Loading...
Chair Report 2009APPENDIX A: REPORT OF THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE: 2007-2008 INITIAL ACTIVITIES The residents of Northampton voted, by ballot referendum, in November 2005 to adopt the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act (CPA). About a year later, the City Council adopted the ordinance creating the Northampton Community Preservation Committee (CPC). The Northampton Community Preservation Committee (CPC) was formed in March 2007 to make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on how to utilize the CPA funds, which, in the City of Northampton, are raised through a 3% real estate tax surcharge and State match. The Committee consists of nine members, including representatives from the Conservation Commission, Historical Commission, Housing Authority, Planning Board, Recreation Commission, as well as one member appointed by City Council, one member appointed by the Mayor and two elected representatives. Members are listed at the end of this report. The committee began its work in March of 2007 with the seven appointed members. The final two members were elected in a city-wide election in November 2007, and joined the committee in January 2008 after being sworn in as official members. Because the CPA process is complex, and because the Committee felt strongly that it should put the best possible policies and procedures in place before starting to accept applications, it spent most of the rest of 2007 preparing the Community Preservation Plan (see below). The Plan includes the Committee’s application requirements and other information which applicants need to have, including goals and criteria for the four program areas covered by the Plan (see below). The Committee also worked on a number of important issues related to the operation of the CPC in as transparent, inclusive and effective way as possible: It entered into a staffing agreement with the City which provides the CPC with professional and clerical staffing. It ensured that appropriate actions were taken to set up the CPC fiscal system, and refined its’ fiscal and project reporting systems during the year. [36] It voted to establish a formal public comment period as the first agenda item for each of its meetings. It approved guidelines for Preservation Guarantees. It approved a set of By-Laws & Rules of Procedure. It should be noted that none of these achievements, or the ones noted below, could have been achieved without a strong collaborative effort between all of the committee members and CPC staff. THE FIRST COMMUNITY PRESERVATION PLAN The Community Preservation Act requires the CPC to study the “needs, possibilities and resources” for community preservation in Northampton. Because this plan is the principal document to which the Committee refers when making its decisions, and because it is the principal document which applicants and the public use to learn about the CPA progress, it is worth explaining the processes we used to create it. To prepare the first , the Committee reviewed existing plans and documents bearing on the four funding categories permitted under the Act—open space, recreation, historic preservation, and community housing. (For a list of these resources, see Appendix A.) It also held public hearings and reached out to the public for comment in a variety of other ways. The Committee formally approved the Plan on November 19, 2007. The Plan summarized our work in identifying community preservation needs for Northampton and developing a fair and open project application and review process. We attempted to synthesize the plans that address the four community preservation activity areas. We reviewed the Sustainable Northampton Plan and Northampton’s current resources and outlined the needs and possibilities for community preservation activities enhancing open space, recreation, historic preservation, and community housing. Finally, we set out the criteria we will utilize to evaluate project proposals as well as the process we will use to review proposals. The creation of the first Community Preservation Plan took all of 2007. We had hoped to have at least one funding round in 2007, but found that we simply could not do that until the Plan was complete. It is fair to say that the committee found the process considerably more complex than it had anticipated. However, in the end it was clear that the time spent on the Plan was extremely valuable. It prepared us very well for the three funding rounds of 2008. [37] THE THREE FUNDING ROUNDS OF 2008 We began 2008 with monthly meetings, which had been our schedule for 2007. It soon became clear that the intensive application review process required us to meet twice a month, which we did for the rest of the year. Our initial schedule called for four funding rounds, but after the first round we realized that we simply could not sustain the effort required for that schedule even with the bi- monthly meeting schedule. We reduced the number of rounds