NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Community Preservation Committee is recommending funds for eight projects, including $213,000 to repair two stained-glass windows at First Churches.
The seven other projects that were unanimously recommended last week total $780,285 in Community Preservation Act grants. The money is spent on community housing, historic preservation, open space and recreation. The committee’s recommendations go to the City Council.
Among the other projects, $275,000 would advance the city’s first residential program for unaccompanied homeless youths from 18 to 24 years of age.
Rick Hart, president of Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals Inc., said the CPA funding will be added to the group’s own private fundraising and foundation money to reach the roughly $750,000 needed to purchase a housing space for the program.
“We’ve been looking and scoping out possible houses, but there are many parameters in that search,” said Hart. He added that the house must have a certain number of units, be in good condition, and be somewhere near the downtown area and public transportation.
Hart hopes to have a house purchased by the end of the year and to open its doors in early 2017.
Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals Inc. is responsible for the money needed to purchase a house. It will be turned over to DIAL/SELF Youth & Community Services, a nonprofit agency serving the youth and communities of western Massachusetts, which will run the program.
Money would also go to these other projects:
PULASKI PARK: The Department of Public Works would get $805,400 for work on it renovation and expansion. This phase includes construction of the Overlook expansion that will create new park space to the rear of the existing park.
Sarah LaValley, the city’s conservation, preservation and land-use planner, said the funds needed for this project go beyond what the CPA can provide, so the committee is recommending additional money through bonding.
SAW MILL HILLS: The Conservation Commission would get $72,000 for open space acquisition.
That land would add 22 acres to the Saw Mill Hills in Leeds, with three acres on the western side of Reservoir Road with direct water access, and 19 acres of bluff and views overlooking the reservoir.
THEATER CURTAIN: The Academy of Music would get $44,785 to restore a scenic curtain depicting a Northampton scene that was recently found stapled to the back of the main stage curtain. It is thought to be the largest remaining historic curtain on the East Coast.
CONSERVATION FUND: The Conservation Commission would get $30,000 for protection of open space and agricultural parcels by allowing for fast action on time-sensitive real estate opportunities.
FITZGERALD LAKE: The Broad Brook Coalition would get $12,800 for invasive plant control.
The money would allow the coalition to continue efforts to control and eliminate several species of invasive plants that are damaging critical habitats essential to the health of native wildlife and plants, including endangered species.
SHEPHERD BARN: Historic Northampton would get $2,300 for a wood-dating study which will be used in preparation for a full restoration project of the structure.
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.