Town of Sharon

Community Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes of 7/26/07

Approved on 8/23/07

 

 

 

Committee Attendees

George Bailey - Chair

Allen Garf

Corey Snow, Treasurer

Arnold Kublin

Arnold Cohen 

Susan Rich

Peg Argiumbau (Not in attendance)

 

 

Guest Attendees

Jennifer Goldson - Consultant

 

Meeting Initiation

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM by Chair, George Bailey.

 

Mr. Bailey opened the meeting by stating this was the first meeting of fiscal year 2008 and reviewed the evening’s agenda.

 

Meeting Minutes

 

The meeting minutes for 6/19/07 were reviewed. Mr. Snow moved to approve the minutes of 6/19/07 as written. Mr. Cohen seconded the motion and the Committee voted 4-0-1 in favor. Mr. Garf abstained due to his absence from the 6/19/07 meeting.

 

The meeting minutes for 6/21/07 were reviewed. Mr. Snow moved to approve the minutes of 6/21/07 as written. Mr. Garf seconded the motion. The Committee voted 5-0-0 in favor.

Chairman’s Report

Mr. Bailey provided the Committee with a summary of the first eighteen months of CPA. The highlights included:

1.      The CPC funded the purchase of two drinking fountains; one has been installed at the Ames Street Playground, and the second fountain which was not yet installed is intended for the fields at Deborah Sampson Park. Mr. Snow will follow up with the Selectmen regarding the installation of the fountain.

2.      The CPC funded planning monies for the Conservation Commission’s request update of the Open Space and Recreation Plan. ($10,000 maximum).

3.      The Sharon Housing Authority’s requested funds for re-roofing the buildings at Hixson Farm Road and repairing flooring at the Family Housing building on South Pleasant St. Funds were granted.  $49,000 has been paid to date for the repairs.

4.      Committee voted to set aside requirements to address an emergency: the land occupied by the Horizons for Youth Camps was listed on the draft plan adopted by the CPC at its inception. However, negotiations by the Board of Selectmen for acquisition had proceeded very slowly until only a few weeks before the November 2006 Town meeting. The Selectmen’s concern about the limits placed on future use initially delayed application for CPC funds (lands acquired under the CPC require permanent public use, and if identified as "Open Space" limited to parks use or "passive" recreation). When petitioned, the CPC agreed that the use of CPC funds was appropriate and hence, by unanimous consent, agreed to accept an application for funds. The result: acquisition of the most valuable lands at the site tagged for Open Space or Recreation, 19% of the land area and about 25% of the value to the town with little or no restriction in the use of these parcels under any foreseeable scenario. Mr. Bailey suggested a provision is needed for the Committee when acting on short notice is required.

5.      The case of the MBNA project; Glendale, requires analysis so that the committee can approach future projects more objectively and with sufficient facts so that advocates and observers, taxpayers, and committee members can feel comfortable with the results. Note that the committee never met the landowner, the Housing Partnership never examined the house, established Title 5 conformance or engaged a professional home inspection). Alternatives to outright purchase may have been available as well. We need to encourage individual committee members to seek alternatives to expensive projects and bring these to the committee for discussion.  As of the 7/26 meeting, the developer has not been heard from. The deadline is 8/30.

6.      Since CPC funds can be used for certain important town capital needs, we should seek views of the Capital Outlay committee on town projects and encourage the Capital Outlay Committee to commit to a long range (5 or more years) town-wide capital plan. Mr. Kublin clarified that they must be an approved project for CPC.

7.      We adopted by-laws including a two-step approval process which was useful but not entirely effective in voting for the project. Mr. Bailey suggested a change to the bylaw or guideline in assuring that actions taken are carefully considered including a possible 48 hour notice before an adoption motion is brought before the committee should be considered.

8.      Corey Snow and George Bailey worked over strategies for reducing debt service. The computer model - currently based on a IBM-Lotus spreadsheet enables to now accurately predict the impact of appropriations, factoring in the limits on borrowing (cannot exceed the local share each year), setting aside (encumbering) 10% allocations for the three categories, and adding interest gained from unclaimed funds.

9.      Lastly, as the Committee has expended all the FY08 funds available time is available to develop a plan, factoring in the newest applications and allowing time for prioritization.

Closing of the warrant for the November Town Meeting is slated for the Monday after Labor Day

Discussion

Rappaport Institute: Mr. Bailey stated that The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, JFK School of Government has issued a very comprehensive study of the CPA by a planner with Massachusetts experience. Dubbing the CPA "Robin Hood in reverse" it makes some valid criticisms of CPA as a statewide law. Mr. Bailey provided a PDF version for everyone to view and stated that without CPC, there would be zero interest to fund affordable housing.

