DATE: May 28, 2003
TO: Lincoln CPC
FROM: Susie Collins
RE: Minutes of the May 27, 2003 Lincoln CPC
Attending: Sarah Holden, John Robinson and Susie Collins
Housekeeping & Schedules:
Susie Collins was appointed Secretary for this meeting
Minutes from May 13, 2003 were accepted
Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 3 at 7:30pm
Discussion:
We welcomed BJ Scheff & Gary Taylor from the Housing Commission
BJ opened the discussion. She distributed a Summary of the Town of Lincoln’s Consolidated Housing Plan and quickly skimmed through it to familiarize us with its contents.
2. Gary then discussed the Housing Commissions 2 goals for the town.
Maintaining a diverse population by having diverse housing stock
Present reality of housing market working against this goal because land is so valuable in town. Small houses get torn down; new larger and pricier ones get built. Plus we have an aging population, somewhat “over-housed” but without viable options to move to smaller residences within town. Also there are too few rental options in town.
Dealing with the state and the anti-snob zoning, 40B provision.
The 40 B provision states that 10% of a town’s housing stock must be affordable. If it is not, the town must move towards making it so. Therefore if a developer brings a project to the town and it includes provisions for affordable housing, that developer may bypass the town’s zoning laws and must be granted a permit to build. This is true even if the proposed project is very large, up to 150 units.
3. Gary then discussed the Housing Commissions Plans of Action for future development.
Moving to become 10% affordable.
As long as the town makes a effort to add affordable housing and get closer to the 10% as mandated by law, we will be in a better position to fight off hostile development plans that threaten to by-pass our zoning laws.
One plan is buying the 2 lots at Sunnyside Lane from the state and build 2 affordable units on each. CPC has already helped with that effort by allocating money to buy the first lot. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to make a deal to purchase the other from the state. 2 other lots on Sunnyside would also be purchased but put into conservation land. (There is a 5th lot but it’s totally wet and unusable)
The town would like to build rental units at the Mall. The law states at rental developments where 25% are priced moderately, all the rental units may be counted towards the town’s 10% affordable stock.
The town would like to find ways of encouraging deed restrictions on existing small houses and on accessory apartments. Accessory apartments can be added to the affordable stock but must have 15-year leases.
“Buying down” is another method of adding affordable housing units to our stock. Again CPC already helped with this at a unit at Battle Farm. The idea is for the town to buy a unit at market value and sell it at an affordable level. Unfortunately this can be an expensive option and can only be used when appropriate units come up for sale.
4. Gary also discussed a long-term issue for the housing commission.
Housing Commission would like to work on the issue of our aging population being “over-housed”. That is living in houses that are too big for them but having no other options to stay in town. Housing commission would like to see some kind of a development with medical services.
There are about 300 more building units left in Lincoln so not many options for other affordable housing developments. We need to watch what happens with bigger institutional properties like Farrington Memorial and keep thinking of creative ways to develop more affordable housing.
5. Finally Gary discussed what CPC can do to help.
Right now CPC can continue to help with the purchase of the other Sunnyside lot, which should be somewhere between $100,000 - $250,000.
Action Items:
We briefly looked over a proposed CPC timeline for 2003-2004, a proposed letter to the community, and a draft mission statement. No action was taken because there were so few of us at the meeting.
Meeting was adjourned until June 3 2003
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