Council Debates CPAC Allocations

Report On A Public Forum And Town Council Discussion, March 21, 2022

Present
All Councilors were present for this public forum. In the Town Room of Town Hall: Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Mandy Jo Hanneke (at-large), Cathy Schoen and Michele Miller (District 1), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), Jennifer Taub (District 3), Pam Rooney (District 4), and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). None were wearing masks. 

Participating remotely were: Andy Steinberg and Ellisha Walker (at large), Dorothy Pam (District 3), Anika Lopes (District 4), and Shalini Bahl-Milne (District 5)

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager, wearing a mask) and Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded. It can be viewed here. 

The Town Council held a required public forum to discuss allocation of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for FY 2023. CPA committee chair Sarah Marshall gave the presentation, which was also attended by the Finance Committee of the council, including its three nonvoting members, Bernie Kubiac, Bob Hegner, and Matt Holloway.

CPAC awarded $2.39 million for upcoming projects for housing, historic preservation, and recreation/open space. The state requires that at least 10% of funds be spent on historic preservation. The committee left $533,000 for reserves. 

Housing awards included money for transitional housing, a part-time housing coordinator, funds for the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, a part-time consultant for the Trust, and funds to repair the roof on the Nutting Apartments (in conjunction with state funds).

For historic preservation, the CPA committee recommended $240,000 to repair the chimney, roof, dormers,and porch at the Conkey-Stevens house, $135,000 for painting at the Alice Maud Hills house (Amherst Women’s Club), money for a structural study of the Strong house, a new fence and some informational kiosks at the West Cemetery, and money to the District One Neighborhood Association to research the industrial history of the area along the Mill River in North Amherst.

Recreation awards included funds to begin a redesign of the Crocker Farm playground, improving the irrigation and drainage at the Plum Brook athletic fields with a new well and irrigation system, creating trails on Hickory Ridge and maintaining other town trails, and $120,000 for pickleball courts.

Public Comment
David Levenstein urged prudence in awarding public funds to privately owned properties, such as the Amherst Women’s Club and the Conkey-Stevens House. He said that the Conkey-Stevens house is owned by Salem Place Homeowners Association (HOA) which was formed in 1989, and claimed that the Amherst Women’s Club is “a privately owned entity which charges membership fees and is open only to women.

Historic Commission chair Jane Wald endorsed the use of CPA funds for preserving historic buildings, even those privately owned if appropriate. She noted that the Conkey-Stevens house is one of only seven properties in Amherst on the National Register of Historic Places, and that there is precedent throughout the state for using CPA funds to preserve privately owned historic properties. She added that these properties are very expensive to maintain. All work done with CPA funds must comply with historical preservation standards.

Several residents, including Catherine Porter, Sharon Judge, Catheryn Lombardi, Robin Fordham, Emily Belt, Liliana Korvich Carras, and Anne Jean Lardner spoke in favor of the funds for painting  the Amherst Women’s Club, pointing out the nonprofit status of the club and its sponsoring of programs for the benefit of the whole town. Alexis Reid said that public access should be allowed if public funds are used for preservation of a private building—and that the public should feel free to picnic on the front lawn. Wald noted that these two buildings are important to maintaining the historic character of the town, even if they are privately owned.

Council Discussion
In its previous deliberations, the Finance Committee recommended funding all of the CPA-recommended projects except those for the Conkey-Stevens and the Alice Maud Hills houses, for which it gave no recommendations. Cathy Schoen (District 1), vice chair of the Finance Committee, wondered what would happen if the Conkey-Stevens house [or some of the units in it] are sold. She also pointed out that it is not accessible to the public, and that the HOA could continue to request CPA funding to maintain the building.

Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large) moved to separate out the Hills House and the Conkey-Stevens house from the discussion and vote for the other CPA projects. This passed 8-3-2, with Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5), Michele Miller (District 1), and Dorothy Pam (District 3) voting no, and Anika Lopes (District 4) and Jennifer Taub (District 3) abstaining. The rest of the CPA allocations then passed unanimously.

President Lynn Griesemer (District 2) wondered if the town would meet its 10% minimum funding for historic preservation if the two entities were to be removed, but was assured that the funds can be reserved for the following year. Hanneke wanted to know if the town can mandate public access to the properties if CPA funding is granted. Schoen objected to the town enhancing the $1 million value of the Conkey-Stevens house for the benefit of the HOA. Wald noted that it had levied an extra assessment on its members and had contributed more than $20,000 to the repair of its porch, but said that the building’s needs are too great for them to cover in total. Devlin Gauthier, who previously served on CPAC, noted that the full application for the Conkey-Stevens house details the work the HOA has already done as well as work it plans to do with its own funds.

Planning Director Chris Brestrup said she views the Conkey-Stevens house as important to the economic vitality of the town and worries that without additional funds, its owners would not be able to repair it with historic materials. She added that in the past, people wrongly thought that all historic preservation grants must be used for town projects, so an effort was made to reach out to private residents. She said she is concerned that not funding these two projects could put a chill on such requests in the future. 

Pam announced that as a member of the Amherst Women’s Club, she would recuse herself from voting on that project. The vote was 12-0 in favor of awarding funds to the Hills house. A motion to decrease the funding for the Conkey-Stevens house to $150,000 was defeated unanimously. The full $240,000 was passed by a vote of 11-2, with Schoen and Walker voting no.