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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-03 'aI II RI Community Preservation Committee 14 Easy Street Nantucket, MA 02554 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MINUTES - Wednesday- November 3, 2004 A meeting of the Community Preservation Committee, CPC, was held on Wednesday, November 3, 2004, at 3;00 PM at the Land Bank Office at 22 Broad Street. Present were: Barry Rector, Chair, Ken Beaugrand, Vice Chair, Mark Voigt, Rich Brannigan, Linda Williams, Neville Richen, Doug Bennett, Virginia Andrews, and Stephanie Henke, Administrative Secretary. Polly Miller was absent. Barry Rector established a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:07 PM. Upon a motion made by Ken and 2nd by Linda it was unanimously VOTED to approve the agenda. APPLICANT PRESENTATIONS Star of the Sea Hostel ($214,490) Deborah Ruhe attended the meeting to present this project. Deborah reported that she had looked at the progress today and also brought a Boston Globe article with her. In the NE travel section, there was an article called "Island on a Dime," in which the hostel was pictured and it mentioned the role of the hosteL Deborah stated what a wonderful resource the hostel is, making the island accessible to over 2,500 people per year. Deborah stated that the epc money is critical for FY '06 to add accessibility additions. In the application there is a grid listing the different phases of the project. They are hoping to raise over 1/2 million dollars. The exterior of the barn building will be done and they want to make the campus accessible-the boardwalk between buildings. Deborah added that the interior is on two levels because the main building had the original building and then wings were added at a lower level, so it needs ramping. Linda Williams asked about the ADA issue-whether they would be making the front of the building accessible and the barn accessible too. Deborah answered yes, just the first floor. There would be an accessible unit, that the CPC funds are for the exlerior ADA work. Linda asked if they are in Phase 1. Yes, and the money they are asking for now will be Phase 2 and Phase 4. Phase 3 being the interior of barn. Linda asked how far they had gotten on Phase 1 work, and Deborah said that most of the exterior shingling is done, windows are in progress, they have replaced some doors, and replaced some trim. Linda asked if there is any money from the main parent organization for the Nantucket work. Deborah answered that everything is generated locally and that the Nantucket hostel pays user fees TO the national organization, a percentage of revenues. The parent organization owns the building and they have a no-cost lease on it, and they have to do all the maintenance and renovation of the buildings themselves. Linda asked what the priorities were, and Deborah said that it depends on how much they received from the cpe. She indicated that she had separated Phase II and Phase IV costs. One thing to keep in mind is that if you start doing too much renovation, it triggers the ADA work, which would affect how much they could do, if they didn't get the full amount. Barry stated that it would be better if she could clarify her priorities, so she said the order of importance would be: 1) Phase II, $121,737 2) Phase IV, $64,000 3) Ramp, $29,765 Rich asked if this whole thing were funded, would it finish the project. Deborah said that mainly it would, but that since they are all old buildings, they do continue to find things needing attention as they renovate. epe Minutes, November 3, 2004-Page 1 Rich asked about contributions from other sources. Deborah answered that they have received $22,500 from which they have paid legal, design and oversight fees. There are other things indicated in the appendix. The money came from a capital campaign. Doug asked whether all the construction was being funded by the cpe. Deborah answered that $100,000 was granted in FY '05. They put in $12,700 themselves. Linda asked whether local people were doing the work and Deborah said yes, Fred Church and Bob Capese (sp ?). Linda asKed whether they were having to deal with prevailing wage, whether it was a state entity, and Deborah said no. Ken asked Deborah to please be sure to mention the cpe funding in their materials. Deborah said that the annual report for last year is coming out soon and they will be mentioning CPC in there. OTHER BUSINESS Funding for FY '06. Barry mentioned that they are still waiting to meet with Connie regarding the final amount that will be available for FY '06. They got a preliminary nUl'ilber from Connie of $2.4-2.8 rilillion. Ken mentioned that the committee should be able to know what we have reserved from previous years. Mark mentioned that not knowing the exact number won't hold the committee up from deciding on everything, but Ken mentioned that it makes it a lot harder, because if you know you are getting 112 the money you thought you were getting that that is very different if you know you are only getting V4 of it. Interfaith Council. Ginger mentioned that she is stretched for time right now and that the Interfaith Council is needing a lot of assistance with getting their Request for Funds ready. She asked for some help with it. Barry