Hildreth House renovation request is turned down
The Community Preservation Committee is recommending that $200,000 of existing Community Preservation Funds be transferred to the Conservation Commission for open space preservation, $110,209 to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing, and $50,000 to the Housing Authority to continue developing plans for a senior housing complex on Mass. Avenue.
Other recommendations include $7,500 to the Park and Recreation Commission to begin trails connecting the town center with the athletic fields, $5,000 to the Bare Hill Rowing Club for a boathouse feasibility study, and $2,500 to the Historical Commission to restore the Shaker herb drying house.
Each funding grant must pass at Annual Town Meeting. If a request does not pass, the funds remain in the Community Preservation Fund.
An application from the Friends of the Council on Aging asking for $43,620 to continue Hildreth House renovations did not pass a committee vote. Concerns about the quality and historic appropriateness of the repairs, along with an ongoing discussion about the fate of town buildings, were enough to split the CPC vote four to four, and leave the friends of the council to try again next year.
Jonathan Feist, chairman of the Historical Commission and CPC member, reduced an original request for $3,000 to create more accurate maps of the town’s Historic District first to $1,800 and then to zero. Feist said that they withdrew the request when they found that the Montachuset Regional Planning Commission contributes eight hours of service to towns every year, and the planning commission said that they could prepare high-quality maps in a couple of hours. If the Board of Selectmen approves, then the town essentially gets the maps for free, Feist said.
Approximately $28,000, the unallocated 10 percent minimum for historical preservation, will be transferred to the historical preservation reserve.
Wendy Sisson of the Conservation Commission said that her board wants to have enough money to buy land for conservation that might otherwise go to development, or to acquire small, undevelopable parcels. The CPC doubled the commission’s original application for $100,000 to $200,000 for these purposes.
The Harvard Municipal Affordable Housing Trust was hoping for an initial $250,000 to build a balance large enough allow action if an appropriate property becomes available. The CPC voted five to three to recommend a $110,209 grant, funded from the existing housing reserve. Trust member and Selectman Lucy Wallace said that the trust was pleased to receive the grant, since it will allow the trust to take advantage of opportunities that arise and exist outside of the town meeting process. “While other buyers may be able to act quickly when a property becomes available, without the housing trust, the town would have to call a special town meeting or wait until the next Annual Town Meeting to approve a purchase,” Wallace said. She added that in many ways the trust is private and can act like the Harvard Conservation Trust. In other ways it’s public, she continued, with trustees appointed by the selectmen and annual audits to show the town how the money is being spent.
Trustees can hire consultants; own, sell, and manage property; receive gifts; and receive money appropriated by town meeting, including CPA and private funds, Wallace explained. Trustees’ actions do not require town meeting approval; once funds are appropriated to the trust, the town meeting has no further say, which is a concern for some people, Wallace said, adding, “frankly, without that ability the trust might as well not exist and the town could conduct business as usual.”
