Citizens acted to fix the terrible mistake of our major Boards and Committees who supported Article 34 in April 2023, which I demonstrated would bankrupt Lexington, because our Select Board does not lead—it only follows. The Select Board itself, not citizens, should have called a special Town Meeting months ago to correct this major problem.
Since our Select Board lacks any coherent long-term vision for Lexington, I list here the key issues we now face:
1. Rental apartments pay too little in taxes
Per my analysis, apartments pay 36% in taxes per square foot of what single-family houses pay (condos pay 91%). This may be because the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s rules for assessing apartment complexes as businesses (using the net present value of cash flows) are flawed; they must be corrected before too many MBTA apartments are built in Lexington.
2. Long-term planning of our budgets
We don’t, not now, before land use, school or municipal decisions are made. This caused the Article 34 disaster, and is now causing the Bloom disaster. The Select Board must implement systematic, robust long-term planning of our budgets, including for the schools, which represent 80% of our budgets, yet they don’t know how to manage even short-term budgets.
3. Lexington must refuse to honor zoning freezes
Applicants filed preliminary subdivision plans and ANRs to enjoy eight or three-year zoning freezes (listed here) without any MBTA project description. Lexington must refuse to honor such freezes because the state law meant to include the word “project,” not “land.” These freezes may yield 3,000 to 4,000 extra MBTA dwellings, in addition to the 1,100 applied for prior to March 17, 2025, bankrupting the town, or making Lexington even more of a ghetto for millionaires (as I explained in my PatrickPost # 11).
4. The unseen Bloom disaster and schools land use
With a 40 to 50% possible population increase over the next decade, Lexington will need major school expansions, making every square foot of land available for schools precious. That’s why the Bloom design is senseless; if ever built, Bloom will be too small—and turning the old Harrington into sports fields is equally thoughtless. Under Olga Guttag’s plan, the current LHS campus can accommodate up to 4,200 students. The Select Board must look at that plan. And the schools have no Plan B, should Bloom never be built. The Select Board cannot play poker with the school space needed for our kids’ education.
5. Impact of Article 33 (2023 ATM) developments on our future budgets
Just like no analysis of Article 34 impacts was done until I developed one, the Select Board must analyze the impact of Article 33 developments on our future budgets. The $49,800 study now underway will not address this because the study’s authors have insufficient skills.
6. Means-tested residential exemption (RE)
Six years ago, a means-tested RE was recommended instead of the by-right RE adopted last year in Concord. The Select Board never asked our legislators to file the home rule petition Lexington needs to implement a means-tested RE. Will the Select Board wait for another six years if the Governor’s bill to allow means-tested REs is not enacted soon?
7. Our Tree bylaw is ineffective
Enforcement of our tree bylaw has become a joke, and the bylaw has not been amended at the request of the Select Board by adding the paragraph listed here to prevent the indiscriminate cutting of major trees across town. If the Select Board really wants Lexington to be “climate resilient,” it must get Town Meeting to strengthen the tree bylaw.
While I don’t agree with everything that Patrick says, he is right about the lack of foresight, rigor and common sense our elected officials have demonstrated. This is an important job that has huge implications on thousands of current and future residents. Sometimes I feel like the Select Board is more qualified to approve one day liquor licenses than actually lead a Town with an over $300M budget. You can’t add huge amounts of housing without first planning for the increased infrastructure needed. What good is requiring 300 bike parking spaces when there aren’t any bike lanes? How can you expect minimal increased car traffic when you aren’t funding sidewalk construction? How are schools supposed to accommodate a rapid increase in enrollment? These are questions that should be answered before voting / supporting major development.
The Select Board is an insulated group of people who go along to get along amongst themselves. And care little to listen to or to consider those who live in the community unless they have some close connection to them or to other people they are connected to by business and are comfortable with. They also have family members, friends serving on other boards and committees. They are most comfortable dealing with only those they know closely. Seldom is anyone new or who do not agree with them completely allowed to participate. I moved to Lexington in 1977 and owned three homes in the time I lived there. In 2021 I moved from Lexington. I lived in Lexington most of those years in between. I watched what I described in this writing day in and day out, up close. Many of those on boards and committees are related and descend from people who have run the town over many years. They are friends, socialize together, and are more interested in protecting their personal relationships than serving the people they do not know and are suppose to represent. With such a diverse community you see very few people who are newcomers integrated into participating on boards and committees. Just looking at the town it looks like they spend tax dollars irresponsibly. Though I remember a day clearly when my sons were in middle school and teachers were jockeying over who would get the orange mac or turquoise one not realizing they were just fortunate to have one. Nothing has changed from all those years ago. Those who run Lexington believe the citizens provide endless amounts of funding thru taxes upon their request and demand. And they cater to the people in the community who “want” what is provided by the town. Not those who actually participate in sustaining the community. Lexington has more residents who care not to participate in the town’s management aside from providing tax dollars. It like buying an expensive item. If you can afford it you buy it. Lexington is bought not cared about! It is a town that is used for its public education services by those who are transient and have no interest in the town itself and to those who call it home. Sad but true. Those who call it home may never live out their days there. Nor will their children live there as they cannot afford it. It is a town for those who can buy into it, use it, and leave it! Never concerned about how it is sustained.