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Community Preservation Committee
About the Committee
The Community Preservation Act is administered by the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), a nine-member committee. The CPC holds an annual public hearing to receive comment on the proposed plan. The CPC then finalizes the plan for use of the funds and annually presents its plan in town meeting for approval. Town meeting then votes on the proposed recommendations.
Meetings
Third Wednesday of the Month
6:30 PM
Town Offices
Agendas & Minutes
Progress photos taken by Fred Merriam.
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) provides a source of funding for Open Space Preservation, Historic Preservation, and Affordable Housing. Funding is created through a surcharge on the property tax called the Community Preservation Fund (CPF). In the April 2001, election Chelmsford voters passed a ballot question that allowed for a 0.5% surcharge on a homeowners property tax bill after the first $100,000 is exempted. In the April 2007, election Chelmsford voters passed a ballot question that increased the surcharge to 1.5 %, along with an exemption from the surcharge for low-income families and moderate-income seniors.
The State provides matching funds created by a filing fee surcharge at the Registry of Deeds created specifically for the CPA. The State match is expected to drop to and remain at approximately 35% for the next few years.
The money, kept in a separate CPA account by the town, must be spent on Open Space Preservation, Historic Preservation, and Affordable Housing. Each category must receive a minimum of 10% of CPA funds annually. The remaining 70% may be used for any one of the three categories, or split up amongst them as the town sees fit.
Open Space funds can be used for a number of purposes, including outright acquisition of land for open space and passive recreation, improvement, and preservation of open space and for purchasing an interest in privately owned land to keep it undeveloped, such as agriculture preservation restrictions, conservation restrictions, easements, and purchases of development rights.
Historic Preservation funds can be used for the purchase and/or preservation of historic structures that are registered with the State, or have been determined to be historically significant by the Chelmsford Historic Commission.
Affordable Housing funds are used for creating additional units of affordable housing across the whole range of affordability through a variety of manners, from new construction to buying down existing housing units to make them affordable.