CPC reviews $8 million in requests
BY MARY LANCASTER
The Community Preservation Committee has begun the difficult task of sifting through 26 requests totaling approximately $8 million and deciding which are most deserved in time for a Nov. 16 deadline for the 2007 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.

The five-year-old Nantucket CPC has given out more than $11 million since it began, assisting almost 30 projects falling within the categories of open space preservation, historic preservation and affordable housing. The Massachusetts Community Preservation Act enacted six years ago allows towns to control planning with project funding coming from a three percent contribution from local real estate bills and a matching amount from the state derived through deeds excise taxes and property transfer fees.

The island's CPC typically has a little over $2 million to award annually and faces some tough challenges this year on how to cut that small pie of money to assist several worthy proposals.

+ This year's highest request is from the Parks and Recreation Commission, seeking $2 million to create four new youth playing fields off Nobadeer Farm Road on Land Bank property.

Parks and Rec has also submitted two other requests for $150,000 to complete the in-ground portion of its Backus Lane skate park and for $2,200 to buy a new swing set for the Tom Nevers playground.

+ The second highest request is from the Nantucket Historical Association seeking two appropriations totaling $1,132,681. The largest comes in at $1,096,400 for preservation work at Greater Light, a house at 8 Howard St. that was once a barn but bought and renovated by two Quaker sisters in 1929. The funds would restore the house and gardens so the NHA can reopen it yearround as a destination for cultural events and meetings, as well as provide a staff apartment.

The second NHA submission seeks $36,281 to preserve the 8 Gardner St. fire hose-cart house built in 1886. The building needs repairs and installation of security and fire detection systems. Built after the Great Fire of 1846, it is the only remaining, intact house-cart house on the island.

+ The amount of $750,000 is asked by the Nantucket Land Council to pay towards its purchase of a conservation restriction on Linda Loring's 270-acre property between Eel Point and Madaket roads. NLC has raised $11.5 million of the $14 million total needed by January and hopes to use the $750,000 as a challenge grant to draw more donations toward its final goal.

+ First Congregational Church is asking for $649,000 to begin and complete restoration of the front outside wall of the main church, restore the tower and steeple and install security and fire systems in the church and Old North Vestry to bring them up to code. The church turns 300 years old in 2011.

+ The Nantucket Housing Office has submitted three applications totaling $580,000. It hopes to receive $350,000 to build its own office with two revenuegenerating apartments off Old South Road to eliminate its need to spend thousands on rent every year. Total cost of buying the land and construction is estimated at $750,000. With CPC aid to build the apartments, rental income from them would pay the debt on the $400,000 loan for the balance.

The two other applications include one for $175,000 to assist with its house recycling program by adding two more affordable rental homes to its inventory of 23 that it has relocated and rehabilitated. NHO plans to match the CPC funds. The last is for $155,000 to cover payroll and medical insurance for its executive and associate directors at $75,000 and $55,000 respectively to keep office operation costs unrelated to housing programs at a minimum.

+ The Nantucket Conservation Foundation is requesting $500,000 to help in its purchase of the 110-acre UMass Field Station property costing $22 million.

+ Nantucket Homes for People, Inc. is asking for $450,000 to defray costs of offsite infrastructure work required by the Zoning Board when it granted NHP a Comprehensive Permit in April 2001 to develop a four-acre parcel on Folger Avenue planned to hold 28 single-family homes in the Abram Quary project. Seven of the homes will be affordable and sold through a lottery to people earning less than 80 percent or up to 150 percent of the island's median income. One will go at $100,000 below construction cost to a qualified senior citizen or disabled person needing single-level living and have caretaker rooms on the second floor. The other 20 homes will sell at less than half the market value of similar homes. The goal is to complete construction by June 2007 and have the homes occupied by year-round residents.

