ATM CPA Articles: $121K for Town Common fence; Transferring affordable housing funds

Above: Annual Town Meeting voters will be asked to dedicate CPA funds to repair the historic fence on the Town Common. (photos by Beth Melo)

On Monday night, Town Meeting will be asked to approve up to $121,000 to restore a historic “fence”. Select Board members publicly worried about the reaction of voters upset about rising property taxes. But, they stressed that the money for the proposed CPA project doesn’t directly impact tax bills.

A separate CPA Article follows through on a recent push to move funds dedicated to Affordable Housing to a Trust Fund that will allow the Town to react more quickly when opportunities arise.

CPA Fund Refresher

For readers unfamiliar. . . Southborough’s Community Preservation Act funds are collected through a 1% CPA surcharge on property tax bills, plus a partial match from the state. As things stand, the funds are collected whether or not there is a project to apply them towards.¹

Use of funds is limited to projects related to Historical Preservation, Recreation, Open Space and Affordable Housing. But even projects that fit those descriptions can be ineligible based on restrictions in the state laws.

(It is worth noting that spending on CPA projects can indirectly lead to future tax burdens. That only happens if an expense pops up that would have otherwise met CPA criteria, but the funds are no longer available. It is a concern that officials sometimes discuss when basing a project’s merits.)

Article 26: Town Common Fence Project

Select Board Member Andrew Dennington submitted the application project for fence restoration. He advocated to fellow board members the need to fix broken granite posts and iron railings in disrepair. The project was one the board fully endorsed. The goal is to have work completed in advance of the Town’s Tricentennial in 2027.

The historic fence borders the northern side of The Town Common. It is right across the street from the Town House, St. Mark’s Church and Clock Tower, the Old Burial Ground, and the Southborough Library. Each of those are properties that have benefited from previous CPA historic preservation projects.

At Dennington’s request, DPW Superintendent Bill Cundiff researched options for restoring the railing. He came back with 3 possibilities and estimates:

1. $3,829 for a simple, limited repair. That would replace one granite post with a smaller one and use epoxy to fix broken brackets and connections. Would call for relocating the bottom post to a spot “up-top”.
2. $32,968 – for an alternative replacement, ineligible for CPA funds. This proposal was for replacing the fence with a post and chain fence that is “period accurate”.
3. $110,000 – for restoring the fence
   • $10,000 for design and engineering
   • A loose estimate of $100K for a restoration company to disassemble, repair and paint the iron rails, repair granite posts, and fill in missing posts and rail sections.

The DPW didn’t recommend the first option and the second option isn’t eligible for CPA funds. In writing the CPA Article for the third option, an extra 10% was added to the estimate to cover any contingencies for unexpected costs.

At their March 11th meeting, the Select Board discussed the proposal and others with the Community Preservation Commission. Select Board members opined the project was an appropriate use of CPA funds.

CPC members clarified their committee’s support of CPA project Articles doesn’t mean that they endorsed the spending. It means that the project is one they support allowing voters to decide whether or not to fund.

The only qualms officials discussed about the project was about how it would be perceived in a meeting where voters were also being asked to approve an over 7% tax increase.

Below are more photos of the fence, including ones highlight sections broken or missing:

You can read more details in the project application here and page 30 of the Warrant here.

Article 27: Affordable Housing

This Article would authorize transferring $532,014 from the CPA Fund’s Community Housing Reserves to the the Southborough Community Housing Trust Fund.

The intent is to “allow the Town to act quickly and creatively in meeting the Town’s affordable housing needs.” The funds are overseen by the new Affordable Housing Trust that replaced SHOPC (the Southborough Housing Opportunity Partnership Committee) and the AHFTC (Affordable Housing Trust Fund Committee).

Unlike funds that stay in the CPA, the AHT won’t need Town Meeting’s approval to spend funds in the Town’s trust when opportunities pop up.

But, there are state laws that need to be followed, and additional rules that were agreed upon between the AHT and CPC. Unless “otherwise authorized” by the CPC the uses will be restricted to:

• Acquiring land for the construction of permanently affordable housing.
• Acquiring existing homes for conversion to permanently affordable housing
• Working with third party developers to build permanently affordable housing
• Working with third party developers to renovate existing homes as permitted by law.
• Working with third parties to qualify individuals and families for occupation of permanently affordable housing.
• Working with third parties to support qualified individuals and families for rental assistance or home buying (e.g. down payment, closing costs, other costs) assistance.
• Disposing of properties under the TRUST’s care in furtherance of the above goals.

You can read more details in the project application here and page 31 of the Warrant here.

Update on other CPA projects’ status

The Select Board and others didn’t appear worried that the funds might prevent other future projects from being funded.

Later in the meeting, when the board discussed another proposed preservation project, Historical Commission’s representative on the Community Preservation Commission noted that the Historical bucket for CPA funds was maxxed out.

That project that the Select Board didn’t support this year was to spend $330K restoring an old Town fire engine and pumper. The request by the Southborough Firefighters Association sought to restore its functionality, not just parade readiness.

Select Board members were concerned about dedicating that much money to the use. And CPC member Grant Farrington raised his concern about using public funds on privately owned equipment. At that time, Farrington referred to the Historic Preservation bucket as “maxxed out”. That meant that the project would have come out of general bucket which could alternatively be put towards non-historic projects.

Select Board Chair Kathy Cook mentioned that the Recreation Commission was considering pursuing future funding for a turf field project at Choate Field (in front of Woodward School). CPC’s Recreation Rep Kristen LaVault updated that was “off the table”. They had been advised that recent court decision ruled out that use.

While the Historical Commission has discussed the need for preservation work at the Old Burial Ground, no project application was in the works for that.

No mention was made of the status of other projects that had applied for funding and may try again in the future. So, I did a little digging.

At the most recent Historical Commission meeting, Chair Kevin Miller updated that the Commission’s application to restore the the Rural Cemetery Water Tower had been postponed. He explained that he had been unable to get an accurate bid for a replacement roof using historically accurate materials.

In CPC minutes from projects from its November 21st meeting described that the applications for restoration projects at 21 Highland Street and Flagg School were ineligible. Apparently, the applicant (Debbie DeMuria) didn’t have “site control” and the Select Board didn’t intend to grant it for the proposed projects.

Meanwhile the 21 Highland Street Committee has yet to recommend any projects for that building. In the committee’s report recently submitted to the Select Board, they stated that the work would be impacted by the outcome of upcoming votes on the Neary Building Project. (If approved, that would lead to the closing of Finn School and its use for some Town departments, including Recreation which is currently at 21 Highland Street.) Committee reps are scheduled to meet with the Select Board on April 15th to discuss their progress and plans.

For more on Annual Town Meeting this Monday night, click here.

1. Town Meeting could vote in the future to eliminate the CPA surcharge. (It’s an idea Select Board member Al Hamilton has floated proposing.) But a vote on that isn’t on the Town Meeting Warrant.