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Date: 2/21/2023
LEVERETT – The town will host a meeting on March 1 to introduce voters to four of the seven proposals submitted for Community Preservation Act (CPA) grant funding. The champions who submitted the proposals will be there to talk up each project.
“There will be time for each application to be presented [and] for the public to ask questions,” said Danielle Barshak, chair of the Community Preservation Committee (CPC). “It’s just our attempt to make sure people who want more information about the projects can have it before Town Meeting.”
Four projects are being presented for CPA funding. Voters at Town Meeting decide which projects draw funding from the town’s CPA account, with a current balance of $1.2 million. The March 1 meeting will also give committee members more information on whether an application is complete. Projects must be in a final state before voters weigh the merits of each.
The largest request, $101,400, came from the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District. The application will fund the renovation of the running oval and athletic fields at the regional high school. The total cost of the track and field project will be about $4.7 million. The school district intends to mobilize the balance of necessary monies through local taxation, CPA funds from other towns and donations.
Applications from a school district are uncommon. Barshak had no opinion about the project, but said it satisfied the requirements of the program. Those requirements include that applications are submitted by an October deadline and address specific needs of the community.
“There’s actually four” specific needs, Barshak said, “but one’s wrapped into another one. They are housing, open space/recreation and historical preservation.”
Three proposals submitted this year were eliminated from consideration because they did not address one of those three areas of need. The school district’s application responds to the need for open space and recreation.
A two-part application from the Friends of the North Leverett Sawmill (FONLS), if passed by voters will fund the development of a heritage park and nature trail. Two applications were necessary because part of the nature trail will be on publicly owned land and part on private land. Differences in paperwork for public and private properties made two applications necessary.
The first application from FONLS asked for $82,082 for design and construction of a boardwalk and pavilion, interpretive signage, and tree and trail work. Volunteer labor and in-kind donations will cover the remaining $11,660, with a final cost of $93,742.
“Among the factors the CPC looks at is funding contributions from other sources,” Barshak said.
FONLS will contribute another $1,000 in labor and donations for part two of the project, a trail on town-owned land. CPA funds of $8,508 are being sought for the project that will address historical enrichment.
The Leverett Historical Society also submitted a request for $74,400 to hire a design firm for the restoration, inside and out, of the Moore’s Corner Schoolhouse. The proposal seeks $85,400 in CPA monies. The Historical Society will contribute $1,000.
Kestrel Land Trust submitted a request for $81,000 to apply toward the purchase of 91 acres of land between Depot Road and Long Hill Road. The trust will contribute another $81,000 to meet the purchase price of $162,000.
Leverett was an early adopter of the CPA program in 2002, according to Barshak. Many participating towns, including Leverett, exclude $100,000 in assessed value before the local surcharge adheres. Local taxpayers contribute the maximum allowed, a surcharge of 3 percent added to town tax bills, which draws matching funds from the commonwealth’s program. This year taxpayers kicked in $105,714.
The four projects, if fully funded, will draw down the balance of the town’s CPA account. Taxes and matching funds this year total $111,428. The projects seek $347,390. Barshak was not concerned.
“I consider it free money,” Barshak said. “It’s not really free – taxpayers make an investment through their self-imposed surcharge – but it’s the only place I know where you can get a 100 percent return on your money in one year.”