With the September 13 deadline for Community Preservation Act funding applications fast approaching, Concord’s Community Preservation Committee would like to highlight the impact of CPA-funded projects throughout Concord.
Over the last 20 years, more than $30 million in CPA funds have been granted to applicants in Concord for more than 150 diverse projects, with funding averaging about $1.6 million every year. Individual projects have been funded in amounts ranging from $6,000 to $1.5 million.
The CPA is a Massachusetts law that allows communities to create a local Community Preservation Fund for four purposes: open space protection, historic preservation, affordable housing development; and outdoor recreation. The Town of Concord approved participation in the CPA at both Town Meeting and the polls in 2004 and funds the CPA account through a 1.5 percent surcharge on real estate property tax bills. Those funds are supplemented by state funding that varies from year to year.
Some notable CPC-funded projects include the multiple parts of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail; improvements at White Pond, Rideout, and Emerson Field; multiple affordable housing projects; and portions of the Main Library expansion and Fowler Library renovations. Seventeen new projects were recently approved for funding at Town Meeting, including further improvements to the water quality at White Pond; historic preservation of 51 Walden, the Robbins House, and the Scout House; final design of the Assabet River Pedestrian Bridge; and partial funding of the Concord Middle School playing fields.
The full slate of CPC-recommended projects is reviewed each year by the Finance Committee and Select Board and appears as a warrant article at Town Meeting for voter consideration and approval. The CPC believes that public awareness and citizen participation is extremely important. This participation includes knowledge of the projects being proposed each year for funding and, importantly, actual participation in the development of new projects in close coordination with relevant town departments and committees.
We eagerly await the next round of applications. For further information on the CPC and application process, please visit concordma.gov.
Burton Flint
Main Street
Chair, Community Preservation Committee