CPA Spring 2009 Elections Update
Two more communities adopted CPA this spring. Successful CPA campaigns in Seekonk and Rehoboth bring the grand total of CPA communities to 142 - 40% of all the municipalities in the Commonwealth. Two other CPA measures, in Lynnfield and Hardwick, did not pass. For a map showing all 142 CPA communities, click here.

New! Our Most Popular CPA Technical Assistance Articles - Now in One Place!
Over the years, CPA Update has provided Community Preservation Committees with valuable information on all things CPA, from administrative issues to financial requirements, from tips on historic preservation projects to strategies for leveraging funds to acquire open space. We've gathered all that information in one convenient location, and are pleased to present you with the CPA Update Newsletter Archives. From this link, you can access articles on general CPA topics and articles on each of the four CPA purposes, as well as every newsletter we've published.

Legislative Update
The CPA legislation the Coalition is promoting, An Act to Sustain Community Preservation, now has a bill number - Senate Bill 90 - and has been assigned to a legislative committee - the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business. The committee will soon set a date for a public hearing to solicit comments on the bill. The Coalition will certainly testify, and we encourage you and your Community Preservation Committee to submit written testimony - or even come to the State House and testify in person. We'll keep you updated on the date of the hearing. For more information, click here.

CPA Supporter Publishes Book
Al Lima, a Fall River resident and the Director of Planning and Community Development in Marlborough, has published Preserving Community Character: A Citizen's Guide to Saving Place and Halting Urban Sprawl. Using real-life examples, Lima guides citizens through the planning process with an eye toward the long-term and the goal of keeping communities distinct. According to Lima, "communities that have adopted CPA are ahead of the curve in preserving the character of their communities. They have already made the choice that their communities are worth preserving and have decided to assess themselves to make that happen." Preserving Community Character provides guidance on how to establish a long-range vision and, more importantly, how to succeed in implementing that vision.

In March 2006, the CPA statute was amended to include "documents and artifacts" within the definition of historic resources. Since that time, many communities have used CPA funds for document preservation projects, including document conservation and restoration projects and improvements to document storage systems, such as installing climate controls.

However, in the process of reviewing applications for preservation of documents, CPCs and commissions have questioned which documents should qualify as "historic" under the definition contained in the CPA legislation. Since documents are not included on the State Register, it is necessary for the local historical commission to determine historic significance of documents per Section 2 of the Community Preservation Act (MGL c.44B). But, what evaluation criteria can commissions use?

We are pleased to announce the two projects selected as winners of the Robert Kuehn Community Preservation Award. The award program honors Bob Kuehn, longtime member of the Coalition's Steering Committee, who passed away in 2006.

The winner in the Small Community Category (CPA surcharge revenues under $400,000), was the Marion Music Hall, an historic preservation project in Marion. The winner in the Large Community Category (CPA surcharge revenues over $400,000) was the Douglas House in Lexington, an affordable housing/historic preservation/open space project.

Marion and Lexington will be honored at a ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 3:00 pm in Nurses' Hall at the State House. We invite all CPC members to join us to recognize the impressive projects submitted by all applicants.

Click here to view all the projects that were entered in the competition.

It is inspiring to see the hard work, creativity and commitment that went into each CPA project. Bob Kuehn would be honored and proud!

"Low and Moderate Income" guidelines are important to CPA communities for two reasons. First, if your community adopted the Low Income and Low and Moderate Income Senior exemption to the CPA surcharge, your assessors will need these figures to determine who qualifies for the exemption. Second, these figures are used to determine who can live in housing units supported in any way with CPA funding.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Low Income is defined as 80% of the areawide median income for your community, and moderate income is defined as 100% of the areawide median income. To access the recently-updated 2009 spreadsheet showing these income limits for each Massachusetts community, based on household size, click here. Using this spreadsheet, you can determine what income levels meet the definition of Low and Moderate Income in your city or town.

The Department of Revenue requires Community Preservation Committees to enter their approved FY09 CPA projects into the online CP-3 database by September 15 in order to receive their yearly CPA Trust Fund distribution on October 15. However, there's no need to wait until the last minute - if your community has appropriated funding for CPA projects during FY09,, get a jump on your virtual paperwork and enter your information now. If your community did not appropriate funding for any CPA projects during FY09, you still need to call or email DOR with that information.

Helpful resources include:
CPA Bulletin (Bulletin 2008-08b)
Online CP-3 Data Entry Application
Instruction manual for the Online CP-3

For more information, call DOR's Municipal Databank Unit at 617-626-2384 or databank@dor.state.ma.us.

This issue's featured CPA project is a historic preservation project in Ashland. Ashland voters approved CPA at Town Meeting in May 2002 at 3%, with exemptions. In 2004, the Ashland CPC approved $303,406 in CPA historic preservation funds for restoration of the town's historic library as part of a larger project that included renovating Ashland Town Hall and expanding the library.