his wife, Laura, expressed strong support for the farm. According to Mr. and Mrs. Billmers, creative thinking is needed to meet the dual goals of benefiting the community and low to moderate - income families. One possibility is to put on the property a single low - income house - a farmhouse - in the tradition of the original farm as a residence for the 21St century farmer(s) and managers. This one building could consist of two units, and would support in an attainable way a bit of low - income housing while supporting the farm and remaining in keeping with the size and shape of the property. He felt that any more than one unit would be excessive and would impact the farm plans. Mr. and Mrs. Billmers presented the committee with a written statement that will be uploaded to the BLUPC web page. Mr. Fabian Borensztein, 60 Lowell Street, again urged the Committee to recommend the whole land be devoted to farm use. Mr. Zabin's siting proposals were discussed. The committee was reminded by Ms. Shadley, Ms. Strod, and Ms. Johnson that a right of way to the Busa land be connected by extending Farm Road was found to be unworkable because it would be too narrow to qualify as a town road, due to the configuration of adjoining private property. Mr. Zabin's view was that there should be 4 units, preferably in one building, located either near the existing parking lot or at the Southeast corner. He pointed out that the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LCFC) had taken the position in connection with the Lexington Housing Partnership that building in the parking area would be preferable than on land currently under cultivation. He felt that, as between the two aforementioned sites, the preference of the LCFC or whatever organization did get the land for farming, should be given greater weight to determine the location of housing, if any. Mr. Dailey again expressed his concern about the financial burden the town is facing from children from the Met State land and Avalon developments and did not want to add to it. He would support up to two units of housing, if they could be built without a variance. Mr. Zabin again pointed out that the addition of two students (from a four -unit development) would add only marginal costs, which would be trivial. Mr. Dailey was not convinced. Mr. Dailey expressed the view that the Farm would need more land to be financially viable. He argued that the Busas were having financial difficulties with the farm and were using land on Waltham Street. Because there was more land on Waltham Street to fill that need, he felt that the possibility of an athletic field on the Busa land should remain open. Mr. Zabin concurred with the logic of the argument, but was less comfortable with a field. He noted, however, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) would decide and we should keep that option in the report. A majority of the Board felt strongly that the athletic field is difficult to site on the Busa property and not compatible with the farm. When queried, Mr. Dailey said he was comfortable with the report stating the range of committee opinion and that he would write his views as a separate opinion similar to Mr. Zabin's minority view on the number of housing units. When Mr. Dailey expressed his support for Mr. Pressman's idea of farming the Waltham Street fields, Ms. Johnson stated that she thought reducing the amount of acreage available to the farming operation at the Busa property and replacing it with acreage across town was not reasonable. Ms. Johnson said that, although she appreciated the rigor of Mr. Pressman's investigation and agreed that expanding the farm might one day be desirable, such a possibility should come from a position of strength, once staffing, volunteer schedules, and equipment purchases were stabilized. If the farm is to be successful, the farm size should not be reduced and the operation should not be split geographically. Ms. Strod, Ms. Shadley, and Mr. Fulop felt that the farm should be the only use of the land, but Ms. Strod could accept one house -size structure with one or two units. Mr. Horton and Ms. Johnson said they could support up to two units in a single structure, if carefully sited. They felt that the Town should show "respect for the land" and that buildings should not be shoehorned into it. Ms. Johnson said that she had visited the site, and although she could not accept housing on the site interior (due to the adverse impact on the farm, abutters and the large amount of pavement required for access drives), she thought that a structure south of 36 Lowell Street (similar in scale to the house at 36 Lowell), if well designed, could be successful. Other issues that should be brought to the attention of the Board of Selectmen, but not resolved by the committee, include creating a thorough business plan for the farm and determining who manages the farm. When the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LCFC) was described as "a private organization" running Town -owned land, several committee members reiterated (as a similar discussion took place at the February 9, 2011 meeting) that the Lexington Community Farm Coalition has stated that it advocates use of the property as a farm and supports any form of farm governance the Board of Selectmen or Town Meeting should choose. LCFC has assembled models of governance from other nearby Town -owned farmland for review by the BOS. LCFC has stated that it encourages the Town to issue an RFP for the farm operation, and would welcome any form of management be it by Town committee or any other means. All committee members agreed it was an important topic for the BOS to evaluate. Ms. Johnson will do the second edit of the report. Mr. Zabin and Mr. Dailey will write separate opinions. The meeting was adjourned at 8:34 p.m. by unanimous vote.