Town of Sharon

Sacred Heart Reuse Committee

Meeting Minutes of 3/13/12

Approved on 4/10/12

Sharon Community Center

 

Committee Attendees

Karen Friedman, Chair 

Jim Michael - absent

John Davis 

Larry Seggelin 

Carl Gladstone

David Straus  - absent

Ed  Keenan

 

 

Other Attendees

Corey Snow - CPC Chair

 

 

Chair Report

Ms. Friedman called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM.

 

Discussion

Mr. Gladstone stated that he attended the Capital Outlay meeting with Mr. Seggelin and Mr. Keenan and presented what the SHRC wanted to do. This included taking down the building and building a field. He provided a brief summary of what the Committee’s process and conclusions were. He said that the Capital Outlay Committee wanted the SHRC to pursue using Community Preservation funds and to start the application process.

 

Corey Snow, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee attended the meeting and told the Committee that he had received a legal opinion from Town Counsel Lisa Whelan dated March 13, 2012. regarding the reuse of the parcel using CP appropriation. The letter outlines the guidance on what might be possible within the confines of the Community Preservation Act. Mr. Snow said there are a lot of gray areas regarding recreational use and so he sought this guidance.  The letter concludes that it is permissible to use CP funds for the creation of recreation. As the land is not currently being used for recreation purposes, under the CPA, it can be considered “create”. For the application to move forward it would have to be listed under outdoor recreational purposes.

 

Mr. Davis said it looks like park, playground, or athletic field is okay for this space and that is what we are looking towards. He asked how the funding would work and could the funds be applied to demolition of the existing building.

 

Mr. Snow said there has been precedence before in other towns and that demolition could be considered an allowable use. He said that the CPC requires a vote and appropriation moved to Town Meeting and its up to the Town Meeting to make the appropriation, He said the application is on the Town website and at this time they are accepting applications for Fall Town Meeting. It is too late for spring. The application would need to be received in the summer.

 

Chair Friedman asked if the monies are approved at Fall Town Meeting, how quickly the funds could be accessed.  Mr. Snow said there will be more available funding for fiscal 2014. He said the funds are currently being used to pay the Horizons for Youth Bond with the 2103 monies.

 

Mr. Seggelin asked if CP monies are used, is a restriction placed on the property and Mr. Snow said that yes a restriction is placed in perpetuity for that use.  He said that another entity like the Audubon (a non town entity) would need to be hired to make sure the Town keeps the use in conformance forever. The land would need to stay as a recreational use which are broad but it could never be changed to general municipal use.

 

Mr. Davis asked if the application could be done in phases or all at once regarding the funding being requested and Mr. Snow said it could be done either way. He said that a majority vote is needed at Town Meeting to pass the appropriation. He said that the Town adopted a 1% adoption for CPA so a 1% surcharge is added to everyone’s taxes. This money goes to a fund. In addition monies are raised from the Registry of Deeds which charges a $20 fee and these fees go into a pool which is distributed to all towns that follow CPA and the Town matches the funding. During the first few years 50% was matched by the state and now the match is between 20 - 25 %.

 

The Committee agreed that it makes sense to include all money requests to take down the building and build a field.

 

Mr. Gladstone also mentioned that the Capital Outlay Committee said that a public safety facility is needed and that they need to talk to the Selectmen to ensure they do not want to use the Sacred Heart property for this use.

 

If the application is submitted and approved at Town Meeting then the earliest teardown is 2013.

 

Mr. Seggelin thinks it is important to ask the Selectmen for their preference regarding taking down the building and or building the field.

 

Mr. Keenan questioned if the sports teams should kick in funds for the fields and stated that Joe Roach had suggested this.

 

Chair Friedman said the Selectmen needs to decide.

 

Mr. Davis said we need to find out if other field work is being contemplated.

 

Mr. Gladstone said he will look into finding someone to design the field.

 

Mr. Davis said we should put together the parameters of the plan and then invite people in to review. He suggested the Committee work on something and then see what the athletic groups want to do.

 

Ms. Friedman said that Eric Hooper of the DPW is moving forward on getting official quotes to take down the building and she will follow up with him.

 

Chair Friedman described the next steps:

1. Ms. Freidman will reach out to landscape designer Amanda Sloan.

2. Ms. Friedman will begin the application. Mr. Davis will write the criteria piece and the project description.

 

3. Mr. Seggelin will ask the sports organizations for their ideas.

 

4. Ms. Friedman will get the scope of work from Brett McGowan to get more estimates.

 

Minutes

Mr. Gladstone approved the minutes of 2/3/12 and Mr. Keenan seconded the motion.  The Committee voted 4-0-1 in favor (Mr. Davis abstained as he was absent).

 

Adjournment

Mr. Gladstone moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 PM and Mr. Davis seconded the motion. The Committee voted 5-0-0 in favor.

 

Next Meeting

4/10/12

 

Attachments

1. 2/16/12 estimate from Sports Turf Specialist for field construction on the Sacred Heart property.

2. 3/13/12 letter from Attorney Lisa Whelan addressed to the Community Preservation Committee regarding the Sacred Heart property.