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Has your community used CPA funds to purchase land for open space or recreation? Close to 100 CPA communities have. If your community is one of them, you'll want to be sure an important step in the process was completed: A Conservation Restriction (CR) must be filed on open space or recreational land acquired with CPA funds. Our Conservation Restrictions 101 article in this issue has everything you need to know. Read on for that, and all the latest news on CPA. |
| CPA News | | |
A Kitchen Sink of CPA Elections
This spring's election season had it all: efforts to adopt CPA, change the optional CPA exemptions - even a successful election to raise a town's CPA surcharge. Here are the results from across the state:
* The town of Dighton in southeastern Massachusetts voted to adopt CPA with a 1% surcharge level, bringing the total number of CPA communities to 143 - 40% of all municipalities statewide!
* In Manchester-by-the-Sea, voters approved a ballot question to raise the town's CPA surcharge, becoming only the fourth community to ever attempt such an increase. You can read more about this success story in the article below.
* Mattapoisett added the low and moderate income exemption to their CPA program. This optional exemption allows income-qualified property owners to apply for an exemption to the CPA local surcharge.
* The other initial adoption election this spring was in Sunderland, in Western Massachusetts. Sharing the ballot with an override question, CPA was defeated by a mere 56 votes. Sunderland CPA advocates are considering an effort to try again in the fall.
* A few communities faced attempts at Town Meeting to lower their CPA surcharge or revoke the Act, but not a single one of these attempts passed.
 Manchester-by-the-Sea Votes to Raise CPA Surcharge
Households across the state are tightening their belts, pinching pennies and clipping coupons. But despite these tough economic times, the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea on the North Shore showed their strong support for their small CPA program - they voted to increase their local CPA property tax surcharge from 0.5 to 1.5%. Manchester is not the only community that has raised its CPA surcharge. Since 2000, three other communities have done the same: Amherst, Chelmsford, and Lincoln.
We asked the CPC in Manchester if they had any advice to share with other communities that may be considering a similar attempt. Click here to read the article we wrote based on their feedback: How to Increase Funding for Your CPA Program: Raising Your CPA Surcharge is an Option.
Update on SB 90: An Act to Sustain Community Preservation
The momentum is growing on Beacon Hill for passage of SB 90. An editorial urging passage of the bill appeared this weekend in the Daily News Tribune from a trio of legislators representing nine CPA communities: State Representatives Carolyn Dykema, Kate Hogan and Jen Benson. Meanwhile, the Coalition continues to meet weekly on SB 90 with legislators and leadership on Beacon Hill, and we will advocate hard for passage right up until the end of formal sessions on July 31st. That state's difficult budget is priority number one for the legislature right now; we hope to be able to make further progress on SB 90 once the budget is finalized in the next two weeks. We will need a big push from CPA communities when the time is right, so please watch your email for an SB 90 'Action Alert' in the near future. |
The Rules on Conservation Restrictions on CPA Land
If you acquire open space with CPA funds, you need a CR | |
Town Meeting season is coming to a close, and many communities have voted to use a portion of their CPA funds to acquire open space. The CPA legislation requires that communities make sure the land is protected from development in perpetutity with a Co nservation Restriction (CR). Until this document is completed and filed, the terms of the purchase have not been technically completed.
For an in-depth look at CRs and how to complete them for your community's CPA-acquired open space properties, click here. |
| CPA Conference Presentations are Online | | |
 On Saturday May 8th, representatives of over 40 CPA communities braved a heavy spring rain to travel to Northampton for the Coalition's Spring CPA Conference. Workshop topics ranged from using CPA to protect farmland, to evaluating historical significance, to establishing municipal affordable housing trusts, and more. Almost all conference presentations are online for viewing and downloading.
Our next CPA Conference is tentatively scheduled for early November in Southeastern Massachusetts. We have not yet settled on a location - if you have a conference venue to suggest, please contact us! |
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Tufts Students Make CPA Shine in Video | |
 This past spring, a team of graduate students in Tufts' Urban & Environmental Policy and Planning Program spent their semester studying how CPA communities utilize the Act and value its potential. As part of their final project, they made a fantastic short video illustrating the success of CPA across the Commonwealth.
Watch their video on YouTube- it is guaranteed to inspire. |
| Featured CPA Project: 'Undevelopment' in Barnstable: Turning a Former Motel into a Coastal Mitigation Nursery | | |
This month's featured CPA project (pictured to the left and in the newsletter banner above) is the site of the former Suni Sands Motel in Centerville, which was purchased by the Town of Barnstable in 2008 using $750,000 in CPA Open Space funds. This area of town had long been a location where officials and residents wished to see more open space, so when the 3-acre property went up for sale, the Town quickly produced a plan to acquire it. In a fantastic example of 'undevelopment', the motel located on site was demolished, reverting the parcel to open space and a very unique new use as a coastal mitigation nursery. What exactly is that? Click here to learn more about the site's environmentally and economically sustainable development. |
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