HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-11 Community Preservation Act Report to 2006 Town MeetingCommunity Preservation Committee
2006 Town Meeting Report
The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) was provisionally appointed in February,
2006 and confirmed in March, 2006. The members and their affiliations, as provided in
the statute, are as follows:
Richard Wolk — Conservation Commission
Marilyn Fenollosa — Historical Commission
Leo McSweeney — Housing Authority
Betsey Weiss — Housing Partnership
Wendy Manz Planning Board
Sandra Shaw — Recreation Committee
Joel Adler — at large, appointed by the Board of Selectmen
Norm Cohen — at large, appointed by the Board of Selectmen
Richard Pagett — at large, appointed by the Board of Selectmen
Betsey Weiss has been appointed as Chair of the CPC, and Marilyn Fenollosa as its
Secretary.
Since the March 6 th election, there have been two regular CPC meetings, held on March
13th and 23 and a public hearing held on March 30 Because the CPC had a very
limited amount of time to consider projects during the period between enactment and
Town Meeting, there was not sufficient time to establish a formal application and review
process for the spring 2006 Town meeting.
Therefore, the CPC was only able to vote on and recommend to Town Meeting three
proposed Municipal Capital Projects already included in Article 28 of the 2006 Warrant
which are eligible for CPA funding. These are the installation of environmental controls
for the Cary Hall vault, police dispatch room renovations and fire station renovations.
The Cary Hall Vault Environmental Controls project is described in Warrant Article 28
item (i) ($60,000). The vault, which is 800 square feet, is too hot and too dry, and not the
proper environment to maintain town records. The vault contains police and fire logs
(historical, for research purposes); old town reports; personal records (marriage and birth
certificates); and other documents and information that are now in smaller vaults and in
different departments and locations. These improvements will therefore centralize
storage. Also, the Town has made a request to the National Endowment for the
Humanities for a grant for shelving, which will give us 1-1/2 times more shelving space.
A CPA grant would serve as matching funds. The Massachusetts Legislature recently
added "documents" to the list of historic resources that may be preserved using CPA
funds, making this project eligible.
The second CPC project being brought before Town Meeting is the Police Station
Dispatch Room renovation for $100,000, described in Warrant Article 28(g). The request
is for funding to upgrade the safety dispatch center. The project will entail interior
renovations to accommodate the larger equipment that the police are required to have. Of
the $840,000 total cost, $100,000 is for interior renovations (the rest is radio equipment).
This project is part of a long range plan to renovate and upgrade the facilities. This
upgrade will enable the police department to continue operations while the back half of
building is being renovated. The police station is on State Register of Historic Places as
part of the Town Hall complex, so it qualifies as an "historic resource" and the renovation
is CPA eligible.
The third CPC project is the Fire Station renovation for $100,000, Article 28(c). The
project includes replacement of the rubber roof on the rear of the building; it was last
done 12 years ago, and now leaks. Also, the basement needs a drain to prevent water
buildup and growth of mold from the damp conditions. Finally, the floor where the
apparatus is kept needs to be shored up: new equipment creates 2000 pounds more weight
of pressure on the infrastructure. The estimated costs are $50,000 for the roof and
drainage, and $50,000 for shoring up the flooring. The Historical Commission has
determined that the Fire Station meets the criteria of the definition of "historic resources"
in the CPA, and therefore these expenses are eligible for CPA funding.
In addition to these Warrant Article projects, the CPC recommends approval of an
allocation for administrative expenses. The CPC is allowed to use up to 5% of yearly
receipts for expenses, or approximately $115,000, and we are now requesting $25,000.
Of this amount, $5,000 will be spent on general administrative expenses such as mailings
and notice publication. $20,000 will be allocated for an update of the Town's open
space/ recreation plan, needed as a planning tool for the CPC.
According to Karen Mullins, Conservation Commission Administrator and Karen
Simmons, Director of Recreation, the Town's Open Space Plan was last updated in 1997.
Although the State Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) requires an update
every five years, ours expired in 2002. The plan is an important historical document
because it keeps track of land acquisition history and use in town. We need to update
maps and information, making the plan compatible with GIS. As part of the process, the
Commission will conduct new surveys and research. The plan must then be copied and
widely distributed.
Once updated, the open space /recreation plan can be used to obtain grant money.
Commonwealth Capital, a state funding source, has a scoring program for grant
applications. Because our plan is out of date, we do not get points that would affect the
Town's ability to receive grants for land acquisition reimbursement. A town can receive
up to 50% reimbursement, and we have funded many of our past open space purchases
using this program. For example, the Town might be eligible to receive grant aid toward
acquisition of Lot One, off Walnut Street, a part of the Western Greenway.
The Plan would also provide an inventory of our recreation space, including playing
fields, to assist in future planning. It can help the Town qualify for grant funding on
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projects like treating the Old Reservoir for water quality and vegetation control or even in
acquiring additional recreational land.
The Community Preservation Act requires that 10% of CPA funds raised (estimated at
$230,000 for FY 07) must be allocated to open space, 10% to affordable housing and
10% to historic preservation. The funds may be spent or banked for use in future years.
In addition to funding the projects which have just been described, the CPC recommends
that the following reserves be approved by Town Meeting: $230,000 for open space,
$230,000 for affordable housing, and $25,000 for historic preservation. (The CPC is
recommending more than the required 10% historic preservation allocation in the projects
we have proposed.) The CPC recommends that the remaining $1,530,000 (after
accounting for administrative expenses of $25,000 and the $260,000 for capital projects)
be deposited in the general unreserved fund balance of the Lexington Community
Preservation Fund.
All of these amounts that are spent on approved projects or allocated and reserved for
future CPA projects will be matched by the State, with the projected first payment of $2.3
million to occur in October, 2007 (the funds are paid out with a one -year delay). We
anticipate that our FY07 appropriations will be matched 100% with State funds at that
time.
We are pleased that our recommended capital projects, which were tax levy items, can
now receive CPA funds, resulting in a savings of $260,000 in the Capital Plan Budget
($160,000 from the cash funded capital budget and $100,000 from the bond funded
capital budget). The CPC would like to add that although we had wanted to renovate the
Center Playground using CPA funds, current interpretations by the Department of
Revenue of the allowable uses for recreation under the CPA statute do not allow it at this
time.
The CPC is in the process of putting together an application form for new CPA projects
that should be ready for distribution by May 15 New projects will be reviewed by the
CPC by late summer for the probable fall Town Meeting. Projects will also be
considered on a regular basis in the fall and the CPC's recommended projects will be
placed on the Warrant by Dec. 3 0 for consideration at the annual spring Town Meeting
in 2007.
April 19, 2006
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