CPC Declines Funding For Neighboring Projects

ORLEANS – The recommended slate of projects to receive Community Preservation Act funding this spring will not include requests in support of projects in Chatham and Harwich.

The community preservation committee is recommending $1.83 million is funding this round, including $310,000 for housing projects. But the committee has decided against helping fund a total of 90 proposed units across two projects in Chatham, and an additional 60 units being planned on Queen Anne Road in Harwich. All three projects are being brought forth by the developer Pennrose.

Pennrose’s 62-unit Phare development on West Road, which was completed last spring, was financed in part through a total of $500,000 in CPA contributions from neighboring Cape communities including Chatham, Harwich, Brewster, Eastham, Provincetown and Truro. Jeffrey Dykens of the Chatham select board was critical of Orleans’ decision against supporting the 48 units planned for Main Street and an additional 42 planned for Meetinghouse Road, calling the decision “appalling” last month.

But Michael Herman, the select board’s representative to the Orleans CPC, told the board Feb. 11 that as more towns have begun working on their own projects, there’s less of a need for towns to support projects in other communities with their CPA funds. 

“There was a lot of generosity toward the Phare project on West Road, but I think it was one of the first big projects in the area and they went to the different CPCs before all towns were kind of up and running on building their own affordable housing,” he said. “Now that all towns are kind of up and building, it’s less sharing of individual CPC towns to other towns.”

The CPC is recommending housing funding for two initiatives, including $300,000 for the town’s affordable housing trust and $10,000 to support the Community Development Partnership’s Lower Cape Housing Institute.

In the areas of open space and recreation, the CPC is recommending funding for two projects by the Orleans Conservation Trust. Those include $25,000 to allow the trust to update its guide of all trails in town, including making the guide available online.

 “This is something they haven’t requested in 10 years,” Herman said. “They did it in 2015 and it has lasted them. We know there are a lot of people (who use) digital and there are people that are not as digital. We need to make sure that we service both.”

The trust is also seeking $175,000 in support of its planned acquisition of 3.8 acres of shorefront land along Cedar Pond. The purchase would protect 620 feet of shoreline property that includes mature oak trees and tupelo stands. It also serves as a roosting site for egrets and other wading birds and is home to a recovering herring run.

An additional $90,625 in open space and recreation funds is recommended for the fifth phase of the Putnam Farm project, which calls for an additional 1.5 acres available for additional farming plots. Herman said the funds would also be used to create fencing and parking on the property.

The CPC slate also includes a recommended $1 million for the Eldredge Park renovation project. But Herman noted that the money is not being asked for above the $3 million in CPA funds that were already approved for the project back in October. Instead, he said the $1 million would be used to “draw down” on the amount the town will ultimately have to borrow for the project.

“So when you see a million dollars in here, it’s not an additional million dollars we’re asking for,” he said. “It is actually just reducing what we already have authorized at town meeting.”

A number of previously-funded historical preservation projects are being recommended for additional funding this spring. Those include requests from the Centers for Culture and History in Orleans to update is digital archives and add new items ($50,000), from the Academy of Performing Arts for continued exterior renovations ($7,000), from the French Cable Museum to restore the famed cable and create educational signage and displays ($15,980), from the Orleans Historical Commission to complete its ongoing Form B project to document the town’s historic properties ($25,000) and for additional renovations to the Northwest Schoolhouse ($12,338). 

An additional $120,000 in historic preservation funding is being recommended to restore the Civil War monument on Monument Road. The structure, which dates back to the 1800s, has fallen into disrepair and is currently being stabilized using a brace.

“This is a very high amount of money, but it includes a lot of contingency,” Herman said. “Hopefully, hopefully, the monument isn’t as bad as we think and it will come in actually less than this.”