Annual Reports
The Community Preservation Committee has now successfully completed its first full year of operation. On an emergency basis, we did recommend two proposals for CPA funding to the April 12, 2005 Annual Town Meeting. They were $9,800 for an Open Space GIS Data Layer and $5,500 to update the Open Space and Recreation Plan. These were approved.
This fall, following what we expect will be a standard schedule, we solicited requests for Community Preservation Act funding to be presented to the upcoming April 2006 Annual Town Meeting. Seven proposals were presented by our early November deadline. At our December 14 meeting, we voted to recommend for the January 21 Special Town Meeting that a one-time sum of $500,000 plus $150,000 a year for 20 years be granted from CPA funds to help finance the proposed Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction. We also voted to recommend to the April 2006 Annual Town Meeting that the following grants be made from CPA funds: $10,274 for the preservation of historic documents, $30,000 to help in the restoration of the Breakneck Hill Conservation Land, $99,976 to help build an affordable house at 26 Gilmore Road and $88,725 to rebuild the stone wall along Cordaville Road by Choate Field. Two other requests were withdrawn by their proposers.
At this point(12/14/05) the CPA fund has $984,460.56 available.
The Committee has welcomed new members Anne Marie Angus of the Recreation Commission and Andrew Mills At Large, replacing Nicki Mauro and David Morgan, respectively, who resigned.
2006 was a grand year for the Community Preservation Committee (CPC). The value of the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to the town was driven home at the Special Town Meeting of January 21, 2006, where preservation of the Beals' Chestnut Hill Farm by purchase of a Conservation Restriction was only made financially feasible by $3.5 million of CPA funds through a $500,000 one-time donation and a guarantee of $150,000 a year for the next twenty years to pay off the bond.
As reported in the 2005 Annual Report, seven requests for CPA funds were presented in November 2005. Two of these were withdrawn by the applicants and a third postponed on Town Meeting floor as plans for improvements to the Main Street-Cordaville Road junction had not been finalized. The April 10, 2006, annual Town Meeting accepted our recommendations and approved $10,274 for preservation of historic documents, $30,000 to help restore the Breakneck Hill Conservation land and $99,976 to help build an affordable house at 26 Gilmore Road. The safe and the display case for historic documents have been purchased and the house at 26 Gilmore Road is finished and sold.
Seven applications for 2007 funding were presented by our October 13, 2006 deadline. Two of these were subsequently withdrawn. At our December 7 meeting the CPC voted to recommend to the 2007 Annual Town Meeting that $155,000 of CPA funds be granted to the Affordable housing Trust Fund, $61,447 be granted for the repair and restoration of the Flagg School, $21,600 be granted for a three-year Oral History project, $25,000 be granted for improvements to the Veteran's Memorial on the Common, and $22,312 be granted to preserve and microfilm town records. In addition, we recommended that $150,000 be granted as a payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction as voted at the January 2006 Special Town Meeting.
As of December 7, 2006, the CPA fund has $600,527.19 available. Visit the CPC website. The CPC regrets the resignations of Bob Koziel as the Historical Commission representative and Tory Gunsolley from the Housing Authority. We welcome Tom McCarthy as representative from the Historical Commission, as well as Betsy Carroll, our Administrator/Secretary and Jon Furey as our accountant.
2007 was a solid year of achievement of the Community Preservation Committee (CPC). As reported in the 2007 Annual Report, the CPC voted to recommend six projects to the Annual Town Meeting. The April 10, 2007 session of the Annual Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate $155,000 for the Southborough Affordable Housing Trust, $61,447 for restoration of the Flagg School/Historical Society Museum, $21,600 for a Southborough Community Oral History Project, $22,312 for Phase I of the Town Clerk's project to preserve and microfilm historic town records, and $25,000 to renovate the All Wars Monument on the Common. In addition, the meeting accepted our recommendation to contribute $176,380.67 towards the Chestnut Hill Farm bond. The voters will remember that the town voted the previous year to contribute $150,000 a year for 20 years to pay off that bond. However, the town found that it could save considerable interest by purchasing an 11-year bond. The CPC worked with the town on an agreeable compromise that we would contribute 75% of the 1% surcharge. The result is higher annual payments, which is the reason for the increase over $150,000.
