Community Preservation Committee Recommends Projects to Present at Annual Town Meeting

By Elizabeth Hacala

On January 31 the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) met to review their six-year plan and Fiscal Year 2018 recommendations for Annual Town Meeting. Projects were approved in all four areas allowed by the Community Preservation Act (CPA): Affordable Housing, Historic Preservation, Open Space, and Recreation.

The committee discussed the Finance Committee’s concern with the levels of funds in the affordable housing reserve and which items should be recommended from reserve funds and which from the current year’s funds.

The committee ultimately voted to recommend to Annual Town Meeting that two affordable housing projects be paid from the affordable housing reserve fund and one be recommended for bonding.

The committee approved (7-0-1) a recommendation to Town Meeting for a bond to fund Bedford Village Expiring Use in the amount of $3 Million.They discussed with Finance Director Victor Garofalo what opportunities there would be to reduce the amount of the bond if they wanted to later pay a portion of the project from other funds. Garofalo confirmed CPC could rescind a portion or the entire bond if they later wanted to pay for the project from reserve funds. The committee plans to revisit this project before fall 2017 Special Town Meeting to determine if any such adjustment should be recommended. The current bonding would allow the town maximum flexibility in working to maintain the affordable units at Bedford Village.

The committee voted to fund two projects from the Affordable Housing Reserves:$375,000 for kitchen and bath replacement at Ashby Place elderly and disabled housing) and $330,000 for the affordable portion of the Coast Guard site redevelopment.

The Ashby project would update the kitchens and bathrooms in current affordable units needing rehabilitation. This project is contingent on Town Counsel’s legal advice on project eligibility for CPA funds. Although affordable housing is clearly part of the Community Preservation Act, the committee is seeking clarification on whether or not the rehabilitation of existing affordable units is an approved use.

The Coast Guard site redevelopment project secures four deeded affordable units in the new development and funds to reimburse the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust for expenses incurred for maintaining the property between October of last year and April 25, 2017.

The committee also voted to recommend that $110,000 be added to the Affordable Housing Reserve to bring affordable housing spending from FY18 funds up to the 10 percent threshold. [The CPA requires that a minimum of 10 percent of CPA revenue be spent in each of the main areas covered by the act: historic preservation, affordable housing, and open space. If there are not enough projects in a given area to meet the 10 percent threshold the law requires towns to put the funds in a reserve for that purpose. Recreation was added as an allowable use in 2012 and has no required spending level. Unlike most municipal funds, the CPA funds are carried over year to year.]

Below is the full list of recommendations to Annual Town Meeting from the Community Preservation Committee:

Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing Consultant ($33,000)
Bedford Housing Authority Life Management Program ($40,000)
Coast Guard Site Redevelopment – Affordable Housing Component ($330,000)
Bedford Village Expiring Use ($3,000,000)
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust – Funds for Ashby Place Kitchen and Bath Replacement ($375,000).
Affordable Housing Reserves ($110,000)

Historic Preservation

Historic Properties Preservation Fund ($75,000)
Town Hall MEP Project bond payment ($104,550)
Town Center bond payment $177,775

Open Space

Minuteman Bikeway Wayfinding Signage ($10,465)
350A Concord Road Bond Payment – ($440, 962.50)
Community Garden Feasibility Study ($20,000)
Wiggins Ave/Bridge St Area Proposed Boardwalks, Pedestrian Bridges, Bog Bridges, Stone Dust Trails & Signage ($45,000)
Jenks Trail/ Safe Routes to School ($57,000)

Recreation