The Community Preservation Committee and the town lost a valuable volunteer when Didi Chadran moved to Lowell this week. But Chadran, who served 10 years on the committee, including eight as chair, said the committee is the strongest it’s ever been, and he doesn’t believe his departure will weaken it. He spoke with the Press last week about the committee’s most significant accomplishments during his time there and its continuing challenges.
Didi Chadran. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Each year town committees, departments, and organizations request funding from the CPC for projects that protect open space, promote outdoor recreation, preserve historic resources, and increase affordable housing. The CPC reviews its requests and recommends those that fit its criteria and its funding, derived annually from a 1.1% property tax surcharge and a variable amount of matching money from the state. Town Meeting then votes on each of the CPC’s recommendations.
Chadran said the committee’s biggest accomplishment over the past 10 years, in his view, was footing the bill for $1 million of the $3.7 million cost of renovating Town Hall, a CPC recommendation approved by voters in 2012. Chadran said the decision was a smart use of the committee’s money because some of the payment comes from state matching funds, so that lessens the burden on local taxpayers. The state’s community preservation trust fund comes from a surcharge on all real estate transactions at the Registry of Deeds. Chadran said the annual Town Hall payment also means that the committee no longer has to worry about meeting the requirement of using a minimum of 10% of its funds for historic preservation. “I personally feel good that our Town Hall is in the condition that it’s in today,” he said.
State match is ‘unpredictable’
Two projects Chadran included on his list because of their visibility to residents were the recent renovation of the stone wall in front of the Old Bromfield portion of the library and resurfacing the McCurdy Track, approved by voters in 2014. He also mentioned the CPC’s contribution toward the purchase of the agricultural preservation restriction for Community Harvest Project’s orchard on Prospect Hill Road as a major accomplishment. “I think that’s going to do a lot to preserve our agricultural heritage, enhance our viewshed, and enhance property values,” he said.
But the committee continues to face challenges, mainly the poor predictability of the amount of the state’s matching funds, Chadran said. Not only do those funds fluctuate with the Registry of Deeds fees collected each year, the number of towns in the program increases steadily. Every time a new city or town adopts the Community Preservation Act, there is less money available for the communities already in the program, especially when cities participate. Each town receives matching funds based on how much it collects from its property tax surcharge. Towns that levy the maximum surcharge of 3% also have access to additional rounds of funding. In 2012, the CPC endorsed a warrant article to raise the levy to 3%, but it was defeated at Town Meeting. “The fact that the state match is so unpredictable makes it nearly impossible to build a business case for increasing our surcharge,” Chadran said.
Another challenge is that the CPA lumps open space and recreation together in the same category, and Chadran said conflicts sometimes arise between the interests of the Conservation Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission. “It’s about land and how it’s used and managed,” he said. “That can lead to some active discussions in our meetings.”
Finally, Chadran said it would be helpful if applicants remembered that the CPC’s role is to recommend projects and put them on the warrant each year for Town Meeting to approve or reject. He cited the example of this year’s request for $58,000 of CPC funds to restore the Shaker herb house. “It met all the criteria that we were concerned with,” he said, “but there were other concerns raised by the community at large that led to it being rejected on the floor of Town Meeting.”
But Chadran said he sees these challenges as minor. “I’m going to miss working with this team,” he said. “It’s really a joyful committee to serve on.” One reason is that the committee is charged with funding projects rather than asking the town to fund them. And he thinks the matching funds that come from the state help to shield the committee from philosophical disagreements about how its money should be spent. As for the future, Chadran said he will definitely look into serving in some sort of volunteer role in Lowell town government. But he plans to remain involved with the Harvard Schools Trust, and he recently joined the board of Fivesparks. “I’ll continue to have a foot in Harvard,” he said. “It will be a gradual separation.”
