Town Meeting has brought us Codman Farm, Lincoln Woods, the Mall (several iterations), Farrar Pond Village, Oak Meadow, Battle Road Farm, The Commons, and Oriole Landing to name a few housing developments that added diversity to our single house inventory. Now, over 1/3 of our housing stick is multi-family. In addition, we have managed to preserve over 40% of the town as open space-forest and fields. And we have 80 miles of trails that are used by folks from all over.
Town Meeting also was able to approve the merger (incorrect term) of DeCordova and Trustees of the Reservations and create a sustainable gem for the town. It seems to me, our Town Meeting has done a pretty good job of creating affordable housing, some diversity of housing stock while protecting green spaces that not only provide us food and recreation, but also a tree canopy that cools us in the summer and, with the land, acts as a carbon sink. Thank you to all who participate in this amazing form of democracy. I pray we continue to engage and trust each other through our debate and votes on the floor of Town Meeting. Three cheers for Town Meeting! ------ Sara Mattes > On Nov 2, 2023, at 2:30 PM, Scott Clary <scottclar...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Good point Allen! That is darn good return for the town. 2/3 town meeting > majority vote certainly didn't hurt in that negotiation! > > Kind Regards, > > Scott Clary > 617-968-5769 > > Sent from a mobile device - please excuse typos and errors > > On Thu, Nov 2, 2023, 1:51 PM Pastor Allen <pastorall...@gmail.com > <mailto:pastorall...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> One must remember that if a development has 25% or greater apartments that >> are "Affordable", then the entire community counts towards the SHI. So, by >> moving Oriole Landing from 9 (15%) to 15 (25%) affordable units, we >> increased the official SHI in Lincoln by 60 units - at a cost of roughly >> $13,333 per unit. That's quite a good return on that investment. >> >> -Allen Vander Meulen >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> On Nov 2, 2023, at 11:04, Margaret Olson <s...@margaretolson.com >>> <mailto:s...@margaretolson.com>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> Argh! Not enough coffee! At Oriole Landing 6 additional units is correct >>> and each additional unit for a qualified person to live in cost $166K not >>> 100K. >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 10:17 AM ٍSarah Postlethwait <sa...@bayhas.com >>> <mailto:sa...@bayhas.com>> wrote: >>>> Your math is flawed… >>>> >>>> The town already required 15% affordable housing units, or 9 total units >>>> at Oriole landing. (See photo below from Oriole Landing’s analysis) >>>> >>>> This means that the town paid $1 million dollars to secure 6 additional >>>> units- not 10, as you stated. >>>> >>>> Thats $166,667 a unit. >>>> >>>> I understand that the town has worked hard to maintain well above 10% >>>> affordable housing- which is why I don’t understand the desire to rezone >>>> every developable acre of south Lincoln at 10% affordability. >>>> Even with an additional $2 million in our Affordable Housing Trust to >>>> bribe developers, that will only secure 12 additional units if Oriole >>>> Landing is an indicator of what Civico is expecting per unit. >>>> >>>> The RLF is proposing up to 100 additional units. >>>> 10 are required to be affordable under HCA >>>> An additional 5 units (15% total) will cost $833k >>>> And additional 15 units (25% total) will cost $2.5 million >>>> >>>> And that’s assuming they haven’t raised their affordable housing bribe >>>> expectations since 2018. >>>> >>>> This is why the HCA rezoning should be done in the least impactful way >>>> possible, and rezoning things like the mall and other likely to be >>>> redeveloped areas should be done through the traditional process that >>>> already requires 15% affordable housing. That will save almost a million >>>> dollars from the Affordable Housing trust per every 100 units built. >>>> >>>> <image_123650291.JPG> >>>> >>>> Sarah Postlethwait >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 9:49 AM Margaret Olson <s...@margaretolson.com >>>> <mailto:s...@margaretolson.com>> wrote: >>>>> Here's a bit more background on the Oriole Landing affordable units: >>>>> >>>>> There are 15 affordable units out of a total of 60 units, or 25% >>>>> With 25% affordable, all 60 units count towards our SHI (the state's >>>>> affordable housing index) >>>>> Our zoning requires 15% affordable >>>>> >>>>> At a cost of $1 million the town obtained 10 additional affordable units >>>>> for qualifying people to live in at a cost of 100K each, with 60 >>>>> affordable units counting towards our SHI at a cost of $16K per unit. At >>>>> the time this was negotiated the town was paying an average of $250K for >>>>> each affordable unit for qualifying people to live in. >>>>> >>>>> By keeping our SHI above 10% we are not subject to "40B" developments: >>>>> 40B is the state law that allows developers to ignore town zoning density >>>>> restrictions for multi-family buildings. The town has historically worked >>>>> very hard to maintain an SHI above 10%. We are currently over 12%. >>>>> >>>>> Margaret >>>>> >>>>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 9:27 AM Benjamin Shiller <benshil...