mentioned that he could help with it, and after further discussion, Rich moved that the committee table the discussion until later, since the next applicant was present. APPLICANT PRESENTATIONS (cont.) 2 Fairgrounds ($150,000) Libby Gibson, Bob Nussbaum and Leedara Zola attended the meeting to present this project. Libby noted that the BOS is partnering with the Nantucket Housing Office for this project. Libby stated that at the 2004 Annual Town Meeting, voters had approved the acquisition of the land for 15.5 million dollars. There are 20 acres and most likely will be used for a mix of recreation, open space, municipal (public safety/fire station), and affordable housing. There is a work group looking into the best uses for the land. They would use the epc funds for archeological, environmental, engineering, and design costs. They also have a Massachusetts Priority Fund Grant. If the CPC does not approved the money, they will need to find other grants, which will slow down the process, or go to the town for FY '06 budget or get an override. Libby stated that she feels the project meets the CPA criteria. Linda said that she felt that $150,000 seemed like a small amount. Libby said that what they were going to use it for was all listed in the budget, that it was only for studies and design. Linda asked her to prioritize the items in the budget, and Libby said that environmental and archeological and other required tests/studies are the most important. But she mentioned that they really did need the full amount, because it would be hard to do only one or two things on the list and then not be able to go any further with it. Linda asked whether the Electric Company had done any of these studies, and Libby said they might have done some, but they were not on the scale they needed and would not be useable for their purposes. Rich asked whether they had retained a consultant and Libby said no, that they had used Doug Unruhe and would probably use him again. Libby said they had dosed on the property on July 31. Ginger asked whether it was still in the design phase and Libby said they aren't even there yet-they just have the work group. Bob Nussbaum stated that they are applying for a grant that would help lead up to this, in order to pay for public information sessions, it is to see what would be the best mix of uses for the property. Linda asked how they would acquire deed restrictions on mixed use land, and after a discussion on this topic, Bob said that it is only in the planning stage right now, that the town is in charge, that they would develop an RFP, and NHO could respond to that. At that time, the deed restrictions would come into play. Ken clarified that the money right now is going to pay to determine what should go on the land. Later, if they come back for more money to develop the property, then they will need to have restrictions in place. epe Minutes, November 3, 2004-Page 2 Barry mentioned that the funding for sewer and road stuff seems a little premature at this stage, if the money is actually for planning and deciding what the property will be used for, that you don't even know what will be required if you don't know what the land will be used for. Libby agreed, and said they could take that out. Barry asked what guarantee did the committee have that once it was decided what to do with the property, it would indeed be consistent with the CPA. What guarantee did they have the property would not end up being sold off for commercial uses to pay for other town things, for example. Libby says she was not sure what the guarantee was, but that any use was going to require a town meeting vote. She understands the committee's concern and can do what she has to to make the committee comfortable. After a little more discussion about what category this should come under, Ken stated that the committee could always divide it into thirds or in half or whatever categories it fit into. Libby agreed to get a revised budge to the committee, removing the sewer and drainage, etc. Town Clerk Records Restoration Project ($297,000) Catherine Flanagan Stover attended the meeting to present this project. Catherine brought in color "before and after photos" of the work that has been done so far with the money awarded to this project last year. She passed around examples of preserving records and rebinding them. She also had with her a map of an area of the island that had been preserved. She mentioned that in addition to being physically preserved, everything is being microfilmed and laserfiched, so that they can be looked up on the computer. In going through the Nantucket records, she is finding all kinds of records, books, documents that belong elsewhere and people are happy to receive them. She mentioned that the Town of Kingston has begun looking into their town records and found a letter from Thomas Jefferson worth $11,000. Stephanie asked whether the paper in the rebound books was a copy or the original and Catherine said it is actually the original document that has been de-acidified. They take the residue off it, clean it, and now anyone can touch it and it won't ruin the paper. Linda stated that she believes that this is the most fascinating project the committee has funded. Neville reminded the committee that had the crc