[MassHistPres] Historic property surveys and the CPA

[sally urbano]

The use of Historic funding through CPA seems to be increasingly concrete in the interpretation  of "preservation" and  obscure in some of the guidelines. I find it frustrating. Our town has done Historic surveys funded by CPA in the past.  This year the Historic commission wanted funding to do the final submission for National Register districting. It was refused becasue the project didn't "preserve anything"   Chatham our neighbor had the same conclusion. Chatham  however was able to appeal through their Board of Selectmen and their CPC to fund the project by using CPC administrative fees. On the Community preservation coalition website there is an article that to addresses this situation indicating  that a town could hire a consultant or legal expert  to wrok with the CPC to re-evaulate the project.  My town refused any ot these suggestions .But if there is a good working relationship and the will perhaps a cpc administrative funding would work for you.    Also I can't seem to find any oversight for problems that crop up with CPA and the Department of Revenue is not helpful. Hoping that soon the CPA will fix some of these issues, especially in the historic category. Sally UrbaanoIndividuallyHarwich 


    On Thursday, May 4, 2017 12:52 PM, "Tucker, Jonathan" <tuckerj at amherstma.gov> wrote:
 

 In 2014, the town of Deerfield sought to use funds for that purpose and made the mistake of asking DOR, which obtained a legal opinion interpreting CPA eligibility selectively and very narrowly, without respect to any understanding of the long-established process of historic preservation, and in the end excluding such surveys.

The DOR opinion essentially said that CPA funds could only be used for direct physical restoration/preservation.  Many MA communities strenuously disagree with that interpretation of the plain language of the statute and continue to use CPA funds for those purposes after obtaining opinions from their own counsels. 

Jonathan Tucker
Senior Planner
Amherst Planning Department
4 Boltwood Avenue, Town Hall
Amherst, MA  01002
(413) 259-3040
tuckerj at amherstma.gov 


-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Ralph Slate
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2017 10:10 PM
To: MassHistPres MA <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historic property surveys and the CPA

Can someone point me to a formal opinion by the MA Department of Revenue which says that Historic Property Surveys are not allowed to be funded under the CPA?

Thanks,

Ralph Slate
Springfield MA
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