CPC hits back at Select Board over affordable housing inclusion

The Community Preservation Committee is pushing back on a Town Meeting article that would change the make-up of the board to include a seat assigned to the Affordable Housing Trust.

The proposed change has lead to increased tensions between the Select Board and the CPC, which is responsible for allotting funds to open space, historic preservation, recreation, and affordable housing.

While the Select Board had discussed the warrant article, it was put forward by the Affordable Housing Trust.

The CPC last week voted 6-2 to send a letter to the Finance Committee against the change, urging the board to oppose the article. Members Justin Wood and Richard Whitney voted against.

We are writing to provide the Community Preservation Committee’s (CPC) perspective on Warrant Article 37. It seeks to revise the Town’s bylaws pertaining to CPC membership by removing one of four At-Large seats and replacing it with a permanent seat assigned to the Affordable Housing Trust (AHT).

The Community Preservation Act (CPA) requires that the CPC have five permanent positions filled by representatives from the Housing Authority, Historical Commission, Conservation Commission, Parks Commission and Planning Board. It further stipulates inclusion of up to four additional members specified in the town’s bylaws as At Large. It is important to consider the rationale for this structure:

* Committees with permanent representation directly align with CPA funding categories (Affordable Housing, Historic Preservation, Open Space, Recreation) or provide support to them. This creates parity in representation across these categories.

·* The four At-Large seats are subject to appointment every three years and are vital to ensuring the general community can participate in directing CPA funding allocations.

* An additional permanent AHT position would create an inequity in the representation of the CPA funding categories by providing affordable housing interests two representatives while reducing community representation.

* Stuart Saginor, Executive Director of the Coalition for Community Preservation (the state organization that provides guidance on application of the CPA) stated the following regarding the elimination of At-Large seats:

“It further takes CPA away from its goal, which is to have all four at-large slots be from the general community. You already have 5 town boards represented on your CPC; the at-large slots are supposed to be the chance for general town citizens to get input into CPA. In our view, taking away an at large slot further concentrates the “power” in the hands of town government, and not the community at-large.”

Creating a permanent AHT seat is not necessary for ensuring AHT’s inclusion in the CPA funding process. AHT and many other groups have successfully done so without need for such representation. There are actually three examples of this among the CPC warrant articles for this coming Town Meeting.

The steps outlined below can increase communication and cooperation between AHT and CPC without creating an imbalance in permanent member representation among CPC’s funding categories or requiring removal of volunteers from their positions:

* Holding joint AHT/CPC meetings to provide a forum for better understanding of how these committees can more closely work together.

* Attendance of the CPC’s Housing Authority representative at AHT meetings, which could be taken a step further by expanding AHT to a 9-member committee and adding a CPC representative or, alternatively, creating a non-voting CPC seat.

* Addition of a standing AHT discussion item on CPC’s monthly agenda.

* Having a CPA workshop for AHT and the Select Board to enhance understanding of CPA.

We ask the Finance Committee to please join us in supporting community participation in the CPA funding process by not recommending passage of Warrant Article 37.

Grafton Community Preservation Committee

John Stephens, Chairman; Jim Gallagher, Vice Chairman; Brook Padgett, Clerk;  Ken Holberger, Treasurer; Kristen Belanger, Sandy Brock, Paul Scarlett, Richard Whitney, Justin Wood

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