TOWN OF STOW
Community Preservation Committee
FINAL Minutes, May 9, 2005, Community Preservation Committee Meeting
Present: Community Preservation Committee Members Bob Wilber (Chairman), David Walrath, Ernie Dodd, Laura Spear, JT Toole, Pat Perry, Corinne Green and Associate Member Jim Sauta
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM.
Public Participation
· Hale High School Fund Trustee Jeff Smith came to share the Trust’s perspective on the recent sale of the property jointly owned by the Trust and New England Home for Little Wanderers to the Stow Conservation Trust, and their understanding of the deed restriction purchased by the SCT. The Hale Trust wants to avoid any “surprises” that may surface at the upcoming Town Meeting where Article 37 asks voters to approve the purchase of an Open Space Conservation Restriction for $35,000 on the 23-acre property known as Hale Woodlands using Community Preservation Funds.
Smith said the sale of the land was agreed upon by the Trust and NEHLW, an appraisal was done and there was a quick transfer to the SCT. He said they understood the sale included a full conservation restriction. The Hale Trustees are aware the SCT often seeks compensation for conservation restrictions to accumulate seed money for future purchases, but Smith said the Hale Trustees did not realize the town would need to spend CPC funds to further insure a conservation restriction.
Bob Wilber explained that the conservation restriction purchased by the town with CPC funds is not redundant because it offers a broader restriction, a perpetual deed restriction under Chapter 184, which will be signed by the Board of Selectmen and Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Wilber said that under Massachusetts law, the initial deed restriction between the SCT and Hale High School Trust is only in effect for 30 years. He said that the document recorded at the Registry of Deeds by the SCT and Hale Trust does not include wording to insure public access to the property for town citizens, which would be part of a conservation restriction. Perpetuity and public access are two important components of the restriction purchased with CPC funds. Further, with a conservation
restriction held under the Conservation Commission, if the town wanted to use the property
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for a purpose other than specified under the restriction, approval would need to be granted by the legislature, whereas with a restriction held by two parties, they can mutually agree to change the restriction.
Ernie Dodd said that another advantage of the CPC purchase is that it gives SCT $35,000 seed money to react to other potential land purchases that become available in town, as they can act more quickly than CPC, which requires Town Meeting approval.
Dave Walrath said CPC needs to have the value of the conservation restriction appraised. Wilber said the SCT asked for $35,000, one half of their investment ($70,000) for the property.
In conclusion, Smith said that the Hale Trustees support the warrant article and if asked, he would speak in favor of it at Town Meeting.
BILS AND MINUTES
Bills - None
Minutes-
April 25, 2005: JT moved, Pat seconded, and approval was unanimous.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Bob Wilber reported that more communities are voting to accept the
Community Preservation Act. At last count, 92 had approved it, he said.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Bob Wilber hopes to interview candidates interested in the job during the next
week. Pat Perry and Ernie volunteered to assist. There are currently four people
interested in the position: two contacted Pat, one currently works for the
Council on Aging and Bob has the resume of a fourth. Pat extended the job deadline for applications to May 15.
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLES
· Bob Wilber noted that in a memo received that day from Town Secretary Susan Hosier, the town changed the dollar amounts in Article 30, Community Preservation Reserves for FY2006, from $65,000 to $60,000 in all three categories. The committee agreed it may have been a typo. Bob will verify.
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· Article 29, Administrative Expenses, was put in the consent calendar. Bob anticipated it may be pulled out because the Finance Committee had disapproved the amount of the article ($30,000), however recommended approval at $20,000. Bob said he would call FinCom Chairman Jason Robart to see if he could convince FinCom of CPC’s need to allocate $30,000 of its CPC funds for administrative expenditures needing “a quick response.” In addition, funds not used are returned to the CPC pool for future use, so there is no apparent downside.
· Town Meeting Presentations – Bob will spend 5-7 minutes doing a CPA overview; a Stow Conservation Trust representative will present Article 37 on the deed restriction, and Laura Spear will offer CPCs support for the article. Friday is the deadline for Power Point presentations, Laura said.
· Affordable Housing Deed Restrictions. Bob has spoken with an administrative contact and a legal contact at DHCD and is still trying to schedule a meeting with them to get their approval. He sent another letter to DHCD about 10 days ago.
· A discussion of Villages at Stow and their affordability brought up the question of what is DHCD’s new affordability rate index. Laura volunteered to investigate. JT had had a discussion with Mark Carrig about CPC purchasing deed restrictions for Villages at Stow. If restrictions could be purchased at $50,000 each, it would be a good buy, but only after purchasing restrictions from those individuals already in line, Bob said.
RED ACRE ROAD UPDATE
Bob has no new information. He agreed to ask Town Administrator Bill Wrigley about logistics of decommitting the funds from the project and where to return them (reserved, open space or unreserved ?) within CPC fund categories.
JT moved and Ernie seconded to take the funds back (decommit them) from the Kunelius project, pursuant to Bob’s conversation with Bill Wrigley, that there are no legal ramifications to taking this action.
Dave was concerned about taking such an action before the information was confirmed.
Laura felt there were too many conditions to vote ahead on it. She said she is willing to decommit the funds in the two Town Meeting approved CPC warrant articles related to Red Acre Road on the condition that:
1) Bob has a preliminary discussion with Bill Wrigley regarding potential legal action.
2) CPC has the support of Town Counsel to decommit the funds.
3) Bob has a clear understanding of where the returned monies would go and how they would be tracked within Stow’s CPC.
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JT withdrew his original motion. He moved a new motion including the three requirements specified by Laura. It was seconded by Ernie. The motion was unanimously approved.
OPEN SPACE UPDATE
Discussion of Hale Woodlands was conducted earlier with Jeff Smith. Dave Walrath reiterated that the purchase of the conservation restriction on the property by CPC is in perpetuity vs. the private covenant between the Stow Conservation Trust and Hale Trust, which endures for 30 years between private parties.
HISTORICAL UPDATE
No update
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. Pat moved and JT seconded the motion.
Respectfully submitted,
Corinne Green
CPC member
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