not funded this project, the state was supposed to take the documents, preserve them itself, keep them, and send the town the bill for the work. Rich asked for a summary/detail and prioritization of the budget and Catherine will get that for the committee by the 9th. Rich asked whether the amount asked for this year will complete the project and Catherine said yes. Prospect Hill Cemetery Association ($280,000) Dual Mcintyre, Theresa McGrady and Steve Godwin attended the meeting to present this project. Dual distributed a visual progress report of all the work that has been done so far with FY '05 funds. All the road work is completed, and the irrigation work on the left side is done. The FY '06 funds would be used to complete the irrigation on the right side and to pay for landscaping. The landscaping they have done so far was paid for with funds that Grace Grossman raised. They have graded, graveled and hydro-seeded the sides of the roads. This is the 2nd step in the restoration/preservation process. The third step will be to restore some of the damaged headstones. They have talked to the CPCbalition and found out that other cemeteries are doing similar things with cpe funds. Dual also mentioned that the preserVation project also ties in with the overhaul of the management of the cemetery. They are now able to cover their expenses, and are in a better financial place than they were before. Linda asked why the sprinklers were in the road, and Theresa answered that the stones made it hard to irrigate, meaning the stones sometimes blocked the grass/landscaping from getting water, and that the lots themselves were privately owned, so they couldn't put the irrigation system in the plots themselves. Theresa mentioned that the Board had recovered the cemeteries records and that they have been putting them all into a database so that in the future people will be able to look up where someone is buried by going to the database, Neville asked about the Charleston Bench and Dual explained that he had originally seen them in Charleston and that they are black wrought iron and cypress wood, and that their look is in keeping with the cemetery. Linda asked epe Minutes, November 3, 2004-Page 3 if they would be placed in the common areas and Dual said yes, in various areas, that there are two-seaters and four- seaters. Mark asked about the cataloging of the grave sites and Theresa said that they had hired Paula Levy to transfer the records into a database. She mentioned that you will be able to search by lot number, owner of the lot, or who is buried in the lot. That it will be a good genealogical tool, that they will also have a website, and that for a fee people will be able to get a copy of the record. Mark asked whether they had a cemetery consultant and Theresa said yes, a man from a cemetery management firm who happens to have a home on Nantucket, and that he has been a real mentor to them. Mark had some concerns about the sprinkler system and the effect it might be having on the stones, as well as the machines used to groom the grass-mowers and weed-whackers-can damage the stones. Theresa thought that the consultant was most likely aware of those issues, but that she would definitely look into it. Linda clarified that the refurbishing of the stones was not in FY '06 phase of the project and Theresa said yes, that was correct, it would be the next phase. Dual mentioned that they had talked to Penny Hubridge and found out that others have used CPC funds to refurbish headstones, and that she has a lot of information on the company she Uses, and that it is an elaborate process. Mark mentioned that there are Secretary of the Interior Guidelines for restoring gravestones. Rich asked if the committee could not fund the entire amount, what would be the priorities. Dual said they way it was listed on Page 5 of the budget it was in order of priority. He also mentioned that he had consulted with Chris Saccardi of the CPCoalition about getting deed restrictions and Chris had said there is no legal requirement as far as the CPA is concerned because the Mass General Law already requires it. Dual passed around the relevant laws. Barry noted that the cemetery has taken on a very noticeable difference since the work began. OTHER BUSINESS Stephanie's Resignation. Bany announced to the committee that Stephanie had submitted her resignation in order to take a full-time position at the MSPCA, effective January 1, 2005. The committee will develop a task force to start the hiring process. Stephanie will be available on her normal schedule until December 31,2004, and then on a limited schedule after that for training or filling in a gap if necessary. Deliberation Meetings Scheduling. After some discussion about how many meetings would be required, the following schedule was made for the deliberation meetings: . November 9, 3: 15-5:00 · November 10, 3:15-5:00 · November 16, 2:00-5:00, with the first part of the meeting being devoted to the business of the regular monthly meeting. There being no other business of the committee, and upon a motion made by Doug and 2nd by Ken, it was unanimously VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 5:20 PM. Respectfully submitted by, Stephanie Henke Administrative Secretary epe Minutes, November 3, 2004-Page 4