Outside Agencies Seek Nearly $800K In CPA Funding; Affordable Housing Tops Requests For 2024

CHATHAM – Nearly half of the requests for community preservation funds submitted in the current round are from agencies outside of town.

Of the $1,946,700 sought in nine applications, a total of $795,000 comes from five organizations based outside of Chatham. Four are for regional affordable housing initiatives.

Raised through a property tax surcharge, community preservation funds available for appropriation in this year’s annual town meeting total $1,056,852, plus another $289,460 in matching money from the state. The fund also has $804,192 in undesignated reserves from previous years appropriations, with another $9,700 reserved for historic preservation and $808,000 for open space. With no requests in the open space category, that money will remain reserved, along with another $160,000 put aside from this year’s appropriations. That leaves $2,000,205 available for expenditure in the current funding round.

Administered through the community preservation committee, Community Preservation Act funds can be spent in four categories: affordable housing, open space, historic preservation and recreation.

Of the nine applications filed with the CPC this round, five are seeking funds for affordable housing, a total of $1,405,700. Of those, only one — a $500,000 request from the town’s affordable housing trust fund — is from a Chatham organization. The others are seeking funds for projects proposed in Dennis, Brewster and Harwich, along with the regional Lower Cape Housing Institute.

For the past several years, the affordable housing trust has received an annual funding allocation from community preservation funds; last year, the trust received $500,000. According to this year’s application, the funds would be used to support community housing initiatives aimed at individuals and families at 100 percent or below the area median income. The trust is able to purchase land or support housing projects without going through town meeting, allowing it to act quickly if necessary. According to the application, the town is currently seeking additional land to develop affordable and/or workforce housing.

Also seeking $500,000 is Adult Shared Living, Inc., a Harwich-based organization that is seeking to build housing for disabled adults.

The nonprofit Friends Or Relatives With Autism and Related Disabilities (FORWARD) is seeking $75,000 for the second phase of its project to build housing for adults with disabilities. In 2019, the town contributed $50,000 to the first phase, which resulted in construction of two group homes for eight adults, according to the application. Based in Dennis, the housing is open to all residents of the region. The project has received support from other towns, including Brewster, and Dennis contributed land and $750,000. The $4.8 million project involves construction of eight one-bedroom apartments for Cape Codders with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Spring Rock Village in Brewster is seeking an estimated $100,000 contribution for construction of 45 affordable housing units off Millstone Road. Brewster’s CPC and affordable housing trust have committed $500,000 toward the $27.6 million project cost; funding from Barnstable County and several state and federal agencies will also help finance the project.

The final housing request is from the Lower Cape Housing Institute, which is seeking $20,000 to partially fund salaries for the organization, which provides training and technical assistance to Chatham and other Lower and Outer Cape communities through the Community Development Partnership. The money is sought over a two-year period.

Two large requests were filed under the recreation category. The town’s recreation and beach division applied for $212,700 to rehabilitate the little league field at the community center, including new fencing, backstops and dugouts. At its Dec. 18 meeting, CPC members asked Recreation and Beaches Deputy Director Aimee Howell to re-examine the costs with an eye toward lowering the funding request.

Monomoy Regional High School is seeking a $100,000 contribution toward the estimated $215,000 cost of a new press box at the sports field behind the Harwich school. The same amount is being requested from Harwich’s community preservation committee, and the school’s sports booster group has raised $33,000 for the project.

The town’s bikeways committee is seeking $89,000 to hire a consultant to evaluate the feasibility and recommend a design for a shared multipurpose path from the crosswalk the state installed last year just east of the Route 137 and Route 28 intersection to the Old Colony Rail Trail on Route 137. The project covers a distance of approximately 300 feet, according to the application.

Finally, the town is seeking $350,000 for renovations to the historic Stage Harbor Coast Guard boathouse, which will be relocated to Bridge Street to serve as a new shellfish growing facility. The same amount was approved by town meeting last year. The new appropriation will fund exterior renovations consistent with the boathouse’s historic appearance. Initial dredging for the project was expected to get underway this week; the boathouse is currently in Quincy and will be transported to Chatham once piers and other support structures are completed, either later this year or early next year.

The CPC has met with several of the applicants and will continue reviewing the requests at its next meeting on Jan. 22. The group will recommend whether voters at the May annual town meeting approve the appropriations.