CPC Minutes

Meeting date: 
Friday, January 16, 2015

Truro Community Preservation Committee

Minutes of Meeting of January 16, 2015

Truro Town Hall

 

Members Present:  Mary Rose, Acting Chair; Maureen Cronin, Richard Larkin, Robert Lowe, Jane Petterson, Bonnie Sollog, Lisa Maria Tobia

Regrets:  William Golden, Paul Wisotzky

Acting Chair Mary Rose opened the public hearing at 5:30 p.m. 

Edgewood Farm Trails

Fred Gaechter and Meg Royko of the Truro Conservation Trust reported on moving forward with developing trails on the property for which the Trust has requested the grant from CPC. Mary Rose indicated that the huge debt for Open Space is a big deterrent in granting the money.  Mr. Gaechter explained the Trust’s responsibilities for Poor’s Hill and other Open Space property.  Mary Rose said that there had been an understanding that Open Space was served by the Poor’s Hill purchase. 

Edgewood Farm Rehabilitation

Cherie Mittenthal, Executive Director of Castle Hill, Regan McCarthy and Kim Kettler distributed drawings for the barn, cottage and main house at Edgewood Farm.  Cherie Mittenthal enumerated the priorities for each building.  Mary Rose commented on the big discrepancy between the estimates presented by two contractors for the rehabilitation project.  Regan McCarthy explained what guidelines the contractors had been given.  She also said the contractors were basing their figures on timelines.  Although the estimates did not correspond, Ms. McCarthy said, there were elements that could be compared.  She reviewed these with the Committee.  Maureen Cronin said that the explanation should have been clearer in the submission.  Ms. McCarthy said they understood they should come back with a request of $150,000.  Their new request was divided between the house and the barn.  CPC members asked about other funding for the project and the closing on the property, and the sale of a Castle Hill property on Depot Rd.  Lisa Tobia questioned the closing date in terms of funding in advance of the sale.  Regan McCarthy said September, 2015 is the target date for the sale. The sale is expected in 2015 in any event, she said.  Mary Rose asked about usage of the property by the general public.  Ms. McCarthy said the barn is to be used by small group meetings and workshop, and the main house is for artists in residence and housing for instructors.  Susan Howe, Chair of the Commission on Disabilities, questioned the representatives about planned handicap access for the buildings.

Habitat for Humanity Land Acquisition

Leedara Zola, Land Acquisition Consultant for Habitat of Humanity of Cape Cod, and Jay Vivian of the Housing Authority discussed Habitat’s search for available land.  Leedara Zola said the prudent process is to wait for Town Meeting to approve the project.  She also said that fall is a better time for buying property. 

Congregational Meeting House

Friends of the Truro Meeting House representatives Ann Keenan and Nick Norman came forward.  They presented an update on progress on the Meeting House covered by the current grant.  Ms. Keenan said the FY16 request is needed for deteriorated beams, sills and the crawl space.  Mr. Norman said work on the handicap ramp was underway. 

Mobi Mats

Susan Howe, Chair of the Commission on Disabilities, was present, but the Committee had no further questions for her.  Ms. Howe praised the involvement of the DPW for the Mobi Mats already used at the beaches.

Historical Society’s architectural drawings for Highland House

Jim Summers, Acting Director of the Truro Historical Society, and Henry Lum came forward to explain the leasing arrangements with the National Seashore, greater accessibility, better storage capabilities, fund raising, and public awareness of the museum.  They discussed their intent to choose the best images to present to the public, and displayed some of the early drawings of the building.  Mr. Summers answered questions on the leasing process and the nature of their changing exhibits.    

Additional Historical Society Request

The Historical Society has withdrawn the request for additional map restoration.  Mr. Lum also discussed the archival work needed for their exhibits.  He explained that their present computer is inadequate for the task.  He said there is a savings involved in their redirection of funds from a previous grant.  Mary Rose said the Committee would have to check on eligibility of funding for a computer.

Cemetery Plaques

The Non-Resident Tax Payers Association had offered to pay for the National Register plaques for two cemeteries, and the CPC removed the Cemetery Commission’s request from the Fiscal Year 2016 proposals. 

 

Mary Rose closed the hearing at 6:40 p.m. and the meeting continued.

 

Edgewood Farm

The Committee discussed the Castle Hill application, which still was confusing to most of the members. CPC members were not clear what the money was going to be spent on and said this would be difficult to explain at Town Meeting.  Maureen Cronin said that Castle Hill should have a representative who could explain each expense in the proposal.  Lisa Tobia said she was uncomfortable that the closing date was so indefinite.  She also pointed out that the Town of Truro had no ownership in the property, unlike the Open Space request for Town-owned property.   Robert Lowe said Castle Hill should be encouraged to come back again next year with more clarity if the project does not go forward at this time.    CPC will send Castle Hill representatives a letter detailing the reasons for not going forward with the proposal due to lack of clarity, unspecificity, an uncertain date for the closing, limited CPA funds  for Fiscal Year 2016 and requirements for historic designation of the buildings.

Rose called for a vote on approval of the grant application for the historic restoration at Edgewood Farm.  The results were:  6 - not in favor and 1 abstention. 

Habitat for Humanity Land Acquisition

Mary Rose called for the vote on a grant of $265,000 for land acquisition by Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod.  The vote was: 7 for – 0 against.

Richard Larkin stated that he did not like the open-endedness of the project.  

Meeting House 

$264,790 for Phase 3 Rehabilitation of the Truro Congregational Meeting House was:

7 for – 0 against.

Mobi Mats

The vote to approve the grant of $22,059 to the Commission on Disabilities for Mobi Mats was: 7 for – 0 against.

Highland House Renderings

The vote to approve the grant of $10,000 to the Historical Society for Highland House drawings was: 6 for -1 abstention (Larkin)

 

Edgewood Farm Trail Lots

Richard Larkin moved to grant $40,000 to the Truro Conservation Trust towards the purchase of two Edgewood Farm lots to create walking trails.   Bonnie Sollog seconded.  The voting results were: 7 for - 0 against

Minutes

Larkin moved to approve the minutes of December 5, 2014.  Petterson seconded, and the motion carried 7-0.

Agenda for Next Meeting

The next meeting on February 13, 2015 at 4:15 will be the warrant articles and agreements, and the CPC Plan update.  The meeting after that was set for March 13, 2015. 

Adjournment

Larkin moved to adjourn.  Cronin seconded, and the motion carried 7-0.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Rogers, CPC Administrative Consultant                    

The Community Preservation Committee approved these minutes at the meeting held 2/13/15.