The Falmouth Community Preservation Committee has deemed as time sensitive pre-application requests related to the Florence Sylvia Woodland and Woods Hole Tennis Courts.
At its meeting on August 20, administrative clerk Carole E. Sutherland said the projects are urgent “because failure to act could result in a significant loss of funding, or the lack of action presents a public safety risk and may cause damage to or the loss of the asset.”
The 300 Committee Land Trust and Falmouth Conservation Commission will seek $200,000 in funding for a conservation restriction at the Florence Sylvia Woodland off Millstone Street in North Falmouth. The request is part of a $600,000 project.
“That one does have a relationship to the criterion about loss of funding, because The 300 Committee and the conservation commission worked out a funding package,” Ms. Sutherland said. “They have a schedule of how this is all going to work, and according to the timeline they put forward in their funding request, they want to be able to sign on the dotted line on such-and-such a date, and they want to have the [Conservation Restriction] in place by December 2021.”
In order to accomplish this, all funding commitments must be in place by June 2021. Action at an April Town Meeting would accomplish that goal.
In addition to being time sensitive, committee member Michael Stone said it addresses a need in North Falmouth.
“It will provide some much-needed open space in the North Falmouth area,” Mr. Stone said. “There isn’t much open space in North Falmouth in terms of trails, where people can go out for a walk or a hike.”
Committee member Peter Walsh said the conservation commission heard a presentation from The 300 Committee about the woodlands.
“It was stressed by some of the people there that if there is some uncertainty about funding, it could derail the whole project, and that land could vanish, along with the opportunity to keep it open land,” Mr. Walsh said. “I would not want to take any chances in delaying this. I consider this time-urgent.”
The committee voted to move the project along, accepting the pre-application as urgent.
The committee also determined that the recreation department’s pre-application for $225,000 to rehabilitate the Woods Hole tennis courts is urgent.
Mr. Stone said the condition of the courts could present a public safety hazard. The court is cracking and the fence is in danger of falling.
“Seeing the photos, and I’ve been up there many times over the past few decades, I’m surprised that it looks like it hasn’t even been touched,” he said. “The tennis courts, they are in rough shape. I think it would rise to the level of risk to public safety.”
Committee member Paul C. Glynn agreed that people using the court could get hurt, but was not in favor of the substance of the funding request.
“It seems like we are funding repairs that should not be part of our budget, which should be creating new assets,” Mr. Glynn said.
He commended Recreation Director Joseph E. Olenick for the application, which did not include the word “repair.” Per the statute, community preservation funds may not be used for repairs or maintenance, but can used for rehabilitation projects.
In 2018, the recreation department requested $350,000 to rehabilitate both the tennis courts at Lawrence School and in Woods Hole. The committee recommended, and Town Meeting approved, $310,000 for the rehabilitation of the tennis courts at Lawrence School in April 2019.
“It seems like the town has a lot of urgent issues we have to deal with for them,” committee member Stephen Patton said. “This was urgent in 2019. Is it any more urgent now? I don’t know.”
Citing the August 17 select board meeting, Mr. Stone said the town is drastically reducing its capital projects budget this year.
“If we don’t do it, I don’t necessarily see the town prioritizing it,” he said.
Other committee members agreed.
“It is either us or nobody, so it is a nice thing for the town, but that should be part of the town’s budget, to maintain these things so they don’t become a disaster,” Mr. Glynn said. “But we’re not going to change that here. We just have the choice of are we going to fix the place or not? Those are the only two choices on the table.”
The committee did not consider the recreation department’s request for $45,000 to pursue a community garden on Davisville Road, East Falmouth, at the site of the Emerald House and Rapoza Parcel.
{span}”This will be a great project, but it will always be a great project,” Mr. Patton said. {/span}
{span}In addition to the lack of urgency, Ms. Sutherland said there is also an issue with location.{/span}
{span}”The design of the entire area has not yet been finalized,” she said. “That is a problem for giving approval for a project tied to a specific parcel.{/span}”
Describing the community garden as “a great concept,” Ms. Sutherland said until the site has a definitive design, it would be challenging for the community preservation committee to grant approval for a project on a portion of it.
With both the Woods Hole Tennis Courts and Florence Sylvia Woodland considered urgent, the applicants have a deadline of Thursday, October 8, to file a full application with the Community Preservation funding. If recommended by the committee, these funding requests will go before Town Meeting next April.
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Two Community Preservation Fund Requests Deemed Urgent | Falmouth News - CapeNews.net
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