The Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business recently advanced SB 137, a bill which would ensure that the state CPA trust fund match remains strong, create additional flexibility for communities to adopt the Act, and clarify and expand the allowable uses of CPA funds for recreation projects.

The legislation was filed in the current legislative session by Senator Cynthia Stone Creem. After amendment and recommendation of the Joint Committee last month, the bill has now been placed before the House Committee on Ways and Means as HB 4820.

The Community Preservation Coalition commends the bill's sponsor, Senator Creem, and the Chairs of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business, Senator Brian Joyce and Representative Steven Walsh, for their support and leadership on CPA. We'll keep you updated on the future progress of this important legislation.

Coalition appoints three new Steering Committee members
Earlier this year, the Steering Committee of the Community Preservation Coalition voted to create three new positions on the committee to be filled by representatives who serve on their local Community Preservation Committee (CPC). This is in keeping with the Coalition's transition to a member-based organization.

The nominating committee, which consisted of Steering Committee Chair, Clarissa Rowe, Matt Zieper of the Trust for Public Land, and Jeff Sacks, previously appointed community representative to the Steering Committee from the Newton CPC, had an extremely difficult task in choosing among the long list of extraordinarily strong candidates for the three positions. All of the applicants demonstrated a remarkable commitment to furthering the work of community preservation in their communities.

The Steering Committee voted to appoint Andrea Langhauser of the Norfolk CPC, Barry Rector of the Nantucket CPC and Todd Helwig of the Northborough CPC to the three new positions on the board. We are grateful to all three for their enthusiasm about CPA and their willingness to serve!

CPA continues to grow
Six new communities adopted CPA this spring, bringing the total number of CPA communities statewide to 133. Becket, Granville, Hanson, Plympton, and Stoughton all adopted CPA with a 1.5% surcharge, while West Bridgewater passed CPA with a 1% surcharge. Meanwhile, CPA failed to pass in another six communities: Andover, Brimfield, Chesterfield, Seekonk, South Hadley and Worthington. Communities are beginning to line up to vote on CPA in the fall; the communities of Royalston, Shutesbury, Swansea, and Whately have recently voted to place CPA on the ballot for the November 4th, 2008 election, and petition campaigns are ongoing in several other communities around the state.

Click here to link to the Coalition's CPA election results and schedule

Click here to see the CPA map of Massachusetts (Note: This is a large .pdf file)

Interesting news on other CPA votes
Two CPA communities recently voted to make interesting changes to their existing CPA programs. Wilbraham Town Meeting voted to add two new at-large positions to their CPC, thereby increasing the size of the committee from 7 to 9 members. The warrant article was put before Town Meeting by initiative petition. Under the CPA legislation, communities are allowed to make changes to their CPA bylaw at any time by a vote of the legislative body (Town Meeting, City Council, etc).

Meanwhile, Amherst Town Meeting voted to raise their CPA local surcharge from 1.5% to 3%. This will allow the town to receive additional matching funds from the statewide CPA trust fund in the future, as only communities that have assessed the maximum 3% local surcharge are eligible for the second and third round CPA match each October. In order to take effect, the new 3% surcharge level must be approved by a ballot election in Amherst this coming November. If approved, this will be Amherst's second surcharge increase, as the town voted in 2006 to raise the surcharge from 1% to the current 1.5%.

There are a number of state grant programs that can provide additional funding for CPA open space and recreation projects.

The filing deadline for the annual FY09 grant round for the state LAND and PARC grant programs and for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program (LWCF) is 3pm on Tuesday, July 15, 2008. (Note: the LAND program was formerly called the Self-Help Program and the PARC program was formerly called the Urban Self-Help Program.)

The LAND program provides funds to conservation commissions to purchase conservation land.

The PARC program assists communities with the acquisition of parkland, construction of new parks, and renovation of existing parks.

The LWCF funds the acquisition of conservation land and parkland, as well as the renovation and construction of public outdoor recreation facilities.

These three programs provide between 50% and 70% reimbursement towards eligible project expenditures. The CPA funds can be used as the required local contribution for projects that are CPA-eligible. Additional state programs that fund CPA-related projects:

The Conservation Partnership Program funds assistance to not-for-profit corporations in acquiring interest in lands for conservation or recreation. Applications for this program are due on July 16th at 3pm.

The Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program funds municipalities and other entities (such as Fire Districts or Water Districts) to acquire land or interest in land to protect current and future drinking water supply sources. Applications for this program are due on September 5th.

Many of our past newsletter articles are intended to provide you with information that you can use on an ongoing basis. While you can always visit our newsletter archive to see all the back issues of CPA Update, we've compiled an index of the most popular articles below. Click on the links provided and you'll be taken directly to each of the following articles:

CPA Administrative Issues
Building a Better CPA Application Process
The Role of Grant Agreements in Funding Private Projects
Using CPA Funds to Hire Staff
What Constitutes a Majority on CPC Votes?

Project Eligibility/The CPA Statute
Can CPA Fund Private Projects?
A Review of Past Legislative Amendments to CPA
Is Our Project Eligible for CPA Funding?

Financial
Bonding CPA Projects
Educating Your Community on CPA Exemptions
Leveraging CPA Funds
Making Your CPA Dollars Go Further

General
CPA at Work in Small Towns (publication by the Highland Communities Institute of TTOR)
CPA Signs
Local CPA Websites

Historic Preservation
Church Preservation Projects
CPA 101: Rules for Historic Rehab
Preservation Restrictions

Housing
Need Help with Housing? (CPA & Affordable Housing Guidebook)

Open Space
CPA Preserves Water Resources

Recreation
Update on CPA Recreation Lawsuit

The CPA project featured in this issue is a community housing project in Chatham. With about $375K in CPA funds, the Chatham Housing Authority, The Community Builders, Inc, and Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod leveraged a total of $9M to create 50 affordable housing units. CPC Chair Florence Seldin is pictured standing in front of one of the multi-family rental units in the photo above. The project consisted of 47 rental units affordable to several income tiers - households earning up to 30, 50, and 60% of the areawide median income (AMI). In addition, three single-family homeownership units were constructed by Habitat for Humanity for households with incomes up to 80% AMI. This project brings Chatham's Subsidized Housing Inventory level up to 4.87%.

Background
The Chatham Housing Authority owned 5.4 acres of land that was designated for affordable housing and the Town of Chatham owned 1.7 acres of abutting land which the Town donated to create the subject property. Under the leadership of Valerie Foster, Executive Director of Chatham Housing Authority, the Housing Authority secured predevelopment funds, including $17K of CPA funds, as well as in-kind services from a local developer, Joshua Zuckerman, and an attorney who was found through the Lawyer's Clearinghouse.

The seed money from Chatham's CPA fund was used to hire an architect to develop conceptual site plans to include in the Request for Proposals (RFP), a housing consultant, and another consultant to conduct cost analyses on the proposals' proformas. After reviewing the proposals, the Housing Authority selected The Community Builders as the developer.

Other Funding
Multiple sources of public and private funding were needed to assemble the project's $9M budget including Barnstable HOME funds, Massachusetts HOME funds, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Mass Housing, Citizen's Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), Affordable Housing Tax Credits, and mortgages from private lending sources. As Valerie Foster points out, a big cost savings that made this project feasible was that the developer did not have to acquire the land; instead there is a 99-year ground lease.

Project Timeline
The Town of Chatham appropriated the initial CPA funding for predevelopment costs in 2002, $300K to the Community Builders in 2004, and an additional $60K to Habitat for Humanity in 2006. The construction of all 50 units is complete and the units are fully occupied.