Five projects recommended for CPC funding in West Newbury

WEST NEWBURY — The Community Preservation Committee presented the Finance Committee with a list of five projects it plans to recommend to voters at a special Town Meeting next month. The proposed improvements utilize $607,820 of currently available funds from the Community Preservation Act account and commit another $900,090 in future CPA money.

As of July 3, the CPA balance is $1.79 million, with $209,246 targeted for open space; $108,199.20, historic resources; $199,646.00, community housing; and $1,282,204.06, in unrestricted amounts.

Tension among some CPC members was apparent at the meeting Thursday, however, when discussion turned to a sixth project — the only one in this funding cycle that voters will not have the chance to consider at the Oct. 24 Town Meeting.

At a meeting on Sept. 14, the CPC rejected a request for eligibility made by the Page School Building Committee. The application, which sought $1.3 million to cover 11 improvements — primarily to mechanical systems and accessibility — for the Dr. John C. Page Elementary School was turned down in a 3 to 4 vote, a decision that is prompting some residents to seek a reduction at Town Meeting in the annual tax surcharge for the state's matching funds program.

Voters, who approved $10 million for the Page renovation at the annual Town Meeting this spring, were promised that a grant through the state's Green Repair program might reduce the overall cost to taxpayers. West Newbury was awarded $1.4 million in state money, but the project increased by $1.5 million after other needs in the building were prioritized. The total projected budget now stands at $11,963,085.

The Finance Committee has yet to formally weigh in on the CPC's funding recommendations, but did offer feedback during Thursday's meeting. Town Counsel Michael McCarron stressed that under state law, a project is eligible for CPA funding if the money is used for acquisition, preservation, rehabilitation or restoration.

Of the five approved projects, the one that received the most in-depth look from the finance board is a $200,000 request by All Saints Episcopal Church to cover the first phase of an $825,000 restoration project for the church, St. John's Hall and church rectory at 928 Main St.

The money is needed for masonry work to secure the building envelopes of the church and hall. Funds would also target energy efficiencies and accessibility for the hall so it could become a resource center for a horse and hiking trail system nearby being proposed through a partnership between The Society of St. John the Evangelist, Mass Audubon and Essex County Greenbelt.

Finance board Chairman David Archibald protested spending public money on a private religious facility. He recalled that the church received $1 million when a painting found on site was auctioned at Sotheby.

The applicants explained that a different vestry — one that split from the current church in 2007 to protest the appointment of an openly gay Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire — used the money to fund an overseas orphanage and build a large parking lot for the church. After the schism, only seven members of the congregation remained.

Voters will also consider spending $163,000 for new architectural shingle roofing and improvements to the heating and cooling systems at the GAR Memorial Library; $18,500 to install a high-efficiency gas unit in the 1910 Town Office Building; and $16,320 to re-roof the community housing apartment building on Pipestave Hill.

The fifth project — $1.1 million for the Park and Recreation Department to purchase the 22-acre Daley property behind the American Legion Hall and another $100,000 to create an access road and small parking lot for the parcel — is similar to one presented to the CPC last spring. Voters at the annual Town Meeting in April took no action on a request to purchase the land for $1.7 million. The plan at that time was to create a multi-use recreational park, but given the spike in requests for CPA funding this fall, the recreation board decided to request only what was needed to secure the land now, with an eye toward future development, said Tom Flaherty, who represents Parks and Recreation on the CPC.

The project would tap $100,000 from the CPA's Open Space and Recreation account and $110,000 from unrestricted funds. Voters would also authorize a $900,090 bond for which payments would be made annually from the CPA account.

Approval for each of the five projects will require a simple majority vote, except for the bond, which must pass with a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting.

Following the rejection of the Page School application, resident Rene Guilmet, circulated a petition calling for voters to reduce the CPA tax surcharge from 3 percent to 0.5 percent. Guilmet garnered considerably more than the 100 signatures needed to place a citizens petition on the warrant. If voters approve the Daley purchase and subsequently the CPA tax surcharge is reduced, the town will need to tap general obligation funds to cover the annual bond payment.

CPC member Sandra Capo suggested holding off on the Daley project until next spring. The committee is considering usi

But Chairman Jane Wild responded, "In the end, it is up to the taxpayer; let them decide what they spend their money on." The chairman's comment hit a sour note with proponents of the Page renovation committee, who believe the same opportunity was not afforded for that project.

In a written legal opinion requested and read by Atwood, McCarron noted that CPC funds can be used to augment a previously approved project as long as it is not replacing existing operating funds. "So long as the town spends the full $10 million on the project, adding CPC funds greater than $10 million will not violate the Community Preservation Act since there would be no replacement of 'existing operating funds.' In fact, you would be augmenting them and that is specifically permitted by the statute."

McCarron added that the expanded project for Page School was not in conflict with what voters approved last spring because the motion specifically authorized the building committee to "prioritize repair items and implement the rehabilitation schedule."

Capo decried what she sees as "a certain bias" by some CPC members that she believes "doomed the project before it came to the committee."

Following the meeting she asserted that an anti-Page bias was also evident at a meeting of the Historical Commission held two days prior to the CPC's vote on the Page school application. The commission, which is chaired by Wild, was unhappy about the prospects of CPA funding being used to renovate the aging school building, Capo recalled.

She said one member stated, "If the CPC approves this project and it goes to Town Meeting, it makes us look silly" and others in the room nodded in approval.

Erin Rich, a proponent of the Page renovation project who also attended the Historical Commission meeting, confirmed Capo's account.

But when reached for comment on Sunday, Wild responded, "The comments are true, but they are taken out of context." She declined to explain her remarks further.

The Historical Commission voted against giving the school historic status last spring, but overturned its decision last December when the state's historical commission deemed the Page property to have both historical and architectural significance. But because the reversal came after voters approved funding the project at the polls, use of CPA money was ruled out.

Ann Bardeen, who represents the Planning Board on the CPC, believed approving the Page application would be to "tacitly agree" to an increase in the overall budget for the renovation,something she felt was beyond her committee's jurisdiction.

She and Wild both encouraged the building committee to come back in the spring with a new application solely for the additional work on the building.

Archibald complained that the CPC's process was rushed. His board was given just two days to consider recommendations on spending "millions of dollars of taxpayer money," he said.

Under the town's CPC bylaw, the Finance Committee must be briefed before any recommendations can be brought to Town Meeting floor. However, in the five years since the town began funding projects with CPA tax dollars, Thursday's meeting marks the first time this requirement was met.

Given the recent uptick in CPA fund applications — and the apparent dissatisfaction of some in the community with how the program is being managed — one thing all members seemed to agree upon is the need to improve the process going forward.

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