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Historic Preservation News
Preservation funds unleash historical conflict
03-05-08 - North America — United States, Massachusetts
One person\'s shack may be another\'s historical gem. But when thousands of local dollars are at stake, how do you decide who is right?
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The Community Preservation Act, funded from property tax surcharges and matching state funds, has allowed towns to preserve buildings, boats, documents and artifacts. But if the real estate slump continues and the state backs off on its pledge to match 100 percent, towns will have less to divide and more to debate. The wording in the state law lays out only a general framework for how towns decide whether something is worthy of historic preservation funds — for example, if the building is on state or national historic lists.
That ultimately allows town residents to decide what to preserve. Expenditures are based on the recommendation of the town historical commissions and community preservation committees and then must be approved by voters.
In Brewster, a 110-year-old house is at the center of a debate over CPA money. Cape Rep Theatre Co. wants $200,000 to anchor a $600,000 renovation project for a late 19th-century house on Route 6A in the Old King\'s Highway Regional Historic District.
The house is not listed on the state or national historic registers, but is eligible for them by virtue of its age, according to a Massachusetts Historical Commission spokesman.
Brewster has about $1 million in CPA funds to spend annually. At least 10 percent must go to preservation.
Harm vs. charm
A local historian and at least two Brewster Finance Committee members question the wisdom of approving the money since the house is leased from the state, is in poor condition, and will be used for housing theater staff.
But towns are rapidly losing the houses and buildings that provide the community character long associated with Cape Cod, Henry Curtis, chairman of the Eastham Community Preservation Committee, said yesterday. He pointed to two houses that were lost on Route 6 in recent years, one to demolition and another to fire.
\"We\'re just watching all of our wonderful old homes fall by the wayside,\" he said.
Giving towns the latitude to decide what is worth saving is part of the act\'s intent, said Stuart Saginor, executive director of the Community Preservation Coalition, a Boston-based nonprofit group that helps towns adopt and implement the act.
\"That\'s the beauty of the CPA,\" he said. \"It gives tremendous flexibility.\"
Towns can mete out their CPA funds to any project, regardless of whether it is public, private or nonprofit, Saginor said. They can get around a state law against giving municipal funds to private projects by making sure there is some public benefit, he said. Towns have placed historic restrictions on properties that have received CPA money, or have entered into contract agreements with owners of private projects who allow some public use.
Cape voters have had mixed reactions to funding private and nonprofit owners.
Last year, Eastham residents rejected a proposal to spend $60,000 in CPA money to help owners of an early 19th-century house along Route 6. The owner had agreed to allow public tours, and to repay the money if the house were sold, but the measure lost at town meeting, Curtis said.
Church beneficiaries
In Barnstable, voters have spent CPA funds on two churches, said Lindsey Counsell, community preservation committee chairman. They approved funds for both the Unitarian Church of Barnstable on Route 6A and First Baptist Church on Main Street, Hyannis, because restrictions require whoever owns the buildings to maintain them as historic structures, he said.
\"It\'s really a grant program,\" Counsell said. \"In return (for the town\'s money) the value we receive is a historic restriction.\"
This spring, Yarmouth voters will be asked to spend $38,000 to help owners preserve the last remaining wind-powered water tower on Cape Cod, at the corner of Pleasant and Crosby streets, said the town\'s community preservation chairman, Curtis Sears. The committee has proposed a contract with the owner to allow for public access six times a year, he said.
Orleans voters have given $225,500 in CPA money to the private Academy Playhouse on Main Street in East Orleans, said playhouse director Peter Earle. The money paid for a sprinkler system, basement renovations and air conditioning. The 1873 building was the town hall until 1956.
The CPA committee, however, turned down the playhouse\'s request for funds this year to help make the building more accessible to those with disabilities.
\"We\'re going to start fund-raising in earnest,\" Earle said.
Robin Lord can be reached at rlord@capecodonline.com. "
Full story:
Cape Cod Times
Contributed by:
eCultural Resources
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