As of the end of 2007 the All Wars Memorial work has been completed and substantial progress has been made on the restoration of the Flagg School/Historical Society Museum and the preservation of historic town records.
Six applications for CPC funding were presented by our October 12, 2007 deadline. Since the total sums requested would draw the CPA available funds down to a very small amount, the CPC felt that it could not fully fund all of the worthy requests this year. So many towns have now signed up for the CPA funds that the State can no longer match each town's contribution 100%. The State match is now at 60%, which means that there is appreciably less money for the CPC to allocate.
At our January 10, 2008 meeting, the CPC voted to recommend to the 2008 Annual Town Meeting that $90,000 of CPA funds be granted to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, $27,015 be granted for Phase II of preserving and microfilming town records, $6,000 be granted to secure National Register Nomination of South Union School, $128,593 be granted towards Phase I of rehabilitating South Union School, $50,000 be granted for pre-construction costs towards creating Stony Brook Museum in the Nichols House, and $111,928.93 be granted for the creation of the Cordaville Triangle Park. In addition, we recommended that $177,534 be granted as a payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction. At this point (January 10, 2008) the CPA fund has $638,656.64 available.
The CPC regrets the resignations of Tom McCarthy as the Historical Commission representative and Anne Marie Angus as the Recreation Commission representative. We welcome Joseph Hubley as the Historical Commission representative and Mark Murphy as the Recreation Commission representative.
Despite the faltering economy (chiefly felt through a diminution in the state match), the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) had a worthwhile year in 2009. The April 2009 Annual Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate from Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds: $26,389 for Phase III of preserving and microfilming Town Records; $100,000 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $6,000 to the Recreation Commission for assessment of parcels of land for possible purchase for recreation fields; $12,000 to the Historical Society to prioritize their collections for future preservation; $166,000 for Phase II of the Rehabilitation of South Union School and $190,950 as payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
Considerable work has been done this year on many of these projects. Phase III of the Town Clerk's project for preserving town records is complete. The Rehabilitation of South Union School is more than half done. Much has been done on the Cordaville Triangle Park and the interviews are complete for the Oral History project.
This fall four projects for CPA funds were presented to the CPC for their consideration. At their October 15, 2009 meeting, the CPC voted to recommend to the 2010 Annual Town Meeting that they grant: $70,000 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $42,360 to the Recreation Commission to complete the Cordaville Triangle Park; $13,500 to the Historical Commission for a schematic design to rehabilitate Peters Annex for a new police station and $50,000 for pre-construction costs towards creating Stony Brook Museum in the Nichols House ($50,000 for this purpose was voted at the April 2008 Annual Town Meeting, but it has not been able to be used and the money has been returned to the CPA fund. The proponents hope for better luck this time). In addition, we recommended that $186,277.50 be granted as a payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
The CPC regrets the resignation of Joe Hubley as the Historical Commission's representative. As of this writing there is no replacement.
Despite the faltering economy (chiefly felt through a diminution in the state match), the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) had a worthwhile year in 2009. The April 2009 Annual Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate from Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds: $26,389 for Phase III of preserving and microfilming Town Records; $100,000 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $6,000 to the Recreation Commission for assessment of parcels of land for possible purchase for recreation fields; $12,000 to the Historical Society to prioritize their collections for future preservation; $166,000 for Phase II of the Rehabilitation of South Union School and $190,950 as payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
Considerable work has been done this year on many of these projects. Phase III of the Town Clerk's project for preserving town records is complete. The Rehabilitation of South Union School is more than half done. Much has been done on the Cordaville Triangle Park and the interviews are complete for the Oral History project.
This fall four projects for CPA funds were presented to the CPC for their consideration. At their October 15, 2009 meeting, the CPC voted to recommend to the 2010 Annual Town Meeting that they grant: $70,000 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $42,360 to the Recreation Commission to complete the Cordaville Triangle Park; $13,500 to the Historical Commission for a schematic design to rehabilitate Peters Annex for a new police station and $50,000 for pre-construction costs towards creating Stony Brook Museum in the Nichols House ($50,000 for this purpose was voted at the April 2008 Annual Town Meeting, but it has not been able to be used and the money has been returned to the CPA fund. The proponents hope for better luck this time). In addition, we recommended that $186,277.50 be granted as a payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
The CPC regrets the resignation of Joe Hubley as the Historical Commission's representative. As of this writing there is no replacement.
