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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-13 aI Community Preservation Committee 14 Easy Street Nantucket, MA 02554 AI COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MINUTES - Wednesday- October 13, 2004 A meeting of the Community Preservation Committee, CPC, was held on Wednesday, October 13, 2004, at 3:00 PM at Library Conference Room at the Nantucket High School at 10 Surfside Road. Present were: Barry Rector, Chair, Ken Beallgrand, Vice Chair, Mark Voigt, Rich Brannigan, Polly Miller, Neville Richen, Linda Williams, and Stephanie Henke, Administrative Secretary. Virginia Andrews and Doug Bennett were absent. Barry Rector established a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:15 PM. Upon a motion made by Ken and 2nd by Polly it was unanimously VOTED to approve the agenda. Barry announced that he had met with Kathy Richen and that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue had sent a letter stating that they are releasing 2004 funds in the amount of $1,096,276, which is about $98,000 more than we had anticipated. APPLICANT PRESENTATIONS St. Paul's Church ($400,000) Rev. Joel (ves and Jamie Bennett attended the meeting to present this project. Ken stated that he is the treasurer of St. Paul's church and will submit an ethics document to that effect. Mark stated that he is a member of St. Paul's church. Jamie stated that Gardner Hall is not originally pan of S1. Paul's Church. It Was excavated about 50 years ago, and now it is dated. It is used for community functions, but was never designed to be handicapped accessible. They want to put a LULA elevator in, which is a "limited use/limited access" elevator with three stops-basement, a few feet above that and then the nave of the church. They also want to add a new entrance and re-grade the ramp from Fair Street and replace the leftover wart on the building with an appropriate entrance vestibule, and they have to do that to allow for the accessibility work. They also want to fix the kitchen for larger meetings, and Tuesday night meals for the community. The professional cost estimate is $800,000. They are asking CPC for half and hope to raise the remaining funds by going to members of the church and the Nantucket community. Joel added that the room is used by AA, First Tuesday suppers, the Jamaican community, 7th Day Adventists, just to name a few. They do not charge these groups for use of the space. They would also like to offer a low-cost alternative for wedding receptions. Polly asked if the plan would increase the space. Jamie said no, but it would allow groups to prepare the meals there instead of preparing them elsewhere and then bringing them in. Ken clarified that though there are three parts to the project, CPC would only be paying for the pieces that fall under the scope of the CPA. Barry asked if the vestibule was being upgraded or historically restored and why they were doing it. Jamie answered that they would use granite and brownstone to reflect the style of the church and that in order to do the ADA stuff, the floor level needs to change in the vestibule. Mark asked how they arrived at the $400,000 figure for the cpe Jamie answered that they looked at what the CPC has historically awarded, and realized that the $800,000 was not realistic to ask for, and that the portions of the epe Minutes, October 13, 2004-Page 1 project that fell within the CPC equaled $400,000. Mark asked what the priorities were and Jamie handed out a sheet that reflected the breakdown of the priorities. Rich had several questions about the contingency fees and the premium fees that were stated in the budget that the professional had submitted. He stated that there seemed to be some duplication of contingencies and premiums and wanted clarification and realistic numbers for these. Doug asked them to submit a clear explanation of these extra fees. Rich asked if they have started fundraising. Jamie noted that they have already spent $10,000 on an architect in order to get a realistic and responsible plan for what actually needs to be done for this project. Fundraising will happen quietly over the winter and then finish in the summer when the St. Paul's community swells. Rich then asked whether they were prepared to go forward on the project without CPC funds and Jamie said they would likely not be able to do it on schedule without CPC funding. Linda asked whether it was an all or nothing application and Jamie stated that they would take what they could get. Neville asked whether the money they were requesting from the CPC represented a challenge grant and Jamie said no, that they will find the best way to leverage it, but that it is not specifically a challenge grant. They would welcome a site visit. Life Saving Museum ($61,248) Philip Read attended the meeting to present this project. Philip Read stated that the Museum is 37 years old and through the generosity of individual donations they have never had to use public money. The money they are requesting from the CPC would be seed money to protect the collection. They have one full-time employee in the summer and then he goes part-time in the winter. The museum is now affiliated with the Egan Foundation, and although they do not receive financial support right now from the foundation, they will when the benefactress passes on; at that time it will be well-funded. Jean Grimmer has joined as the Executive Director of the Egan Foundation and she will be able to do fund-raising. Ken asked where the items will be displayed and Philip stated that an addition will be built onto the rear of the building (not with CPC money). The CPC money they are asking for will only go towards the infrastructure costs. Neville asked which were the most important parts of the project and Philip answered that the septic system is the number one priority, and that they could do the back addition and hold off on the front. Moving of the mast pole would be the last step. Mark asked whether Phases 1 and 2 were independent of each other and Philip said yes. Mark asked whether it was their intention to come back to the CPC for Phase 2 and Philip said yes, once they get other donors, but they are not depending on it. Barry asked with the septic, had the DPW and Richard Ray from the Board of Health looked at it yet. Philip stated that they are moving it farther from the wetlands and that the leach field has been accepted. Linda asked whether expanding the building will put them into Title 5 territory, which would increase the costs. Phil ip said he was unsure of that, but would get the answer to the CPC by October 31. Mark noticed that there were two scenarios as far as the cupola was concerned and asked which one they were looking at. Philip said they wouldn't know until they got in there. Polly asked whether the cupola was also 37 years old, and he said no, it was constructed and that it wouldn't be considered historic preservation, but that they are preserving the artifacts within the building, not the building itself. Neville asked whether there was any kind of relationship between the Madaket Fire