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Dear ,
As the year draws to a close, we present all the latest on CPA, including news that the Coalition is hiring! If you know a good candidate for our full time Communications Coordinator position, please pass along the information you'll find in the article below. And don't' miss our featured CPA project at the very bottom of our newsletter, as we profile one of the largest-ever CPA projects.
Please Note: The Coalition will be closed beginning on Tuesday (12/23) and will reopen for CPA technical assistance on Monday, January 5th. Enjoy the holiday season!
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| The Coalition is Hiring! | |  We are currently interviewing for our full time Communications Coordinator position. If you or anyone else you know is looking to help the Commonwealth "preserve our past and build our future," please click on the link below to learn more. |
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Three New Communities Vote to Adopt CPA
Welcome to New Bedford, Arlington and Boxborough
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Voters in the state's sixth largest city, New Bedford, overwhelmingly approved CPA on election day, as did residents of the second largest community with CPA on the ballot, Arlington. Two other CPA elections were also in the win column; Boxborough voted to adopt CPA, while Amherst voted to raise their CPA surcharge from 1.5% to 3%. The success on election night brings the total number of CPA communities to 158.
CPA did not pass in five other communities on the ballot - Woburn, Newbury, Otis, Egremont, and Berkley. Vote totals were extremely close in Woburn and Otis - our election results chart shows just how close.
In the final CPA vote on election night, the town of Essex rejected an effort to raise their local surcharge from .5% to 1.5%. Essex will remain one of only two communities in the state to have a CPA surcharge of under 1%; Northfield is the other.
Click to read more and view the new CPA adoption map...
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The New FY2014 CPA Project Statistics Are In!
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Now that CPA communities have finished entering their FY2014 CPA project appropriations into the state's Community Preservation Projects database, it's clear that last year was a busy one for CPA.
More than 900 CPA projects were approved during FY14! We were eager to see if the recent changes to the recreation portion of CPA would greatly affect spending in the other categories, particularly open space preservation. While recreation projects experienced solid growth, last year's project statistics show that open space preservation is still a popular and significant area for CPA spending. And because of the recent robust trust fund distributions, affordable housing and historic project numbers also continued to climb over the course of the year.
We've crunched the numbers to tabulate how many open space acres have been preserved with CPA funding, the number of affordable housing units, plus data on the recreation and historic preservation categories.
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Is Your Town Buying Land This Year?
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With the CPA project approval season well underway, many communities are considering the purchase of land parcels right now. It's critically important that warrant articles (or ordinances in cities) for land acquisition under CPA are constructed properly. There are many details that must be contained in these legislation body actions, and problems or disputes may develop down the line if the authorization vote was incomplete.
The Coalition has developed an easy-to-use guide to make sure your land acquisition authorizations are properly constructed.
Click here to read the full article on land acquisitions...
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FEATURED PROJECT: With CPA, Lexington Restores Historic Cary Hall, Fulfills 86-Year Promise
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In 1928, the people of Lexington made a promise to keep their brand new Cary Memorial Hall a vibrant and well-maintained centerpiece of their town. During the building's dedication, the then President of the Trustee's Robert P. Clapp proclaimed that the hall was for "to the inhabitants of Lexington, for whose benefit it is has been erected."
Recently, with the help of CPA, the town of Lexington made good on their 86-year pledge. In July 2014, the Cary Hall restoration project broke ground. The project also represents one of the largest community preservation projects in the Act's fourteen year history.
Click here to read the full story...
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