HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-10-BLUPC-rpt BUSA LAND USE PROPOSAL COMMITTEE (BLUPC)
Interim Report to the Board of Selectmen
January 10, 2011
Committee members Ric Fulop, William Dailey, David Horton (chair), Ginna
Johnson, Pam Shadley, Deborah Strod, and Al Zabin
Charge to the Committee from the Board of Selectmen.
- To invite, receive and evaluate proposals from Town residents, Town departments,
Town boards and committees, and other persons and entities at the discretion of
the Committee regarding possible uses of the parcel of land known as "the Busa
property" Evaluation criteria shall include, but not be limited to
• Whom the use(s)will serve,
• How the use(s) is (are) consistent with any Town master
plans,
• Impact the use(s) will have on abutters and the surrounding
neighborhood,
• Environmental impact use(s) will have (such as, but not
limited to, traffic, noise, dust, and stormwater runoff),
• Types of public access to the property for the proposed use
(s),
▪ Impact on the riverfront buffer area,
▪ Impact on surrounding topography;
• Financial feasibility of the use(s),
▪ Impact the use(s)will have on the Arlington reservoir
- To identify desirable uses for the parcel of land known as "the Busa property"
within the categories of "open space," "historical preservation," "housing," and
"recreation," as defined in the Community Preservation Act, M.G.L c 44B with
the understanding that a proposal is not required to fall into all categories.
- To evaluate the possibility of multiple uses within the same parcel, whether
through overlapping use of the same area(s), or by allocation of separate portions
of the parcel to different uses,
- In evaluating proposals, the Committee shall have access to the services of a land
use planner or such other professional services and consultants as the committee
may deem necessary, as authorized by the Town Manager and Board of
Selectmen. These services will be funded from any amounts made available for
such purposes by the 2009 Town Meeting.
- To submit to the Board of Selectmen a report on the investigations and evaluations
set out above, said report to include one or more proposals for allocation of the
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parcel to a specific use or uses The report should indicate to the Board of
Selectmen the reasons that each of the proposals represents desirable uses serving
identified constituencies in the Town and how each could be practically
implemented.
Web Page A copy of the BLUPC web page is attached to this report. Thanks to Lynne
Pease and Candy McLaughlin for setting it up and maintaining it. It includes the
committee's Contact Information (email and US Mail), Committee Members, the
"Committee Charge", Comments from the public (a host of comments posted in a pdf
file!), Upcoming Meetings, Approved Minutes, Draft Minutes, Agendas, Concept
Presentations, Presentations (additional), Working Documents, GIS Map, Introduction,
and a Description of Land. It also contains a means to "Sign up to receive email
updates."
When you have the time, do read the "Comments" and the "Concept Presentations"!
Initial Tasks (Communication)
- Distributed an announcement of our work and dates of public forums that
appeared in the Lexington Minuteman two weeks running, via the Lexington
"Yahoo" Group listserv, via email to chairs of boards and committees in the town,
and to members of TMMA.
- Sent the same announcement via US Mail to Lexington residents living within a
half-mile of the Busa land, approximately six hundred households (See attached
letter)
- Visit by BLUPC members to the Busa land(July 27, 2010)
Additional Tasks.
- Contacted abutters James and Kimberly Goldinger to meet with the BLUPC on
September 28, 2010
- Contacted Arlington Town Manager Brian Sullivan and invited him and town
officials to meet with the BLUPC on September 28, 2010
- Requested site survey to be undertaken(completed)
- Gathered material on wetlands the Code of the Town of Lexington for Wetland
Protection
- Gathered reports of studies to determine if the Busa land had any contamination
(Apparently it does not, according to the reports.)
- Checked to see if Lexington had conducted a traffic survey in the vicinity of the
land (It has not, but the Lexington Sidewalk Committee is aware of the traffic
patterns in the area — thank you Jerry Van Hook.), Arlington has studied the area
(BLUPC has reports from Arlington)
- Checked to see if sewers serve Lowell Street in the vicinity of the land. they do!
(Thank you Dennis Meehan.)
- Checked with the Lexington Tree Committee to see if it had any interest in the
land. it does not (thank you John Frey)
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- Checked with superintendent of schools regarding predicting number of school-
age children in new housing (thank you Paul Ash)
Meeting Dates and Agendas
- July 8, 2010 organizational meeting
- July 27, 2010 BLUPC toured Busa land with Dennis Busa
- July 29, 2010 recommended that the lease to farm the land by Dennis Busa be
extended through the 2011 growing season, established a timeline for our work,
determined the frequency and date of future meetings, identified categories and
documents to be posted on the BLUPC web page
- August 26, 2010• communication with the public (update), discussed design and
program criteria for concept proposals, scheduled meetings with the Goldinger
family and Arlington town manager; heard update on progress of the site survey;
scheduled two open forums in Lexington
- September 15, 2010 First Open Forum — approximately forty-five people came
to the microphone with their ideas about the future use of the land. The thrust of
each idea was recorded on chart paper and incorporated into the minutes of the
forum. Those people who did not get a chance to speak were invited to speak first
at the next forum on October 7, 2010
- September 28, 2010 met with James and Kimberly Goldinger; met with
Arlington Town Manager Brian Sullivan, Selectman Clarissa Rowe, Director of
Planning & Community Development Carol Kowalski, and Chair of the
Transportation Advisory Committee Ed Starr; reviewed first open forum, finalized
the information/criteria to be included by proponents in their presentations
(concept proposals) at the November 4, 2010 forum (this was followed by
distributing the information/criteria)
- October 7, 2010 Second Open Forum- approximately forty people came to the
microphone with their ideas. No one was left out! Their ideas are incorporated in
the minutes of the forum.
