NORTHAMPTON — The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) is unanimously recommending full funding for five Community Preservation Act (CPA) projects totaling $938,979, bringing the process one step closer to City Council approval.
The Community Preservation Act, signed into law in 2000, allows municipalities to raise money through a property tax surcharge of up to 3% for open space protection, historic preservation and the provision of affordable housing, which is matched by state dollars.
With $927,272 in CPA funds available this year, the CPC voted Wednesday to approve the following projects: $330,111 to the Conservation Commission for ecological restoration of the wildlife corridor formerly known as the Pine Grove Golf Course; $202,000 to the Office of Planning and Sustainability to build a disability-accessible connection; and $145,385 to Forbes Library to install lighting at the library’s Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum; $253,660 to Historic Northampton for Phase II of renovations to the former home of Nathaniel Parsons; and $7,625 to the Lilly Library Association to replace stone stairs at the front of the building.
“We had a bunch of really good programs this time,” CPC member Chris Hellman said of the projects. “Unlike past rounds, we’re not in a situation where we’re going to have to rob Peter to pay Paul.”
Although a roughly $12,000 gap exists between the sum of the total funds available to the CPC and the total costs of all five projects combined, Office of Planning & Sustainability Assistant Director Sarah LaValley explained that the CPC has access to leftover funds from projects in previous years.
LaValley explained that since CPA funding totals are rough — and usually conservative —estimates based off predictions of future tax revenue, the committee will likely be able to fund all projects in their entirety.
“We’re typically over [budget] by varying degrees, but this is a really small amount that would be able to be covered, even in a worst-case scenario, by returning the excess administration costs,” LaValley said. “We are also expecting about $15,000 to be returned from cost savings at the Ryan Road School project.”
Before voting to approve the funding, CPC members took turns voicing their viewpoints on the projects before them.
CPC member Martha Lyon said she felt “very positive” about the projects, referencing Sen. Lindsay Sabadosa’s letter of support for the Calvin Coolidge museum lighting project, noting a supplemental budget allocation from Beacon Hill that promised to put $84,000 in state funds toward the work.
Member Paul Foster-Moore said he was initially skeptical of the museum renovation but later changed his mind after visiting Forbes Library and learning more about the proposed project.
“I wasn’t so enlightened about the Coolidge Museum lighting until I went there and sat through the wonderful presentation about the project and the changes they’re about to make,” he said. “I was especially impressed by the fact that they want to be able to preserve delicate artifacts that are made of paper or cloth. That allows them to rotate a lot of exhibits that are in storage and are safely in the dark right now to be presented in the public. I’m in support of that.”
Hellman added that although the costs of renovating the museum display — a project that mainly involves installing proper lighting to preserve artifacts — seems “staggering,” it’s not simply lighting, but the “illumination” and “preservation” of historic documents.
CPC member Julia Chevan echoed the remarks of her fellow committee members by voicing her support for all five projects, adding that she hoped to see more affordable housing project proposals come forward in future funding rounds. She explained that the panel has heard of other parts of the bike trail that are “neighborhood walking paths,” and should also be “formalized.”
Discussing the project to create a wildlife corridor at the former site of the Pine Grove Golf Course, CPC Chair Brian Adams jokingly remarked that he was “furious” at the project, as he keeps being awoken, or kept awake by the sounds of wildlife at night.
“I was trying to go to sleep last night, I had my the window open, and the sounds of the spring peepers, tree frogs, and the first time I heard American toads this year, were deafening,” he said. “As soon as they shut up, the birds began before the sun even came up. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to sleep if this place becomes even wilder, and then I woke up to a bear in the garden … I’m attempting to be unbiased and will move beyond those concerns to give a wholehearted support to that project, as well as the other projects.”
The recommended projects are expected to be put before a City Council vote in June.
