Man About Canton: More About CPA

Did you know …

In Massachusetts, 155 towns have now accepted the Community Preservation Act (CPA). The 2000 state law allows a local property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent to support recreation projects, open space, affordable housing, and historic preservation. The state match this year has nearly doubled from last year (26.64 percent to 52.23 percent). Under the CPA, local revenues are matched by a state trust fund generated from fees at the registries of deeds. Until fiscal year 2007, the state match was 100 percent, but due to economic downturn and the growth in the numbers of CPA communities joining, the percentage went down to 26.64 percent. This year the state lawmakers added $25 million in surplus money to go to the fund, thus the sharp increase in matching funds. The bad news for this year is that Canton does not qualify for the increased match because, according to the state, Canton is new to the program.

According to Lisa Lopez, chairwoman of the nine-member Canton Community Preservation Committee, the committee has been busy over the past six months interviewing town boards and committees, soliciting input for project spending that will be described in Canton’s first annual Community Preservation Plan to be authored and distributed by the committee. This year, a wide variety of project ideas were proposed, including the restoration of the high school/town tennis courts, restoration of historic gravestones, and restoration of the Civil War statue at Town Hall. The committee recently held public hearings for project sponsors to pitch their final project applications, and the committee was scheduled to vote on Monday, January 20, to determine which applications to recommend to town meeting for consideration. For the 2014 fiscal year, the fund is expected to have $410,000 in available money (without the matching funds from the state).

As recently reported in the Citizen, the Canton Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved an 86-unit residence with 30 “memory care” units on a commercial parking lot site on Revere Street near the Plymouth Rubber property. The facility, named “The Cornerstone at Canton,” will be operated by the Massachusetts-based Senior Living Residences. The company has also agreed to give the town a one-time mitigating payment of $50,000 upon the issuance of a final occupancy permit.

On Thursday, February 13, the zoning board will listen to plans proposed by Brightview Senior Living on land owned by Anthony Will off Route 138. The tentative plans call for a three-story, 162,000-square-foot building that will include 84 independent units and 76 assisted living units, of which 28 will be set aside for memory care patients. The developer has also agreed to give the town $630,000 in lieu of affordable housing units, if approval is given by the zoning board.

When you think about it, the town has done extremely well on collecting “mitigating payments” from developers over the past few years.

In a recent column, MAC said “there are at least three Canton town officials that do not live in Canton full-time.” A town hall insider told MAC that one town official living outside of Canton is an elected politician.

The fifth graders at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School will perform an original play, “Mystery in the Museum,” in the Canton High School auditorium on Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25, at 7 p.m. The fifth graders worked last year and this year to write the play themselves, and MAC will definitely be in attendance because his granddaughters, Brooke and Taylor Alessi, are in the play.

Canton High School senior captain Sam Riemer was named to the Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic golf team. Sam finished the year with a nine-hole scoring average of 39.0 in the Hockomock League that included a one-under-par 34 at the Locust Valley Country Club.

Canton High School field hockey senior captains Casey Considine and Kellie Stigas were named to the Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic field hockey team for 2013.

Even though car commuting is falling in almost all U.S. metropolitan areas, more than 8 in 10 working Americans still drive to work, most of them alone.

The Dean S. Luce School will hold a carnival on Sunday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Canton Public Schools’ Early Childhood Coordinator Kelty Kelley will be leaving her position in March. She has accepted a director’s position in the Franklin school system.

It is interesting to note that Phil Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty, is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and holds a master’s degree in English. Robertson was also the starting quarterback at Tech while his backup was Terry Bradshaw.

A pineapple is neither a pine nor an apple. It is, in fact, a large berry.

Tell the truth or someone will tell it for you.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=23900

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Jan 23 2014. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.