for 2008 to three (and the number of rounds for future years to two). The result of almost a year of planning was a very professional three funding rounds. The projects which the Committee recommended and which were funded are listed below: FUNDED COMMUNITY PRESERVATION PROJECTS, 2008 Summary of Allocations Total approved as of March 1, 2009 $3,342,579.25 Total Historic Preservation $1,633,250.25 (49%) Total Community Housing $961,229.00 (29%) Total Open Space $673,100.00 (20%) Total Recreation $75,000.00 (2%) Individual Projects funded HISTORIC PRESERVATION Forbes Library ($1,000,000 over 4 years) - For the historic restoration and preservation of the Library. First Churches ($250,000) - For restoration of the roof of the historic meeting house DAR Betty Allen Chapter ($2,761) - For the installation of custom interior storm windows and the restoration of a flag pole. City Clerk ($49,708) - To dismantle bindings, surface dry clean, repair, restore, re-sew, re-bind and encapsulate vital City records. [38] Committee for Northampton, Inc. ($150,000) - To the David Ruggles Center for Early Florence History and Underground Railroad Studies for the purchase of the museum and education center. Florence Civic & Business Association (approved by the CPC, but not yet funded) $40,000 - For the preservation of the historic structure and historic collection. Historic Elm Street District ($35,681.25) - For revisions to the Elm Street Historic District design standards and historic inventory. Historic Northampton Museum ($105,100) - For the preservation of the Parsons, Shepherd and Damon Houses. COMMUNITY HOUSING Habitat for Humanity ($120,000) - For the infrastructure costs for six affordable homes to be built on Garfield Avenue. Alliance for Sober Living ($39,617) - For replacement and shoring of structural framing of the main beam, floor beams, and foundation walls. HAP ($26,627) - For support of housing and stabilization for previously homeless families in the community. Housing First ($220,000) - For the acquisition of a house in Northampton to provide up to six units of permanent supported housing for chronically homeless individuals. Housing Partnership ($35,000) - For the development of a housing needs assessment strategic plan. Service Net ($8,824) - For the installation of a new fire alarm system. Valley Community Development Corporation (CDC) ($250,000) - For the preservation of eleven single-room occupancy units on Maple Street. Valley CDC ($225,000) - For the creation of eight new “enhanced” single room occupancy units on King [39] Street. Valley CDC ($26,161) - For outreach, marketing, counseling, and assistance for the first time homebuyer program in the City of Northampton. Valley CDC ($10,000) - For the establishment of a pre-development fund to assist community housing projects OPEN SPACE Nonotuck Land Fund ($118,600) - For the purchase of a Conservation Restriction on 168 acres of open space at Marble Brook. Northampton Conservation Commission ($150,000) - For the acquisition of approximately 12 acres of land located at the corner of Ryan Road and Sylvester Road consisting of riparian corridor along Parsons Brook, wetlands, a vernal pool complex and upland area. Broad Brook Coalition - Open Space ($12,000) - For the removal of invasive species located in the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area. Northampton Conservation Commission ($31,000) - For the purchase of approximately 1.1 acres of land consisting of wetlands, riparian corridor and upland habitat adjacent to Broad Brook. Northampton Conservation Commission ($10,000) - To establish a conservation fund for high priority, time sensitive open space acquisition and preservation projects. Northampton Planning Department ($350,000) - For the preservation of open space in the Mineral Hills Conservation Area, Turkey Hill Road Addition. RECREATION Northampton Planning Department ($35,000) - For the purchase of two separate Right-of-Ways for construction of a bike path access ramp. Northampton Recreation Commission - Open Space and Recreation ($1,500) [40] - For the acquisition of land adjacent to Sheldon Field. Northampton Recreation Commission ($40,000) - To the Recreation Commission for a playing fields feasibility study. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP, 2007-08 Members of the Northampton CPC during its initial stages were: John Andrulis Don Bianchi Craig Della Penna Jack Hornor Chris Kennedy George Kohout Elizabeth (Lilly) Lombard Mason Maronn Tom Parent Fran Volkmann At the outset, the Committee elected Jack Hornor as its chair, and wishes now to express its appreciation to Jack for his leadership and perseverance as the committee set its course. The Committee also wishes to thank Jack for preparing this report. Finally, the Committee wishes to thank Bruce Young, Senior Community Preservation Planner, for his support and expertise, and to John Frey, Community Preservation Planner, for his staff work and financial analyses. [41]