By Elizabeth Harmer Dionne
Every summer, members of Belmont’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) update Belmont’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) Plan. Publication of the plan launches the subsequent fiscal year’s funding cycle, which begins with the submission of preliminary project applications each October. The current version of the CPA plan is posted on the town website.
During its initial years, Belmont’s CPC learned a lot about elements of successful projects and how best to evaluate them. We have kept the structure and content of the original plan, but in recent years, we have refined and emphasized important provisions. One example is the funding guidelines on page 9, where we made the following additions.
Receive endorsement from other municipal boards or departments (with particular weight given to endorsements by the CPC’s constituent committees).
The CPC has always relied on the advice of its constituent committees, which nominate members and have have significant subject matter expertise, but that wasn’t explicitly stipulated in our funding guidelines. The CPC realized that at least one proposed project hadn’t been adequately vetted (despite the plan sponsor claiming otherwise). We depend on the analysis and public process of the Historic District Commission, Housing Authority, and Recreation Commission (and hope to rely on the Conservation Commission for future open space acquisition). If the relevant committee has not reviewed and endorsed a project, it is premature for the CPC to consider it for CPA funding.
Provide ongoing support for multiyear projects that have previously received CPA funding to ensure project completion.
Examples include the Belmont Community Path and the redevelopment and expansion of Belmont’s community housing stock, and also multiphase projects such as the ongoing rehabilitation of Grove Street Park and fields and amenities at Pequossette Park.
Leverage additional public or private funds.
This is not a new guideline, but it has become increasingly important in recent years as it now applies to three major projects for which we have provided significant and ongoing design funds: the redesign and redevelopment of both Sherman Gardens and Belmont Village, and the design and construction of Phases I and II of the community path. Belmont lacks the financial resources to construct any of these projects by itself, but with CPA design funding, each of these projects could qualify for tens of millions of dollars in state and federal funding.
One of the most significant recent changes in the CPA plan is an explicit acknowledgment that, per guidance from the Massachusetts Community Preservation Coalition, the CPC “is the gatekeeper that recommends the best projects” on page 28 of the plan). Prior to 2022, CPC members actively debated whether or not to recommend all qualified projects to Town Meeting, withholding judgment about a project’s priority relative to current applications or future needs. We realized that Town Meeting relies heavily on our assessment, hence we now state our responsibility to do so.
A final important change is a strong emphasis on future planning. The CPC could weigh projects against each other in any given year, but we couldn’t balance current requests against future needs because we didn’t know what those needs would be.
During the 2021–22 funding cycle, we used administrative funds to commission an inventory and conditions study of the town’s recreation assets. The published report will guide Recreation Commission projects and spending over the next two decades. In cooperation with the Historic District Commission, we are currently funding a two-year study of the restoration needs of the town’s historic assets including the Town Hall complex and historic elementary schools.
Bronze plaque of William J. Underwood included in the CPC project proposal “Library Historic Objects Preservation Plan.” Source: Belmont Library Board of Trustees
Projects for 2023 Town Meeting
The CPC typically votes on project applications in December of an application cycle which runs from October through Annual Town Meeting in the spring. However, due to the unexpected resignations of several members, we waited until January 18 to vote on this year’s set of final project applications. Several projects came back to us with revised numbers, so we had to vote again on February 8.
This has been an exciting but challenging application cycle. We received preliminary applications requesting CPA funds in excess of what would be available for Town Meeting to approve and appropriate for FY2024. By working cooperatively with various applicants, we reduced the size of some preliminary requests and postponed others. Ultimately, we recommended that Town Meeting approve and appropriate substantially full funding for all final project applications.
The CPC has recommended the following seven projects to Town Meeting for FY2024.
Grove Street Baseball and Basketball Reconstruction
Town of Belmont Recreation Department, Friends of Grove Street, Belmont Youth Baseball & Softball, $941,935.07
This project will implement the conceptual design from FY2023 through a $40,000 appropriation to rehabilitate the baseball fields and basketball courts. It will rebuild and replant the grass playing fields, which require reconstruction every 20 to 25 years and are currently dangerous for players. It will also reconstruct the basketball court, which is beyond repair. Finally, it will address ongoing drainage issues to protect work done in the rest of the park.
Rejuvenation of Sherman Gardens
Belmont Housing Authority, $400,000
This project seeks funding to support the redevelopment and expansion of Sherman Gardens. A funding award would build upon prior CPA allocations for this purpose made in fiscal years 2018 ($173,200) and 2022 ($400,000). These awards provided funding for consulting, feasibility analysis, architectural, and engineering work at Sherman Gardens. Predevelopment efforts are proceeding well, with a feasibility report prepared by Cambridge Housing Authority delivered to the Belmont Housing Authority in December 2022.
Fund to Support the Creation of New Affordable Housing
Belmont Housing Trust, $190,000
The purpose of this project is to develop or support affordable housing within the town by subsidizing the creation of additional affordable units in housing construction projects. This project builds on the $250,000 in CPA funds that Town Meeting approved in 2021 for the same purpose. The funds will be expended at the discretion of the Housing Trust under terms of a grant agreement signed in spring 2022 by the town, the CPC, and the Housing Trust.
Conservation Fund
Belmont Conservation Commission, $140,000
The goal of this fund is to provide a dedicated account with readily accessible funds to to facilitate the purchase of open space and/or deed restrictions for allowable CPA Act purposes. The Conservation Commission has evaluated the CPA programs in neighboring towns and believes that a successful acquisition of open space is dependent on having a ready source of funds to initiate a transaction.
Pequossette Park Basketball Court Replacement
Town of Belmont Recreation Department, $124,592
This project will address issues with the basketball court and the CPC plan’s goal of preserving town assets. This court at Pequossette Park is a critical piece of infrastructure within the town’s parks system. Replacing it in-kind and making it playable will allow many residents to enjoy the sport. Parts of the court are torn up; playing on them is dangerous. The plan is to combine the design, engineering, and construction into one phase since the court will be replaced in the same footprint. This project is identified as a need in the Activities Inventory and Assessment document.
The Children’s Room stained glass windows are included in the CPC project proposal “Library Historic Objects Preservation Plan.” Source: Belmont Library Board of Trustees
Library Historic Objects Preservation Plan
Belmont Library Board of Trustees, $86,787
The goal of this project is to protect, preserve, restore, and reinstall specific historic artifacts that are currently housed in the Belmont Public Library building. Key artifacts will be removed, renovated, and/or repaired as needed, stored, and then reinstalled in the new library building. The trustees wish to bring the past forward into the new library building. Each of the artifacts included in this proposal represents a unique and special tie to the history of our town.
Belmont Woman’s Club Window Restoration Installation Project for 3rd Floor
Belmont Woman’s Club, $31,500
This is an off-cycle funding request to complete a project initially funded in FY2021 to restore the windows of the historic Homer House. During the project, the restorer removed windows, brought them to her shop to restore them, then returned them to the house for reinstallation. Several windows have been successfully completed on the first and second floors. However, when her crew came to reinstall the restored windows on the third floor, they determined that the existing window frames were unstable due to significant rot. This additional funding will allow the placement of scaffolding around the building to remove the rot and replace pieces of the window frames as needed.
Elizabeth Harmer Dionne is chair of Belmont’s Community Preservation Committee. Any opinions expressed in this article are personal to her and do not necessarily reflect the view of the entire committee.
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