[MassHistPres] New CPA proposed legislation and do we need changes to the Historic category

[sally urbano]

Greetings,
   Apparently the CPA trust fund has some financial difficulties and legislation is being proposed to raise funds through an increase in fees attached to deeds. You can see the wording on the CPC coalition website.
    My concern is that at least in my town, we are having a much harder time getting approvals for Historic categories. Is there a way to make our cases for funding more easily understood and approved.
   
Below is the chart for Allowable projects through CPA and note that Historic is the most restricted. This may be by design, i have no knowledge . But here is the conundrum.
  Our housing committee can use CPA funds to produce a housing production plan which of course is a plan and does not concretely produce a house.
Our request for funds to hire a consultant to submit for  National Recognition Status was refused because nothing was actually being preserved even thought it is a tool used in preservation.
If others have run up against this I would like to hear about it, or it may just be a problem in my town.
Is anyone looking into the historic category to evaluate the strength of support given to us as we try to obtain these funds? 
 Best to you all
Sally Urbano
Harwich

The chart below demonstrates the allowable uses of CPA funds in each of the CPA project categories: open space, recreation, housing, and historic preservation. This chart is critical for determining whether a proposed project is eligible for CPA funding. View a .pdf version of the official Department of Revenue allowable uses chart. <http://communitypreservation.org/DOR-Allowable-Uses-2012.pdf>
Projects are only eligible for CPA funding if they fit in a green box below. 
 	Open Space	Historic	Recreation	Housing
Acquire	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Create	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Preserve	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Support	No	No	No	Yes
Rehabilitate and/or Restore	Yes, if acquired or created with CPA funds	Yes	
Yes (new 7/8/2012)
Yes, if acquired or created with CPA funds
Chart adapted from “Recent Developments in Municipal Law”, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, October 2012.


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