Elderly housing at the COA

Last year, Deb Raymond, the COA Director, mentioned to me that it would be an ideal situation if the town could build elderly housing on town owned land to the east of the COA and DeMello school. The siting would place the residents within easy access to the COA and its activities and to the Bullard health clinic. Additionally, some or all the housing may count toward the town's affordable housing stock. Perhaps we could encourage an inter-generational partnership between the school and the residents (reading buddies, tutors, etc.) It seems like a great idea.
What is missing is a plan. Together with the Dartmouth Housing Authority ...

... and the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), the town needs to develop a plan to implement this idea and to identify funding and grants for the project.
I hope to work with interested partners to get this started. The cost will not be something the town can do in one year, but if we have a plan, we can take it to the various funding sources and see if they will support it.
One of the areas where the CPC has spent the least funds is affordable housing which is part of their mission. I would like to see funds from the CPC tax surcharge held in reserve every year and earmarked for this project.
What are your thoughts about this project? Click here to read on!

Reversal of Town Meeting votes

Several comments to this post have discussed the mechanism for reversal of a representative Town Meeting action. The basis for a reversal is Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 43A section 10 which says, in part,

"If, within said seven days, a petition, signed by not less than three per cent of the registered voters of the town, containing their names and addresses as they appear on the list of registered voters, is filed with the selectmen asking that the question or questions involved in such a vote be submitted to the registered voters of the town at large, then the selectmen, after the expiration of five days, shall forthwith call a special meeting for the sole purpose of presenting to the registered voters at large the question or questions so involved."

This section of MGL differs from the Town Charter section 2-15(b) which contains this requirement.

"If, within said eight days a petition, signed by not less than six per cent of the registered voters of the town, containing their names and addresses as they appear on the list of registered voters, is filed with the select board asking that the question or questions involved in such a vote be submitted to the registered voters of the town at large"

The General Laws and the Town Charter differ on several points as shown here...

... and throughout the applicable sections of the MGL and Town Charter. Which would prevail if an Town Meeting action was challenged and the differences brought to court is not clear.
A comment asked if a permanent list of voters could be filed with the Town Clerk in opposition to every appropriation by Town Meeting.

"I ask you to check with town counsel for a legal opinion, to see if a permanent number of town voters, willing to sign a permanent override petition with the required number of registered voters and to be kept at the town clerks officer allowing any tax payer, to obtain and file for an override on expenditure that exceed 200,000 thousand dollars and presented to the B.O.S.
If this can be done, than it should be done."

I have not consulted with Town Counsel (his advice is not free, there would be a cost associated with the request) and I am not an attorney, but it seems clear the language of both the MGL and Town Charter are talking about a petition which is intiated following a Town Meeting action and pertaining specifically to that action

"Each question so submitted shall be in the form of the following question, which shall be placed upon the official ballot:—“Shall the town vote to approve the action of the representative town meeting whereby it was voted (brief description of the substance of the vote and by what vote thereon if such vote was tabulated)?” If such petition is not filed within said period of seven days, the vote of the representative town meeting shall become operative and effective upon the expiration of said period."

What do you think? Tell us in comments Click here to read on!

Barn near collapse at town owned property

A barn roof on the Dutch Belt farm has partially collapsed and the remainder of the building has been declared derelict (Notice of Unsafe Structure by the Building Commissioner) and must be razed. This farm was purchased by the town with Community Preservation (CPC) funds. The Executive Administrator is currently working to determine whether the barn contains any hazardous materials (asbetos shingles), solicit proposals for demolition, ...
... and identify a source of funding to carry out the work.
The outbuildings at the farm on Old Fall River Road and Faunce Corner are also showing signs of distress. That farm was purchased by Town Meeting with CPC funds as well. Click here to read on!

Community Preservation project hearing on April 7th

From Mr. Baker Smith, Chair of the Community Preservation Committee (CPC),

I am writing to remind you that the Community Preservation Committee will be holding a public hearing April 7 at 6:30 PM to hear presentations and comments on the seven proposals that are currently under review for recommendation to Town Meeting in June.
This is an excellent opportunity to hear about these projects and ask questions of the sponsors. Please extend the CPC's invitation to attend to the Select Board and members of FinCom respectively.

Yours,
Buddy Baker-Smith
Dartmouth CPC

There are 7 projects under consideration for funding this year. The CPC receives funding through a surcharge ...

... on our property tax levy and state matching funds. They may use the funds for projects which provide community preservation, affordable housing, or recreation facilities. The CPC has an application process by which they vet the priojects and will make recommendations to the Town Meeting for project funding. The Town Meeting must appropriate the money.
The CPC webpage, here on the Town's website, has more information.
Click here to read on!

Open Space and Recreation Plan presented at Community Preservation Committee

The town's Open Space and Recreation Plan (161 pages PDF) was discussed at the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) meeting last night. Mr Barry Walker, who is on the CPC, had some concerns with some of the provisions. He writes,

I would like to let people know that there is a new "Open Space and Recreation Plan" posted on the town website. It is quite a lengthy document(at least 133 pages). A small section of it was presented to us at the CPC meeting tonight and to be honest with you, I think there is some material there that needs to be discussed before implementation.

For example: "OBJECTIVE--Protect existing scenic roads, views, and sites. ACTION:--Develop regulations to protect scenic landscapes within the town (example, scenic vista protection bylaw). Provide grants or low interest loans for restoration of stonewalls and other significant structures on scenic roads."

One of the inputs ...

