Candidate Q&A: Michelle Ciccolo for Planning Board

In advance of the annual town election on March 7, Lexington Patch is posting Q&As with candidates who are running for election or re-election to town boards or committees. 

The following Q&A is with Michelle Ciccolo, who is running for one of two seats on the Planning Board. Bruce Embry is also a candidate, and Charles Hornig seeks re-election. Anthony Galaitsis is not seeking re-election.

Q. Please give a brief history of any town experience you have, including serving on a committee or being involved in the community.

A. Growing up in Lexington, my very first experience of being involved in government was in high school when I served on LHS’s Senior Class Council in 1985. After college, while still living at my parents' home, I served for two years as a Town Meeting Member representing Precinct 4 (1991-1993). While in grad school getting a Master’s in Public Affairs, I had the good fortune of having Dan Fenn (then a Lexington Selectmen) as my professor. He truly challenged me and inspired me to consider a career in local government.

Later, when my husband and I bought our first home, I served for three years as a Town Meeting Member in Precinct 9 (1996-1999). In 2003, I was appointed by the Board of Selectmen to serve on the DPW Reuse Advisory Committee, which examined possible uses for the DPW site when moving that facility to Hartwell Avenue was still under consideration. 

Currently, I serve in leadership roles on a number of regional boards and commissions which count Lexington as a member community. I am serving my 3rd year as Vice-President of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) which is the statutorily created government planning region of 101 cities and towns in our part of the state. Also, I have chaired the Minuteman Advisory Group on Interlocal Coordination (MAGIC) for the past 4 years. MAGIC is a sub-region of MAPC which comprises Lexington and 12 nearby towns. 

Finally, I have been involved with the Freedom’s Way Heritage Area for years, first serving on the board while it was seeking federal designation, and later serving as a gubernatorial appointee once it gained state designation. Freedom’s Way is now a National Heritage Area and Lexington will benefit from its focus on preserving our historic resources and promoting tourism.

Q. What prompted you to run for Planning Board?

A. I’ve worked professionally for the past 17 years as a manager in municipal government focusing on community development, planning and economic development. With two school-aged children and a demanding career that included evening meetings, I was unable to get involved in Lexington volunteer activities as much as I would have liked. But several years ago, I scaled back my professional duties to a part time role. This gives me more flexibility for my family and has created the possibility of seeking a more active role in my own home town. 

When an opening on the Planning Board came up this winter, it seemed like the perfect fit for my skills, background, and knowledge. I am eager to contribute something back to the town that has given me so much throughout my lifetime and thus truly hope to be elected to serve.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish if elected?

A: I believe the current board is a dedicated, knowledgeable group, and very capable at what they do. But there is always room for improvement in a process as complex as community planning. As just one of five Planning Board members, I have no expectation of effecting sweeping change. Nor would I want to.

The area that I would like to improve is the way in which developers, neighbors and the town interact in the crucial time before architects and engineers have begun work and developers become entrenched in concepts that they have already spent money on.

From both my professional and personal experiences, I know first hand the importance of having an honest dialog and very early conversations with all stakeholders. Open communication tends to result in better projects and a fair outcome for all who are involved. With my hands-on municipal experience, I hope to bring some fresh ideas, and creative approaches to problem solving. 

Those who know me well, know I tend to take on the lost-cause projects or the ones that people believe can never be accomplished. Then I find ways over, around, or under the problem to help move things forward. I hope to be able to bring my knowledge, technical expertise and can-do attitude to the  board and help resolve issues before they become disputes or disagreements.

Q. What do you think are the important issues the Planning Board is facing?

A: Lexington is largely built-out. Still there is pressure to breathe new life into tired commercial areas and encourage economic development to help keep our taxes in check. Property owners have legal rights to develop their land that must be respected. A certain amount of development is inevitable and desirable but it must be done thoughtfully.

The most important planning issue that Lexington faces is how to encourage development while protecting neighborhoods and the town from negative impacts on our quality of life. The Planning Board is responsible for long-term vision, master planning and other strategic planning. Viewing individual projects as pieces of a larger whole will be key for the next board.

Q: What would you try and change?

A. Lexington has certain zoning by-laws and procedures for commercial development which I think need improvement. The details are very technical, extremely complicated (which is part of the problem itself) and would take pages to explain. However, suffice it to say that we can do better with our process when permitting larger projects. 

The permitting is bewildering for residents but simultaneously overly-burdensome for the developer and difficult for the staff and boards as well. I’d like to find ways to make it better for all sides of the table. I am also keenly interested in the intersection between how we develop (allowable zoning and new projects) and their effect on transportation issues.

I will look to improve upon the way we approach traffic mitigation, circulation patterns, bike and pedestrian mobility, traffic calming and transit. With intense pressure already on our streets and neighborhoods, we can’t afford to get this issue wrong and I will focus closely on how we can do things better in this arena.

Q. What statement would you like to make in closing?

A. When I came back to Lexington after living in an apartment during my college and grad-school years, I was moved to tears at the annual youth parade. I had marched in that parade as a “Brownie” in my early school years. My friends had won youth awards and stood under the flag while they received their accolades. I have always felt that Lexington is a very, very special place. It is a community of bright minds and creative thinkers with a diversity of backgrounds and religions living in a place of great tradition and awe inspiring history. 

Yet it is more than even all that. We have the best schools in the Commonwealth, and we have recreational facilities and open spaces that are the envy of many other communities. It is a place to love, and a place to preserve. Yet, it is also a place where we want to encourage business to thrive. The town is diminished when the downtown is struggling, or the Hartwell Avenue corridor is full of vacancy. 

Quality of life is all about balance. When the Raytheons of Lexington move out, our residents lose close, high quality places to work. It is neither good for business nor residents when the streets are clogged. And no one wants to see accidents or injuries that result from crowed roads that don’t accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. If elected, I will strive to maintain that crucial balance between good development and high quality of life and work to improve upon our strengths as a community.