TOWN OF STOW
Community Preservation Committee
FINAL Minutes, March 28, 2005, Community Preservation Committee Meeting
Present: Community Preservation Committee Members Bob Wilber (Chairman) Ernie Dodd, Laura Spear, Corinne Green, George Dargaty, JT Toole and Pat Perry
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – None
BILLS AND MINUTES
Bills- A bill for $48 to DG Ink for posting the open administrative position in The Stow Paper was presented and approved unanimously.
Minutes-
March 14, 2005: Laura moved, Corinne seconded, and all voted to approve the minutes as amended.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Ø There is a CPA presentation in Framingham on 3/31. It is sponsored by: Metrowest Growth Management Committee, Minuteman Advisory Group, on Interlocal Coordination, Southwest Advisory Planning Committee and Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT UPDATE
The CPC administrative job was posted in the local newspapers and on the Stow town web site, but there have not been any responses yet. The committee agreed to go to the nest step with the person who was interested in a temporary position through the summer if there is no response. The committee agreed that it should continue running the ad until it got more permanent help.
BUDGET UPDATE
Laura Spear said she sent a copy of the agreed upon administrative budget for FY06 and the overall budget for FY06 to Jacquie Cronin. Laura will get clarification on the overall summary prior to Town Meeting.
PROPOSED CPC WARRANT ARTICLES
The proposed CPC warrant articles were submitted to Susan Hosier after Jon Witten, the CPC’s legal consultant, had reviewed them. Jon had made only minor modifications.
Bob Wilber said that the Board of Selectmen may include a placeholder on the warrant for “redoing” the roof of the library. The committee agreed that, according to its procedures, the Selectmen need to make a formal proposal to the CPC to vote upon if it wanted to use CPC funds. Preliminary opinions were that this type of work is maintenance and repairs, but that the committee would need a specific proposal to understand the scope of work and determine whether it was eligible for CPC funding. The work could only be for the old, historic part of the library at best.
WEB SITE
The committee agreed that CPC minutes could be posted on the new Town web site and that the committee should start with the minutes that were approved that night.
As a general policy, the committee thought minutes should be posted for 12 months unless the Town adopts a specific policy for all minutes.
The committee also proposed only posting the current agenda.
CPC REPORT FOR TOWN ANNUAL REPORT
Bob Wilber submitted the CPC report for 2005. There was a question about whether the CPC report included a reference to using CPC funds for Recreation. Corinne Green will provide language to be used in next year’s annual report.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING UPDATE
Bob Wilber said that he was in contact with Sarah Young, not Jennifer Young as he had previously stated, from DHCD. Sarah directed Bob to Harriet Moss, who is a seasoned employee. Harriet had raised eight issues and comments when reviewing the draft affordable housing deed restriction:
1. She wanted to clarify that we were wanting to qualify units under this program to apply to our 40B quota and that they should meet the criteria in perpetuity.
2. The deed restriction program was unusual; she hadn’t seen anything like it before. It resembles EOEA and Conservation Restrictions so that it would hold up to court scrutiny.
3. It needed a notice provision, which had already been added.
4. It needed a right of first refusal provision, which had already been added.
5. She was concerned by the level of detail in the formula. The seller should be fully aware of it and what it means. She was concerned that there was too much emphasis in Section III.
6. We should consider a sales price formula based on the number of bedrooms.
7. Regarding future encumbrances, the seller would be unlikely to get equity. Lenders have the responsibility to read and understand the deed and cap loans accordingly.
8. She wanted a definition for “seller” and “monitoring agent,” which are already included.
Harriett is to continue her review into this week; however, it looks optimistic.
Bob talked with Donna Jacobs, Stow’s MAGIC representative, who said that the Town would probably have to sign a LIP application for each unit as well as the deed restriction.
There was a question about the role of the Stow Housing Authority and its relationship with the proposed Stow Housing Partnership in terms of the deed restriction program. The committee agreed that this is not clear at this time.
OPEN SPACE UPDATE
No update.
HISTORICAL UPDATE
Despite the committee expecting a proposal regarding a sprinkler system in the Town Hall, nothing has been submitted yet.
NEXT MEETING: April 11
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Spear
Member, Community Preservation Committee
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