+ Nantucket Education Trust seeks $336,279 in reimbursement for infrastructure work done at the 12-unit school staff housing development on Cow Pond Lane. The funds would pay the trust's remaining debt service for a tenant parking area, grading for future parking, site drainage systems, sewer connections, surveyor plans, retaining walls, pump stations and electrical work.

+ Nantucket Community Sailing, Inc. seeks the first installment of a three-part request it will make to the CPC for $1.2 million to buy land and create a Community Sailing Yard. This initial application is for $300,000 to purchase a two-acre parcel. It would be used for boat storage and maintenance with construction consuming the greatest cost of the next two installments. While the project is expected to cost $2.5 million, NCS intends to fundraise in 2007 to match the CPC funds, if granted. At this point, the NCS leases a small maintenance building from Great Harbor Yacht Club and stores sailboats on airport land that is not anticipated to be available indefinitely.

+ Sherburne Commons also seeks $300,000 to build employee housing on its 20-acre South Shore Road site leased from the town for a community retirement village. The employee housing is expected to cost $590,000 but the remainder of construction costs would be covered through grants and private donations.

+ Another $300,000 request was submitted by 'Sconset Trust, Inc. to help pay the cost of moving and preserving Sankaty Light, threatened by erosion of the 'Sconset bluff. The structure's move to land belonging to Sankaty Head Golf Club is to be completed by the end of next year.

+ Two Centre Street Restoration Project, Inc. seeks a grant for $229,080 to complete work on the Methodist Church roof before patched areas allow moisture into the building, to restore 40 window shutters and to repair the existing handicap ramp.

+ The Housing Assistance Corporation of Hyannis has put in a submission seeking initial funding of $195,000 to create a Housing Assistance Corporation of Nantucket which would be overseen by the Housing Consumer Education Department. The office would assist people in finding affordable homes or apartments, provide several programs such as homelessness prevention, offer short-term financial aid to those at risk of homelessness and make referrals to programs that make housing more energy efficient, safe and accessible.

+ Hostelling International USA, American Youth Hostels, Inc. seeks $116,125 for a rehabilitation project at Surfside's Star of the Sea Hostel, formerly the Surfside Life Saving Station. The funds would allow modification of the building's interior to make it accessible for disabled visitors.

+ Nantucket Preservation Trust hopes to receive $85,000 to update and expand documentation for the Nantucket National Historic Landmark District to enhance protection of the island's important historic resources. Currently, buildings constructed after 1900 do not qualify for preservation easements and tax incentive programs, leaving some critical resources endangered because of lack of historic certification.

+ A town request has been made for $75,000 to hire a consultant to develop need and design specifications for housing on the 20-acre property at 2 Fairgrounds Road recently purchased by the town from the electric company. The intent is to have the revenue from housing purchases or rentals pay the cost of construction.

+ The Cemetery Commission Workgroup seeks $61,500 for a phase of its restorations in Old North and Newtown cemeteries. A grave marker inventory is already underway. The next step is to have a professional conservator conduct a complete survey of each marker, recording conditions and conservation requirements. Following that, conservation work would begin by stabilizing the markers at greatest risk. + The Nantucket Interfaith Council

seeks $55,000 for its rental assistance program which has helped 35 households and 85 individuals since its inception two years ago. The program aids low and moderate income families with at least two years' residency on the island who are struggling to pay advance rents, offering them up to $3,000 per year, and at the same financial threshhold for monthly subsidies up to 18 months in length or for funds to cover emergency housing costs during times of financial crisis.

+ The Prospect Hill Cemetery Association is requesting $54,400 to install an irrigation system in the newest portion of the burial ground on Somerset Road, a 3.9 acre area that is also the site of the Nantucket Jewish Cemetery.

+ The Nantucket Atheneum would like $39,400 to paint its exterior. The Atheneum incorporated as a private subscription library in 1834 and opened as a free public library in 1900.

+ The Artists' Association asks for $7,830 to purchase archival and database supplies and equipment to customize its permanent collection database software and to restore four works in its 600-piece permanent collection.

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