- October 21, 2010 reviewed open forum of October 7th, reviewed the evaluation
criteria for proposals, discussed that the town had not conducted a traffic study of
the streets near the Busa land, reviewed materials to bring to the Arlington forum,
finalized the format for the November 4th "concept proposals" forum(three groups
had filed — Lexington Community Farm Coalition, Lexington Housing
Partnership, and the Lexington Recreation Committee )
- October 27, 2010 Open Forum held in Arlington by the Town of Arlington -
55± Arlington residents attended of whom 34± came to the microphone 5±
Lexington residents were identified in the audience in the auditorium in the
Arlington Town Hall. Arlington Director of Planning & Community Development
Carol Kowalski moderated the forum. Comments and ideas are incorporated into
the minutes of the October 27th forum.
- November 4, 2010 Concept Proposal Presentations (in alphabetical order) were
made by the Lexington Community Farm Coalition, Lexington Housing
Partnership, and the Lexington Recreation Committee. To read their
proposals, please go to the BLUPC web page
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- November 18, 2010 Met with Robert Pressman and received written information
from him to support his contention that meaningful affordable housing,
meaningful community farming, and a recreation field can co-exist on the overall
site (Busa land) Further, he contends that, with cooperation, some land at
Waltham Street could supplement the farm. (All of his communication with the
committee is available on the BLUPC web page ) The committee also voted to
accept the Evaluation Criteria for Land Use Proposals that had been developed and
modified, discussed information the BLUPC had read about contamination studies
of the land, began to compare each proposal to the evaluation criteria, and
examined the site survey to see what it tells us about the land and what it can
accommodate and where
- December 7, 2010 reviewed responses to questions about proposals posed to
proponents raised at the November 18t meeting; compared each proposal to the
"Evaluation Criteria" for land use proposals (adopted November 18, 2010)
- December 16, 2010 continued to apply the evaluation criteria to the proposals
the BLUPC has received, discussed the implications of each, the pros and cons,
from the members' perspectives
- January 5, 2011 reviewed any pertinent correspondence, e g., the form of the
final report to the Board of Selectmen (BOS), interim report to the BOS to be
presented on January 10, 2011, brought proponents of the three proposals "to the
table," literally, to discuss possible site placement/scope of each one in relation to
the other, if the land were to serve multi-purposes, i.e , affordable housing, a
community farm, and a recreation field, while conducting a "site trace", began to
discuss the elements and format (categories) of our final report to the BOS,
assigned two BLUPC members each to evaluate one of the three proposals
according to the evaluation criteria and to bring what they wrote to the next
meeting; agreed to meet at least twice in February, after the scheduled January 19t
meeting.
Question for the Board of Selectmen. confirm and clarify the charge to the BLUPC one
last time!
Attachments
- Copy of the BLUPC "home page" on the town's web site
- Evaluation Criteria for land use proposals
- Information that was distributed through the media and also mailed to residents
living within a half-mile of the Busa land
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Busa Land Use Proposal Committee — November 18, 2010
Evaluation Criteria for land use proposals
1 The Value / Benefit to the people of Lexington
2 How many people benefit from the use, benefit to underserved populations
3 Scale of the proposed land use/development
4 Impact to the neighborhood
5 Impact to abutters and enhancements
6 Impact to the Arlington Reservoir and enhancements
7 Impact to environmental resource areas and enhancements
8 Impact to public utilities and infrastructure and enhancements
9 Security requirements
10 Maintenance requirements
11 Financial impact to the Town (cost and benefit)
12 Consistency with Town Master Plan and Core Values
13 Sustainability
14 Timeline
1 / 1
BUSA FARM PROPERTY
The Busa Land Use Proposal Committee (BLUPC) is an ad hoc committee
appointed by the Board of Selectmen to identify desirable future uses for the
Busa Farm property, recently purchased by the town, within the categories of
"open space," "historical preservation," "housing," and "recreation," as defined in
the Community Preservation Act. The committee wants to hear the ideas, hopes,
opinions, and vision for the future use of the land from Lexington's residents and
will hold a series of open forums on the reuse of the property, essentially for the
committee to gather information
The first forum will be held on Wednesday, September 15th, 7 00 p m , Cary
Hall Auditorium The focus that evening will be to provide 3-4 minutes to each
person who wishes to speak to the committee about his or her feelings and ideas
regarding the use of the land Subsequent forums on October 7th and
November 4th, at the same time and place, will be occasions for people to
speak for 15 minutes each to share their concepts for the reuse of the land in
some detail, i e , "concept presentations "
The committee has its next three regular meetings scheduled for September
28th, October 21st, and November 18th These three meetings will be held at
7 00 p m , Room 207, in the Town Office Building Everyone is always invited to
attend
For more information about meetings dates and agendas of the committee, go to
the town's website http.//lexingtonma goy, locate "Town Government," and click
on "Calendar of Public Meetings " The committee has its own web page within
the town's website and can be found listed under "Town Government" and then
under "Boards and Committees "
If you have any questions about the forthcoming open forums, feel free to call
BLUPC Chair David Horton at 781-862-3293