TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN

COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2007

JUDGE WELSH MEETING ROOM

 


Chairman Elaine Anderson convened the meeting at 9:04 a.m. in the Judge Welsh Meeting Room noting the following attendees:

Members present: Elaine Anderson, Chairman; Mona Anderson, Vice Chairman; Cass Benson; Stephen Milkewicz; Dennis Minsky

Absent Members:  Bill Dougal; Bryan Green; (excused absences)

Others present:  Michelle Jarusiewicz, Alix Heilala

Recorder: Cynthia Curran

The following are meeting minutes, in brief:

 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

 

There were none.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the 11/20/07 CPC meeting.

Motion by: Mona Anderson Seconded by: Stephen Milkewicz Yea 4 Nay 0 Abstain 1 (DM)

 

CPA FUND BALANCE

 

Elaine Anderson distributed copies of the fund balances with projections for future years.  State matching CPA funds have decreased and will  probably continue to decrease.  The members looked over the figures.  Explanations were given of some of the previous funding for the benefit of newer members. 

Some members raised the question of paying off the loan on the well field in Truro early, in order to not pay so much interest.  Michelle Jarusiewicz was asked about grants for projects such as the well  field.  She said the Town always tries for grants, but cannot always get them.  There may not be a grant available or the timing for applying for the grant may not be right.  Ms. Jarusiewicz said that one cannot get a grant after a property has already been purchased.  The Truro well field had to be purchased immediately.  The only time CPA funds can be used to purchase property outside of the town is if it affects the water supply. 

[Alix Heilala arrived at 9:45.]

Alix Heilala was asked about investing the CPA funds in order to get better interest.  She said there are strict rules about where they can be invested.  Ms. Heilala was asked about paying off the debt service early.  She said they could only use funds to pay off debts in the same category.  There are no Open Space funds available to pay off the Truro well fields.  There are funds in the Housing area, so the Shankpainter Road property could possibly be paid off.  She said the Committee should be aware that there may not be matching CPA funds in the future, so the projections for future CPA funds are not definite.  Ms. Heilala said that the CPC would have to go back to Town Meeting for approval, but that this would be a good time to do it, since the funds have not been permanently borrowed yet.  The committee asked Ms. Heilala to look into paying off the Shankpainter Road purchase and Elaine Anderson will work with her to come up with a proposal.  

 

CPC FUNDING CYCLE

 

Elaine Anderson said that the application for proposals is on line now and printed.  An announcement will be placed in the papers.  She said that they needed to decide what the deadline for the applications would be.  The Town Meeting will be on April 7th and the closing date for warrants will be March 7th.  The applicants may need time to go before the zoning and planning boards.  After discussion it was decided that the closing date would be February 4th. 

Ms. Anderson then asked what kind of proposals the Committee wished to request.  One suggestion was for seasonal rentals for workers.  Some members felt that seasonal rentals may not be economically feasible for a developer/  Others felt that employers should supply housing for their workers.  Another suggestion was for family-sized rental units.  This was seen as a strong need.  The members also talked about rental versus ownership.  They felt that the emphasis should be on rental, but would not exclude ownership.  They thought that there should be a commercial component in order to help pay for the project.

MOTION: Move to include in the announcement for the applications for CPC funding the request for mixed commercial, rental and ownership properties which will be comprised of single and family-sized units. 

Motion by: Dennis Minsky Seconded by: Cass Benson Yea 5 Nay 0 Abstain 0

 

Elaine Anderson will use this as a guideline for wording the announcement.         

 

HOUSING SPECIALIST

 

There were seven applicants for the position of Housing Specialist.  Five will be interviewed on Friday. 

 

RFP FOR 90 SHANKPAINTER ROAD

 

The RFP applications are going to the BOS for review.  They will be out in January.

 

SANDY HILL WALK-THROUGH

 

Cass Benson said that the walk-through will be at the end of the year.  She will let the Committee know when the development is completed. 

 

OTHER BUSINESS

 

A suit was brought in another community about CPA funds being used to rehab a recreation facility.  The problem was that the facility was not originally a CPA project.  The court decided in favor of the challenge.  Elaine Anderson said the CPC should be aware of this decision.

 

The next meeting will be on December 18th.  Ms. Anderson said she would like to talk about goals and objectives.

 

MOTION: Move to adjourn the meeting at 11:00 a.m.

Motion by: Mona Anderson Seconded by: Cass Benson Yea 5 Nay 0 Abstain 0  

 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.