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Date: 11/12/2015
LONGMEADOW – The deadline for submitting projects for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding this year is less than a month away.
Community Preservation Committee (CPC) Chair Steve Weiss told Reminder Publications no submissions have yet to be given to the CPC. The committee typically receives applications during the last week of November, prior to the Dec. 3 deadline. The CPC began accepting submissions Oct. 7.
“The deadline is a hard deadline,” he noted. “We won’t accept applications that come in after that. We will accept amendments to applications that are filed on time.”
He added that the CPA money is available for historic preservation, open space, recreation, and community housing.
“Usually the two biggest ones are recreation and historic preservation,” Weiss said. “Last year the biggest one, I think, was the [Blinn] Tennis Courts.”
During the Nov. 18, 2014 Special Town Meeting, residents approved an additional $200,000 in CPA money for the Blinn Tennis Courts project after an initial budget of $675,000 proved too small.
Weiss said applicants should submit as many details about projects as possible, including an explanation of the project and the community need associated with it.
“Whether its going out and getting quotes from vendors – the more detail that we have the better we are able to understand what the application is for and what its going to cost,” he added.
The CPC would begin vetting applications in early December to determine if projects fit in to the required four categories, he noted. The CPC?hosts a series of meetings at which applicants can ask and respond to questions regarding their projects.
In mid-to late-January, the CPC would also host a public hearing regarding the use of CPA money, Weiss said.
“By early February we hold another meeting and that’s when we make our final [recommendations to the Select Board],” he added.
Weiss said he believes the CPA money allows projects that would have never been fundable through the town’s annual budget such as restoration of historic gravestones.
“You never find money in the town budget for that because it’s not urgent,” he added. “The history and culture in Longmeadow are important to the character of the town.”