FINAL
Present for the Community Preservation Committee and attending the meeting were: Andy Goldman, Chairman, Jane Slater, Tim Carroll, Karin Wetmore, Warren Doty, Janet Weidner and Chuck Hodgkinson. Ted and Judy Mayhew, Clarissa Allen, Mitchell Posin and Todd Christy were also present. Barbara Murphy and Andrew Fischer were absent.
The meeting came to order at 6:00 PM.
1. Historic Stone Wall Preservation: Mr. Goldman welcomed and thanked the guests for attending tonight’s meeting. He added that the Committee will hear all of the requests for stone wall preservation and then discuss it among the Committee members.
Mr. Mayhew summarized how he would like to restore his stone wall abutting North Road. He added Morgan Stone & Landscaping gave him a rough estimate of $1,000 to do the work.
The Committee welcomed Clarissa and Mitch and acknowledged how well the partial preservation of approximately 1,000 running feet of stone wall turned out along the Allen Farm property from Allen Farm Road to about 320 feet from Fulling Mill. Mr. Posin added that he would like to finish restoring the wall to Fulling Mill and the cost would be approximately $12,000 for the brush clearing, tree and stump removal and wall restoration to an estimated height of four feet.
Chuck H. shared an email received from Terry Meinelt asking for CPA funds to restore his stone wall along South Road abutting Map 17 Lot 5.
After much discussion the Committee explained how successful this program has been and how it has expanded to a point where it can no longer supervise all of the work. Mr. Carroll suggested asking for voter approval to a block grant amount of $30,000 for preserving additional stone walls along the roadsides. Ms. Slater proposed the Historical Commission could oversee the applications for future historic stone wall preservation and make recommendations to the Committee on each specific grant proposal. The Historical Commission would also create a list of restoration specifications for each applicant to ensure the restored wall is properly preserved and consistent with the existing historic stone walls. The Committee thanked Ms. Slater and agreed with her recommendations.
A subsequent motion was made to recommend Town voters approve a request for $30,000 to preserve historic stone walls along the Town’s roadsides. The motion was seconded. The Committee discussed how it would like to get this article on the proposed December 7th Special Town meeting warrant with an explanation on how the Historical Commission will oversee the funds and program. It further agreed that tonight’s three requests will automatically be considered if the funds are approved by voters. The motion was unanimously approved.
2. Dukes County Historic Preservation Funds Request – Courthouse: Chuck H. distributed the County Manager’s request for $5,545 of CPA Historic Preservation Funds to pay for Chilmark’s share of the total cost to replace the 21 windows on the original section of the courthouse. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The total cost is estimated at $51,680. Chilmark’s contribution is 10.7 % of the total cost and is based upon the 50/50 formula (50% equalized valuation and 50% population ratio). After brief discussion a motion was made to recommend the funds for voter approval at the April 2010 Annual Town Meeting. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3. Middle Line Road Rental Duplex Construction: Chuck H. shared the pro-forma financial plan for having the Town build and own the three rental duplexes that are part of the Middle Line Road Community Housing Program. The total construction budget with contingences is estimated to be $2 million. The plan asks for $600,000 of CPA Housing funds with the remaining $1.4 million secured through a 15-year Town bond. The source of the CPA funds is: $180,000 from the Community Preservation Budgeted Reserve Fund; $25,000 from the Housing Reserve Fund; $224,000 from the Community Preservation Undesignated Reserve Fund and $171,000 from the FY 2010 Community Preservation Undesignated Reserve Fund. After much discussion the Committee agreed
this was a good plan. A subsequent motion was made to recommend voters approve the request at the December 7th Special Town Meeting. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
4. FY 2009 State Matching Funds: Chuck H. informed the Committee that we just received the state matching funds for FY 2009. The amount is $130,559; 77 percent of the FY 2009 CPA tax surcharge. He added that the statewide average is 50 percent.
5. CPA Rental Conversion Program: Chuck H. summarized that the current appropriation for this program is projected to last to September – November 2010 at the current cost of $3200/month for five recipients. He added the Housing Committee recommends asking voter approval to appropriate an additional $55,000 for this program at the April 2010 Annual Town Meeting from the FY 2011 Community Preservation Budgeted Reserve Fund. If denied, this would give the recipients about six months to make alternative arrangements. Chuck H. confirmed this program is not connected to the Island Affordable Housing Fund’s rental program. After discussion a motion was made to recommend this request for voter approval at the April 2010 Annual Town Meeting. The motion was seconded and
unanimously approved.
6. Public Hearing Date: The Committee agreed to advertise and schedule its annual public hearing for all of the CPA warrant articles proposed for the April 2010 Annual Town Meeting on December 16 @ 6:00 PM. Chuck H. will make the arrangements.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is December 16 @ 6:00 PM.
With no further business to conduct the meeting adjourned at 7:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Chuck Hodgkinson, CAS.
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