Station and the Life Saving Museum and Philip stated there wasn't. Rich asked who owned the property and Philip answered that the Egan Foundation did. Barry asked whether they understood that any funds disbursed would not be available until July of 2005. Philip said they understood that and that they would do short-term borrowing to till the gap between the spring start date on the project and the July funds availability. Mark noted that on the budget there were some bills for work already performed. Ken said the epe is not able to pay that. epe Minutes, October 13, 2004-Page 2 Habitat for Humanity ($75,000) ehris Lohman and Steve Anderson attended the meeting to present this project. Linda Williams went on record to say that the NHA gave Habitat the land. ehris Lohman explained that in 2001 Habitat for Humanity, Nantucket, was started and in 2004 the first house was completed. He stated that they are grateful for the previous 3 grants from the epc. Their plan is to construct 8 family homes over 5 years for a total of 8 by 2008. They are currently breaking ground for houses 2 and 3 (a duplex). They have done well in terms of fund-raising from private foundations, civic organizations, the CPC, etc. The first house cost $85,000 and was sold to a family who pays $400 per month for their mortgage. The duplex will cost a little more because it is a more difficult lot to build on. But they are determined to keep it between $100,000 and $125,000 per unit with a mortgage of less than $600 per month. Steve noted that they are non-interest bearing mortgages. There is an affordable housing covenant on the properties and if the current owners ever sell, they must sell back to Habitat for Humanity. In this way the properties always remain affordable. The mortgage money that Habitat receiVes goes back into Habitat to keep it running. They noted that the epe funding was very important, but they know that they can't depend on that alone. They get a lot of donated materials and supplies and other in-kind donations. ehris noted that they select families by advertising, getting applications, and holding a public meeting. They had 60 people attend the last meeting. Their target family makes between 30-80% of median income. Steve also noted that the family must also put in 350 hours of "sweat equity" either building the house, working in the office, etc. Linda asked what the requested $75,000 was for. Steve said it would go towards houses #2 and #3. Linda asked whether they had any more land, and Chris said no, but that the prospects were good with the Miacomet property, 2 Fairground and NHO land. Rich asked whether Habitat was in essence the "banker" for the owners of these houses and that if that was the case, if the CPC no longer existed, would Habitat be able to continue. Chris answered that the goal of Habitat is to become independent of agencies. That the income from mortgages should pay their costs. There would still need to be private fundraising. By 2008 they anticipate $31,000 coming in from mortgages. Ken asked whether the fact that the owners are only paying $400 in rent is considered income on Nantucket, and Chris answered that he wasn't sure but that Habitat International would know if that were the case. Mark asked whether they felt they would be self-sufficient in 5 years, and Chris clarified that they would always be a fund-raising agency. He noted that there are virtually no administrative costs, just phone and a computer and that they are considering hiring someone for 10 hours a week in the near future. Ken mentioned the high quality of the information he receives when Habitat requests funds. OTHER BUSINESS Deed Restrictions and disbursement of funds. Neville said that he had an emergency request for funds from the Prospect Hill Cemetery Association. He would like to get it voted on at this meeting. They have a large bill they would like to pay. Poiiy said that our rules state that we are unable to release funds without the deed restriction in place. Barry said that is something we need to discuss at the next meeting, because it seems that some of the rules that we have been using may not to be accurate. Stephanie noted that she had talked to ehris Saccardi of the Community Preservation Coalition regarding when Deed Restrictions need to be in, and he said that there was no rule as far as the CPA goes that says they need to be in before you release funds. Ken noted that that rule actually came from Town Counsel that a deed restriction had to be associated with the projects, but there is still a question about whether money has to be held up while they get the restriction in place. Mark noted that if we give them the money up front, what incentive do they have to actually get the restriction. Barry answered that while holding the money does offer a iicarrotit for projects to get their deed restriction in, we do ultimately have the right to sue a project for breach of contract if they do not get the deed restriction in. Rich also mentioned that we could deny them funding in a subsequent year if they don't get the deed restriction in place and that we have on retainer now a lawyer who can double check the decisions of Town Counsel. epe Minutes, October 13, 2004-Page 3 .. Neville noted that he would need to remove himself from this project as his wife is now in a paid position with the Prospect Hill Cemetery Association, which represents a conflict of interest. Polly stated that she has spoken to Theresa about the project and that they are working on this deed restriction, but the death of Grace Grossman has set them back a bit. At this point they are unsure of whether they can even GET a deed restriction as a cemetery and maybe we need to go back to the CPA to see what they think. Barry suggested that they get their lawyer to check with the CPA to see what is involved and whether there are other projects that are similar to this. And who they would even get the restriction with. There is also another agency called the Massachusetts Cemeteries Association who they might check with. Further discussion included Neville's comment that he understood that the subcommittee was looking more closely at deed restrictions, and from his understanding the Prospect Hill Cemetery issues deed restrictions on each plot it sells. Neville also mentioned that he had been told previously that agencies could only be REIMBURSED for bills, not paid in advance. But we have since found out that was erroneous information, and that in fact we can pay them so fhafthey can pay their bills, and they don't have to pay first and then get reimbursed. Upon a motion made by Rich, and 2nd by Linda, it was unanimously VOTED to approve the request for funds to the Prospect Hill CerneteiY Association in the amount of $124,000. Stephanie will do what she can to get the bill processed in time for the next warrant. There being no other business of the committee, and upon a motion made by Linda and 2nd by Polly, it was unanimously VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 5:05 PM. Respectfully submitted by, Stephanie Henke Adm i n istrat ive Secretary ere Minutes, October 13, 2004-Page 4