The April 2011 Annual Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds: $36,276.22 for the Southborough Affordable Housing Trust; $189,374.28 as payment towards the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restrictions; $4,000 to create a Beach Volleyball court at Neary school; and $133,000 for a playground at South Union school (the Recreation Department). A proposal to appropriate $21,000 to secure a National Register Historic District Nomination was withdrawn by the proponent for further study as to the boundaries.
This year saw the volleyball court and the South Union school playground both finished and in use. The first part of the Oral History Project - by Donna McDaniel has also been completed and is now for sale.
With the recession still continuing, this was a light year for projects. Only two were presented to the CPC: 1) the Planning Board and the Open Space Preservation Committee requested $61,000 to research subdivision records and deeds to see if required Open Space has been adequately protected by the language of those records and deeds, and 2) Donna McDaniel requested $40,000 to update Fences of Stone (the Town History) on the developments in Town since 1970. The CPC voted to recommend both projects to the April 2012 Annual Town Meeting. In addition, the CPC voted to recommend approximately $196,006.11 towards payment of the bond for the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
Despite being elected to the Planning Board, our hard-working chairman, Andrew Mills, wished to continue on the CPC. So Paul Cimino resigned as the Planning Board representative on the CPC and Mr. Mills took his place. Since Mr. Mills had been an At Large member, we would welcome an interested citizen who would like to apply to fill his vacancy. The Committee meets about a dozen Thursday evenings scattered throughout the year.
The April 2013 Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds: $204,076.41 ($36,412.74 from the Open Space Reserve Fund, and $167,663.68 from the CPA General Unreserved/fund Balance), to be applied to the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction; $8,600 from the CPA Historic Preservation Fund to fund the restoration of the brick pathway to the Southborough Library. A warrant article to preserve the town records was supported with guidelines but was later withdrawn on the town meeting floor.
In October, the Southborough CPC hosted a presentation by Stuart Saginor, Executive Director of the Community Preservation Coalition, for area towns to review the 2012 updates to the CPA. The CPC received several applications for CPA funding but at the end of the review process, only one was supported to recommend to the Annual Town Meeting. The Southborough Firefighters and Police Officers Associations requested $33,934.65 to fund the restoration of the Southborough Fire and Police Memorial. The work will be coordinated by Neal Aspesi of the Southborough Firefighters Union, along with Eagle Scout Freddie Pim, and Bret Ober. The CPC voted at their February 25, 2014 meeting to recommend this project to the April 2014 Annual Town Meeting for FY15. In addition, the CPC voted to recommend $203,500 toward the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction.
This year the CPC elected a new Chair, Ms. Sharon Shoemaker. Mr. Mark Murphy stepped down as Chair and will continue on as Vice-Chair. We thank Mr. Murphy for his continued dedicated service and we look forward to working with Mrs. Shoemaker. We also welcome Mr. Jesse Stein as a member-at-large.
2014 was a solid year for the Community Preservation Committee (CPC). The April 2014 Town Meeting voted to accept our recommendations to appropriate from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) Funds: $203,500 ($49,368.15 from the Open Space Reserve Fund, and $154,131.85 from the CPA General Unreserved/fund Balance), to be applied to the Chestnut Hill Farm Conservation Restriction; $33,943.65 from the CPA General Unreserved Fund Balance to fund the Southborough Fire and Police Department Memorial Project.
This summer we solicited requests for CPA funding to be presented to the upcoming April Annual Town Meeting. Three proposals were submitted. At our September meeting, we voted to approve a one-time sum of $3,000 for the update to the Main Street area properties documented in Southborough's Historic Property survey (2000) in order to have the area listed as a historic district. As of this writing, the committee is in discussions with other applicants. In December we had our annual public forum which was extremely well attended.
This year the CPC elected Mrs. Frederica Gillespie to Chair and Mr. Andrew Mills to Vice-Chair. Mrs. Sharon Shoemaker stepped down as Chair and Mr. Mark Murphy stepped down as Vice-Chair. Mr. Murphy will stay on as a representative for the recreation committee. We thank Mrs. Shoemaker and Mr. Murphy for their dedicated service. We would also like to thank Mr. Jesse Stein, who stepped down in November, for his hard work and dedicated service. The committee welcomed new member-at-large, Mr. Tim Martel.