HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-13-CPC-min
Community Preservation Committee
March 13, 2006
Attending: Joel Adler, Norm Cohen, Marilyn Fenollosa, Wendy Manz, Betsey Weiss
Not attending: Richard Pagett, Leo McSweeney, Sandy Shaw, Richard Wolk
The meeting was called to order at 8:40 a.m.
1. Norm Cohen announced that Town Manager Carl Valente was sick and would not be
attending.
2. Norm also announced that Leo McSweeney would be the Housing Authority’s
representative to the Committee.
3. Norm nominated Betsey Weiss to be the Chair and Marilyn Fenollosa to be the
Secretary of the Committee. The nominations were seconded and unanimously
approved.
4. Norm reminded the Committee of the Selectmen’s charge, especially with respect to
the public meetings that must be held. To be able to have such a public hearing before
Town Meeting, notices must be published in a newspaper of general distribution at least
once in each of the two weeks before the hearing. Therefore, to meet on March 30, a
notice must be placed in the Minuteman issued on March 16 and March 23. Per the by-
law, the notice can be general as to projects to be discussed.
5. Article 25 of the Warrant for Town Meeting was placed to permit Town Meeting to
vote and approve selected projects that would use FY 07 CPA funds, due to be assessed
beginning July 1. Carl Valente has identified the following projects from the current
budget:
??Open space/recreation master plan
??Repairs to historic cemeteries (Old Burying Ground, Munroe, Robbins)
Other potential projects include
??Administrative costs to help the Assessor’s office hire and train staff to
administer the new assessment
??Preservation of the Center playground, per Warrant Article 27.
With respect to the playground, Betsey noted that there had been some reluctance to
characterize the playground as an eligible project based on a June 11, 2002 letter from the
Mass. Department of Revenue to the Norfolk Community Preservation Committee
(attached). Nevertheless, she noted that playground projects have been approved in other
CPA communities, most recently Concord, in a public hearing on March 9, where the
Concord CPC recommended the Town allocate $150,000 to replace their Emerson
Playground Tot Lot. Betsey will call these other towns to determine the basis of their
approvals.
Marilyn questioned whether the Committee should seek out potential projects from the
Conservation and Housing groups. It was agreed that to do so would be too rushed for
this Town Meeting, but since it is now anticipated that there will be a Fall Town Meeting
there will be ample time to flush out potential projects from these areas.
6. The Committee approved of the following text for the notice of the March 30 public
hearing:
The Community Preservation Committee will hold a public hearing on Thursday,
March 30, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room in the Town
Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, to take public comments on CPA
eligible projects being considered for the 2006 Annual Town Meeting.
7. The Committee agreed to have an interim meeting before the public hearing to further
discuss potential projects with the absent committee members. The meeting is set for
Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Station Guard Room.
8. The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Fenollosa