... in developing the plan was a survey of town residents. They overwhelmingly supported protection of scenic landscapes and that is part of the reason for the provision cited. What do you think of the Open Space Plan? Tell us in comments.
Click here to read on!

Finance Committee report 9/3

The Finance Committee heard from the Budget Director that free cash from FY09 will amount to about $3.5 million dollars.
In discussing what should be done with the funds, the committee suggested

>That $1.1 million be placed in the Stabilization Fund to meet the target for replenishment of that fund.
>That about $1.1 million be used to fund capital projects that were not funded this year due to concerns about revenue.
>That $500K be placed in the Stabilization Fund to cover the likelihood that state aid will be cut mid year this year. Ms Jenkins pointed out that traditionally state budget revenues lag economic recovery and in past turn downs, the largest cuts in aid occurred after the economy began to rebound. Mr. Lynam pointed out that the state did not fund $1 million dollars in Chapter 70 aid at the end of last year and the difference was made up with federal stimulus funds which may not be available this year.
>That some amount of money be set aside for a capital needs savings fund. $500K was advanced as an appropriate amount. These funds would be used to fund capital projects annually until revenues were available to increase services such as a full day kindergarten. The reasoning behind this approach is that the money would be segregated and readily tracked in this manner. If it is distributed among departments, it becomes difficult to pull back out in the future.

A draft warrant was presented by Mr. Iacaponi. This warrant is very preliminary with few dollar amounts included. There are the standard housekeeping articles ...

... with line item transfers and unpaid invoice appropriations. There will be a few street acceptance articles, a capital improvement appropriation, acceptance of new flood zone maps from FEMA, an article to accept an chapter of Mass General Law to place handicapped parking fines in a special account fro handicapped access, an article to adopt a bylaw to require that US flags purchased by the town be made in this country, the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) will present articles for funding projects, and there may be an article to borrow for purchase and installation of wind turbines.
Click here to read on!

Community Preservation Committee projects for 2010

The recommended projects from the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) for FY2010 can be found at this link. They include a historical building inventory for the Dartmouth Historical Commission, renovations at the Apponagansett Meeting House (photo here), improvements at the Rogers Street landing (parking lot, lights and fencing), and purchase of the former State Police barracks on Route 6 for veteran's housing. The recommendations will go to the Town Meeting ...

... for their approval on June 2nd.
Community Preservation Act funds are raised from a surcharge on property taxes which are matched at between 5 and 100% by state funds. The 2010 state matching amount will be 29%. An accounting of Dartmouth's current CPC funds can be found at this link.
Up until last year, the CPC had sufficient reserves to retire their debt and dissolve the program within one year. Due to the cost of the projects approved last year, the program now holds debt in excess of their reserves. That trend continues this year as the CPC will receive revenues of about $628K but has approved projects of $649K. The CPC must also fund $378K in debt service and administrative costs for FY 2010. That means their available reserves will be reduced for the second year.
Ms. McDonald, A member of the CPC, pointed out at the Finance Committee last night that the CPC is certainly not broke. They have $1.5 million in the bank right now. But they owe more than that in notes, hence my statement that they cannot retire all the debt incurred. If all the recommended projects are funded this year, their cash in hand reserves will fall to $1.1 million next year.
Click here to read on!

CPC projects for FY2010 funds

The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) had a public hearing on Tuesday on proposed projects for their FY 2010 funds. The chair, Mr. Baker-Smith, opened the meeting by noting that the state match this year will be 29%. CPC funds come from a 1-1/2% surcharge on our property tax which is then matched by state funds at between 5 and 100%.
The Historical Commission was first and is asking for $45K to continue with Phase 2 of an inventory of historical buildings. Phase 1 completed with CPC funds last year inventoried all homes built prior to 1841. Phase 2 would include homes built from 1841 to 1889. The inventory will be put on the town website. The CPC noted that they must take the funds for this out of their administrative budget and probably can't fund the entire request.
Next the Waterways commission proposed $97K for grading, fencing, and lighting of 1.1 acres at the Rogers Street landing. The site is contaminated from prior use...



..and must be capped according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Thes funds would be used to accomplish that and provide parking for cars, trucks and boat trailers using the launch. One interesting note is that the proposed lighting would be solar powered LED lights.
The Dartmouth Housing Authority (DHA) is requesting $350K to purchase and begin work to convert the former State Police Barracks on State Road into 7 units of veterans congregate housing. The conversion was estimated to cost $855K over the $350K in CPC funds. The DHA would raise the additional funds from private donors and grants to fund the conversion.
The final project request was from the Apponagansett Friends for $162.4K for restoration at the Apponagansett Meeting House on Russells Mills Road. The funds would be used to reinstall a post supporting the balcony, replace shutters, renovate fences and stone walls, install handicap ramps and a handicapped accessible composting toilet.
The recommendations on these projects from the CPC will go to the Finance Committee for review and then become a Town Meeting article for approval by that body.
Total CPC receipts for this year will be about $632K. The proposed projects would use up all those funds with nothing left for repayment of outstanding notes from prior years. Therefore some of this year's project requests must be reduced or declined, or the CPC must borrow to fund them. Borrowing will further reduce the ability to fund projects in future years. Last year for the first time since it's inception, the CPC accepted obligations in excess of the funds available to retire all debt within one year.

Click here to read on!

Community Preservation hearing on April 14th

There will be a public hearing on April 14th @ 7PM for review and comment on the 5 projects under consideration for funding under the Community Preservation Act in the 2010 budget cycle. The sponsors of the projects will present their proposals and take..

... questions from the Community Preservation Commission and the public.
Click here to read on!