Lexington Conservation Commission Plans 2010

This is excerpted from the CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2010 ATM  - the section on Conservation. "ATM" means Annual Town Meeting, not automatic teller machine, although confusion is certainly possible.  This is not a photograph of the Lexington ATM either, rather a shura in sunny Afghanistan.

"CPA" does not mean Certified Public Accountant, rather the Community Preservation Act.  When a town adopts the state CPA, a surcharge of up to 3% of property tax revenue goes into the Community Preservation Fund.  This fund is in turn matched by the state and used for open space purchases, historic resources, and affordable housing.  Repeal efforts are underway in various towns in Massachusetts that have adopted the CPA.

Conservation
Under the CPA, which Lexington adopted in March 2006, at least 10% of each year’s CPA-surcharge revenue must be devoted to Open Space (along with the same allocations to Historic Resources and Community [Affordable] Housing) and additional funds from the Unbudgeted Reserve and the Undesignated Fund Balance can be used for Open Space purchases. At the Annual Town Meeting in April 2009 (Article 12), a $2,763,100 Community Preservation Fund (CPF) cash appropriation was approved to purchase a 14.2-acre parcel of land on Vine Street (the “Leary Land”)—which purchase closed August 11, 2009. The parcel will be conservation land except for 0.7 acre that is planned to be used for affordable housing. At the Special Town Meeting (Article 6) in May 2009, a $4,295,000 appropriation (also from the CPF) was approved to purchase a 7.93-acre parcel off of Lowell Street (the “Busa Farm”)—which purchase then closed on December 4, 2009. As specified in the purchase, the land was then leased back to the prior owner for continued use as a farm through April 1, 2011 (unless mutually extended) while the Town determines how best to use that land. Its use will be decided by a future Town Meeting after a Selectmen-appointed committee makes recommendations. (At the time of this writing, the Board of Selectmen is in the process of defining that committee and its charge from the Board.)


At this Annual Town Meeting, we may have the opportunity to purchase land off of Marrett Road (Cataldo/Cotton Farm) for about $3.8 million. (See Article 9) At the time of this writing, the CPC has not voted on whether to advance that purchase. Should it be presented to Town Meeting, this Committee will issue a supplemental report. Land adjacent to the 2009 Busa Farm purchase is also listed on the Warrant (Article 10, “Goldinger property”), but that Article is expected to be Indefinitely Postponed.


In the CPC’s administrative budget, $50,000 is included to enable the Conservation Commission to do preliminary research such as land surveys and appraisals as part of the process of bringing future land acquisition opportunities to the table. (See Article 8(v))