CPA Funds Sought For Major Land Purchases

Grist Mill Rehab Also On Annual Warrant

by Tim Wood

            CHATHAM --- Two major land purchases --- one of them in Harwich --- as well as funds to rehabilitate the Godfrey Grist Mill in Chase Park are among the community preservation fund requests that will go before voters at the May annual town meeting.

            The community preservation committee is recommending four proposals requiring a total of $1.3 million, just slightly less than the $1.4 million available in community preservation funds.

            Community preservation funds are drawn from a 3 percent property tax surcharge.  That amount, and an anticipated 28 percent state match, will yield $825,600 this year, according to CPC Chairman John Kaar.  The group also has approximately $900,000 left over from previous years, $258,500 of which is reserved for open space purchases.  Of the $1.7 million available, $300,000 will go toward a final debt service payment on the community center, Kaar said.

            The two big items this year are the land purchases, both of which are being done in conjunction with the land bank and open space committee. 

            The 7.31 acre, nine-lot Edson property at 1107 Main St. is proposed to be purchased for $1,425,000, with $500,000 from the community preservation fund, $782,500 from the land bank and $142,500 from the Chatham Conservation Foundation.  The purchase would preserve a large slice of open space along Route 28, and contains wetlands and wetland buffer areas.  It is also contiguous with other conservation land owned by the Foundation.

            Town officials worked for several years to secure the purchase.  The owners will complete the subdivision and retain one lot for the family.  

            The second land purchase involves 38 acres of land in the Mill Pond watershed located in Harwich and owned by Robert Fratus.  Chatham and Harwich officials held numerous meetings about purchasing the property to avoid a 26-lot subdivision, since the land is located in the groundwater recharge area for wells in both communities.  The property has an appraised value of $2.2 million.

            Chatham will seek $500,000 in CPA funds for the purchase, and Harwich voters will be asked to appropriate the same amount in CPA funds at their annual town meeting in May.  In addition, the towns plan to seek $500,000 each from the state LAND (Local Areas for Natural Diversity) grant program.  Chatham’s town meeting article makes the expenditure of the CPA funds contingent on both the awarding of the state grants and Harwich’s appropriation from its CPA fund.  Other contributions toward the purchase will be sought from “interested parties,” according to the draft article. 

            Chatham would own half of the Harwich property, should the purchase come to fruition. A conservation restriction would be placed on the land to ensure that it remains open space.

            In the area of historic preservation, the community preservation committee is recommending $120,495 to preserve, stabilize and restore the 212-year-old Godfrey Grist Mill in Chase Park.  The request is jointly sponsored by the park and recreation commission --- which has jurisdiction over the park --- and the historical commission.  The wind mill is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and has been the subject of major overhauls in the past, but in recent years it has fallen into disrepair and has not been open to the public.

            The goal of the project is to restore the structure to a full-functional grist mill and to have it open to the public.  A committee of volunteers, the Chatham Windmill Committee, has been working on ideas for organization, education, training, publicity and staffing for the facility. 

            According to an assessment by windmill restorer Andy Shrake, the repairs would include work on the foundation, sills, frame, shingles, wind shaft, stocks and sails, all done in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation.

            The work is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

            A fourth CPA article seeks $239,720 for phase two of the Chatham Housing Authority’s rental voucher program.  The funds will create 18 affordable rental units in town by subsidizing existing units at a rate of between $300 and $350 per month.

            Kaar said the community preservation committee will also be asking town meeting to appropriate $15,000 in CPA funds for administrative funds, which are used to cover secretarial services, advertising and legal fees.

             On Tuesday, selectmen voted to place all but one of the requests on the May annual town meeting warrant and to endorse the expenditures.  The board took no action on the Edson property article, with a majority of members seeking to have the language of the article changed slightly.  The revision sought by selectmen would give the board jurisdiction over the property instead of placing it under the control of the conservation commission.  The land bank will examine that proposal and make a new recommendation to selectmen shortly.

3/11/10