2012-04-02-CPC-ATM-rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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Community Preservation Committee The CPA requires each adopting community to appoint a Community Preservation Committee. By statute, the CPC comprises nine members, of whom three are appointed by the Board of Selectmen as at-large members and six are appointed by the following boards and committees: Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Historical Commission, Housing Partnership, Housing Authority, and Recreation Committee. Currently Wendy Manz serves as Chair of the CPC and Marilyn Fenollosa serves as Vice-Chair. The CPC is responsible for reviewing applications for funding under the CPA and recommending to Town Meeting expenditure of CPA funds on those projects it approves each year. Committee decisions are made within the framework of a CPC planning document, Town of Lexington Community Preservation Plan: A Needs Assessment, which is updated annually after the Committee receives comments at a public hearing. This document can be found on the CPC website at the reference below. The CPC works closely with the Finance Department staff and the Capital Expenditures Committee and Appropriation Committee in tracking CPA fund balances and expenditures, projecting available funding for future years, and planning fund allocations for each of the areas eligible for CPA funding: community housing, historic resources, open space and recreation. CPC Administrator Nadie Rice currently tracks 28+ ongoing CPC projects, for which updates are given in this report after the FY 2013 Project Descriptions. Since Lexingtons adoption of the Community Preservation Act in 2006, the CPC has recommended and Town Meeting has approved a total of $25,336,810 for CPA projects. These funds have supported 45 historic preservation projects, preserved 52.4 acres of open space, created or preserved 8 recreational facilities, and created or supported 173 $7,288,652, or 28%, has been received from units of affordable housing. Of this total, the State as matching funds. Through its membership in the statewide non-profit Community Preservation Coalition, the CPC supports An Act to Sustain Community Preservation, which is now before the State legislature. The proposed law makes a number of improvements to the CPA, including expanding the definition of eligible projects and allowing communities to opt in to the statute by using existing municipal funding sources rather than imposing the property tax surcharge. Most importantly, the bill proposes to fix the State supplemental matching funds at no less than 75% by adjusting real estate recording fees. The bill has the support of 114 legislators, a majority of both houses, and is now under consideration (as HB 765) in the House Committee on Ways and Means. For further information about the CPC, visit the CPCs page of the Towns website, http://lexingtonma.gov/committees/cpc.cfm. 2