@gmail.com >>>>> <mailto:benshil...@gmail.com>> wrote: >>>>>> After posting, additional data was very quickly brought to my attention. >>>>>> Apparently, even without a 1 million dollar forgivable loan, the rate >>>>>> of return on the investment was anticipated to be 14%. That seems very >>>>>> high, and was the expected return on investment at that time. Yes, home >>>>>> prices went up, increasing their profits. But that does not change the >>>>>> fact that it would certainly appear that the $1 million forgiveable loan >>>>>> seems unnecessary. I now join the call for more transparency and >>>>>> citizen involvement in future negotiations. >>>>>> >>>>>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 8:54 AM Benjamin Shiller <benshil...@gmail.com >>>>>> <mailto:benshil...@gmail.com>> wrote: >>>>>>> The stated numbers in earlier messages in this thread suggest that >>>>>>> Civico earned about $8-$12 million in profits from Oriole Landing. If >>>>>>> true, it still does not necessarily imply that we were ripped off as a >>>>>>> town. It might have been that we needed to provide the $1 million >>>>>>> forgivable loan to make it such that the *expected* profits at that >>>>>>> time were high enough to build. First, the profits need to be as high >>>>>>> as the developer could have earned elsewhere. Second, there’s an >>>>>>> ex-ante ex-post problem. After building, real estate prices in >>>>>>> Massachusetts increased dramatically, implying that the profits that >>>>>>> they ultimately earned may be much higher than the profits that would >>>>>>> have been reasonably anticipated. All that said, it’s still good basic >>>>>>> economic practice to get many developers to make competing bids. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >From Civico’s own documentation (link below), they estimated the >>>>>>>> >total development cost per condo was $351K (including acquisition >>>>>>>> >costs). This means that it would have cost them ~$21M to complete the >>>>>>>> >60-unit development. Considering the $1M loan and the sale price of >>>>>>>> >$32M, Civico made ~$12M in only 4 years on a $20M investment, in >>>>>>>> >addition to any rents collected. 60% return on assets seems pretty >>>>>>>> >profitable to me. This doesn’t even include the benefit they would >>>>>>>> >have gotten from any leverage. >>>>>>>> I am not comparing the project itself to the Winchester project. What >>>>>>>> I am pointing to is that Winchester was able to negotiate a deal with >>>>>>>> Civico that includes a $1.5M payment from Civico to the town, as well >>>>>>>> as other concessions like more affordable units and extra parking. >>>>>>>> Winchester was able to negotiate this because the project had to go >>>>>>>> through town meeting. In fact, the first time, it failed the vote, and >>>>>>>> only passed on the second round after these concessions were made. >>>>>>>> I would like to repeat what I said in my first post: I am not against >>>>>>>> redeveloping the mall. What I do continue to find troubling is that we >>>>>>>> are being pushed into rezoning the mall through HCA, because a >>>>>>>> developer said that they would not go through town meeting. >>>>>>>> Rezoning the mall through HCA would eliminate our ability to vote on >>>>>>>> the project and extract concessions from developers. Additionally, we >>>>>>>> have been told we would apply for public grants to benefit private >>>>>>>> developers. >>>>>>>> Let’s learn from the experience of Winchester and not eliminate the >>>>>>>> strength of our town meeting process. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Ben >>>>>> -- >>>>>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>>>>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org >>>>>> <mailto:Lincoln@lincolntalk.org>. >>>>>> Browse the archives at >>>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>>>>> Change your subscription settings at >>>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>>>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org >>>>> <mailto:Lincoln@lincolntalk.org>. >>>>> Browse the archives at >>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>>>> Change your subscription settings at >>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>>>> >>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org >>> <mailto:Lincoln@lincolntalk.org>. >>> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org >> <mailto:Lincoln@lincolntalk.org>. >> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >
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