Planning for the future

LENOX – The town community preservation commission (CPC) and the selectmen will look to streamline their efforts in the coming years to make best use of the funding available.

For the coming fiscal year, the town expects to have between $400,000 and $600,000 to allocate.

With this money being available, the town is trying to decide what the best course is for the future. The CPC does not need to allocate all of their funds each year and can hold them over to save for larger projects.

“Do we want to spend it at all right now?” asked CPC Member Albert Harper. “Maybe we should be saving the funding to build up for some of the larger projects on the horizon.”

Other board members also agreed the method how they go about finding projects to fund needs to be addressed.

“We don’t just want to fund projects because they applied, we want to fund the best projects,” said CPC Member Anthony Patella.

“The best option might be us going out to find those best projects instead of waiting for their application.”

Selectman Channing Gibson suggested the CPC should work to develop a list of all the possible projects in the town.

This list would include possible locations for open space and historic properties in need of restoration.

“Having a list like that would be helpful to me,” said Selectman Gibson. “I think it makes long-range planning more realistic.”

Best use of town funds

The selectmen again brought their concern over funding privately-held properties like the Church on the Hill and Shakespeare and Company.

“What we are concerned with is that we don’t want to fund these private projects and then have them move on,” said Selectman Kenneth Fowler. “We shouldn’t be funding property to just be flipped.”

The selectmen and the CPC agreed the idea of placing a lien on private projects when funds were given should be looked into.

“I am concerned that we give funds to these groups that have development directors and fundraising directors making $75,000 to $100,000 a year,” said Selectman David Roche.

The CPC process

Both the CPC and the selectmen also agreed that the process of how they fund projects needs to be made clearer to the public.

Of the funds the CPC receives each year the money is then provided to projects at a state-approved level.

This means 80 percent of the funding must go to historical preservation, 10 percent to affordable housing and 10 percent for open space conservation.

The CPC reviews applications for completeness and eligibility.

During that process, the CPC evaluates whether the project is ripe for funding and whether it meets the goals of the community.

The CPC then holds public hearings on projects it chooses for further consideration.

Applicants have the opportunity to present the project and respond to questions from the CPC and the public.

Each year following those hearings the CPC makes its funding recommendations to the board of selectmen in the form of warrant articles to be voted at the annual Town Meeting in May.

The articles that are approved are then funded. The group that applied has to match the funds.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on August 30, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry