Lexington Select Board unanimously approves Lowell Street affordable housing land deal

LEXINGTON — January 27, 2025 — Lexington Select Board approved a land disposition agreement for a fully affordable 40-unit housing development on Lowell Street and debated a citizen petition to sharply cut the town's MBTA multifamily zoning capacity. The board voted 5-0 Monday to authorize Town Manager Steve Bartha to execute the agreement with developer Causeway Development LLC for parcel 68-44, which Affordable Housing Trust Chair Elaine Tung said will remain 100 percent affordable in perpetuity, with average tenant incomes below 60 percent of area median income. One abutter, Mark Lang, protested that neighbors had been excluded from the months-long negotiation. Separately, citizen petitioner Carol Sacerdote presented a motion for the February 3 special town meeting that would reduce MBTA overlay zoning from 228 acres to 77.7 acres and impose an explicit 15-unit-per-acre density cap, citing state certification of a 12,546-unit theoretical capacity — ten times the statutory requirement — with nearly 1,100 units already in permitting. Budget Officer Rosalyn Impink and Assistant Town Manager Carolyn Kosnoff presented a balanced FY2026 general fund budget at a 6 percent increase, with an 11 percent health insurance premium hike flagged by Bartha as "not sustainable" under Proposition 2 and a half.