LexHAB Presents Housing Plans for Busa Land

After LexHAB delivered on a request for plans for four to eight units of affordable housing with frontage on the Busa Land, the Board of Selectmen are preparing to take the next step toward making a real decision about the now town-owned farmland.

  Featuring four duplexes that would occupy less than an acre, the presentation from LexHAB was everything the Board of Selectmen had asked for, but still it wasn’t enough to garner any kind of real answer about the Busa Land. On Monday, Jan. 30, representatives from the Lexington Housing Assistance Board delivered plans for eight slightly different units of housing along Lowell Street, including utilities available, solutions to possible problems, a mix of units, square footage and a proposed layout, among other criteria. According to Carter Scott, a high-efficiency housing developer working with LexHAB, the designs include six two-bedroom units, a three-bedroom unit and one accessible unit. With the current plans, the homes would come in…

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: Oct. 11

A big day of town boards meeting, Dickens at the library and more today in Lexington.

1. The Board of Selectmen continue working toward a decision on future use of Busa Farms as they'll meet with the Busa Land Use Proposal Committee at 7 p.m. tonight at the Public Works Building. 2. Sustainable Lexington will host an event at 7 p.m. this evening at Cary Hall in which committee members will discuss a Better Building program, lessons learned from capturing thermal images of half of the town's homes and taking future actions. 3. The Lexington School Committee meets at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Town Office Building and its agenda includes a transportation report, school improvement plans and an update on the Bridge, Bowman and Estabrook school building projects. 4. Charles Dickens and the Victorian Society is the subject of the …

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Question of the Day: Busa Land?

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There has indeed been a lot of talk lately about the future of the Busa Land. Over the summer, supporters of recreation, community farming and affordable housing have all made pitches to the Board of Selectmen, who will decide of Busa Farms, a now town-owned parcel that's been farmed pretty much forever. This morning, Jonathan Pickering reported on a petition making the rounds in support of the community farm idea, as well as the Busa Land Use Proposal Committee's recommendation, which has made a recommendation about the future use of the land. It's a polarizing issue, for sure. Many feel strongly that this land should remain used for farming, with maybe a few units of affordable housing. Others feel the parcel has room enough for farming…

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Beth

10:19 am on Thursday, October 6, 2011

Helena, If you want to know about CPA please read http://communitypreservation.org/content/cpa-overview. You probably did not show up at the referendum when 3% CPA tax was added to our bill. You can not sell conservation land to developers to get some revenues and you can not sell CPA land to a developer, you can only lease it to a developer of affordable housing and spend more money to build and…   more ›

Question of the Day

Question of the Day: Process Problems?

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At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, Aug. 1, a full house turned out to hear the board plan its approach to deciding how to use the Busa Land.  It's a subject that's become quite controversial, as supporters of affordable housing, farming and recreation are all looking for a piece of the now town-owned plot. But the chief concern among audience members on Monday was none of the above, rather their comments focued on process. As one abutter put it, Of course people care about what's going on in their backyard, but if they can trust the process it's easier to support, or at least accept, whatever goes there. Some have questioned the members of BOS meeting with residents to hear about affordable housing plans and others have opined …

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Photo Gallery: Officials Visit Busa Farm

Lexington's Recreation and Busa Land Use Proposal committees joined the Board of Selectmen on a June 13 site visit.

Editor's note: Portions of this story have been corrected after clarifications from members of the Board of Selectmen. A couple dozen committee members took a tour of Lexington’s Busa Farms on Monday, June 13, walking around the parcel’s perimeter under evening skies that had many of them expressing how lucky they were the rain held off. The guided tour was an official site visit for the Board of Selectmen, who were joined by the town’s Busa Land Use Proposal and Recreation committees.  According to selectmen Chairman Hank Manz, the next step is to start talking in depth with the BLUPC about its report on the property. “This is a typical New England plot,” said Manz. “It’s been divided, subdivided and it’s old. One of the hardest things is…

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