Affordable Housing: Mrs. Rich indicated that she was unsure about the mandate of the CPC as relates to affordable housing. She said if the CPC supports affordable housing and no one comes forward, is the CPC in the position to search out a property. Mr. Cohen replied that the Housing Trust asked for $100,000 a year from the CPC for housing and the CPC said no. Mr. Bailey commented that we have exceeded typical town efforts. The first year we funded affordable housing at 22% and the following year at 11% because of the commitment to buy 9 Glenview. The Housing Partnership will purchase the house for 250K and resell with legal constraint on the resale value to a person who is qualified. When the Housing Partnership sells they will have spent 50K but will have 200K in their pockets.

Mrs. Rich asked why the money would not come back to CPC and Mr. Bailey replied that there is nothing in the motion the CPC passed requiring return of unused funds. It is the Housing Partnership’s money which they will keep and apply to the next house. Mr. Snow commented that the State has published something to suggest funds should come back but Mr. Bailey interjected that the wording is not set to give the money back. Mr. Kublin stated it is up to the Housing Partnership to determine how to spend their monies, not the CPC.  Mrs. Rich suggested that people who are building should be encouraged to include affordable housing where they build. She stated that all commissions should work together. Mr. Cohen did not think that there is a big up swell of Town’s people who want to voice their opinion about affordable housing.

CPC Funds: Mr. Cohen commented that if all monies are spent through 2008, what will we do? Mr. Bailey suggested the CPC work on future monies. Take the proposals we have under advisement and next May, vote to spend as of 7/1/08 for 2009. Mr. Bailey also stated that Town Counsel will review the draft of the award letter to Glendale and that the CPC does not know the status. Mrs. Rich said if we pay the debt as needed, monies could be freed up. Mr. Bailey commented that according to the law, we need to reduce debt; if we are funding any projects it is out of borrowing. Mr. Kublin stated that in summary we have asked the Town Treasurer to enter into a 5/10 year bond for two projects based on what we know: Horizons for Youth and Glendale. Mr. Snow commented that it is more beneficial to make Horizons a 5 year borrowing and Glendale 10 years.  Mr. Bailey will provide the Committee with a PDA chart regarding all of the funds. At this time the Recreation Department will not submit a request.

Treasurer’s Report

Mr. Snow reported that he is closing out all invoices for FY07. $49,000 was paid for the painting of Hixson Farm. $11,500 was spent form Administrative non-payroll out of 20K. The excess of $8,500 was encumbered. There was an excess of $2K on the payroll account. Any excess will be appropriated to pay down debts. The annual forms to the state are due in the fall.

CPC Consultant

Jennifer Goldson, the CPC Consultant began her discussion at 8:30PM and stated she was glad to be back. She had gone through all of the data obtained at the Public Hearing and had a lot of detail to go through. She first asked for general impressions of the meeting. Mr. Kublin said he had doubts about the small # of people providing input and feels it was not a good enough representation. Mrs. Rich said the table she facilitated had good ideas. The people were involved in the Town but not true representatives of the Town. Mr. Cohen said it is hard to get a representative vote. Mr. Bailey commented that the people who attended are a structured group with ideas. Ms. Goldson commented that there were a lot of ideas on the table. Mr. Kublin saw   more interest in open space than housing; Mr. Garf was impressed with the presentation, Mr. Bailey saw more interest in recreation and trails and Mrs. Rich thought the maps were useful.

Mrs. Goldson provided the CPC with a handout of actual notes taken related to the focus group discussions and individual comments, a handout summarizing the responses for Community Preservation plan questionnaire and a summary of the needs for Community Housing, Historic Preservation, Open Space and Recreation as well as associated suggested projects.  All of these handouts are available in the CPC files. She also provided a suggestion of proposed next steps with reference to her services as a consultant to the CPC.

Ms. Goldson said the next steps to get to the next level of community input would include her going to other Boards and Committees and presenting the information generated so far. She would solicit feedback and any new ideas to determine what’s out there that we do not know about. She suggested holding a second community meeting the fall after going to the other Boards and Committees. This would help give more feedback before writing the draft plan.  The CPC then reflected on these choices.

Mr. Garf moved to adopt Jennifer Goldson’s proposal entitled: Stakeholder Groups for $4,000 and report back to the CPC with any changes. Mr. Cohen seconded the motion and the Committee voted 6-0-0. The Committee did not vote on Mrs. Goldson’s proposal regarding an additional Town Meeting and the preparation of associated materials. Mr. Cohen suggested that another Town hearing would not provide much more information. Mr. Kublin suggested looking for more in the way of community education. Mrs. Rich suggested perhaps a spring meeting when the process was further along. Mr. Bailey would like to see the program explained with numbers.

Mrs. Goldson said that she will provide the CPC with written summaries of what she has discussed with the various groups and will prepare a plan outline in October.

Business

 

Mrs. Levitts provide the CPC with award letters for the Massapoag Brook neighborhood, the Water Department, The Historical Society, the Drake Cemetery and the School Department for signature.   

 

Next Meeting Date

 

August 23rd, September 18th and October 25th, 2007 were selected.

Election of Officers will occur on September 18th.

 

Meeting Adjournment

 

Mr. Cohen moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:25 PM and Mr. Kublin seconded the motion. The Committee voted 6-0-0 in favor.