15.   DEDICATED FUNDING SOURCE FOR LAND ACQUISITION

Overview

A dedicated funding source for land acquisition enables a community to implement its comprehensive open space plan by acquiring key parcels of open space.  The Community Preservation Act (CPA) creates a dedicated funding source for open space protection, historic preservation, and affordable housing.  Passed in 2000, the CPA is statewide enabling legislation that allows communities to create a municipal Community Preservation Fund through a surcharge of up to 3 percent of the real estate tax levy on property.  For example, a CPA surcharge of 1 percent on a real property tax bill of $1,000 would be $10 per year.  The Act also creates a major state matching fund of more than $25 million annually, which serves as an incentive for communities to create a Community Preservation Fund.  Communities must adopt the Act by ballot referendum, and can repeal the Act by referendum at any time.

A minimum of 10 percent of the annual revenues of the Fund must be used for each of the three core community concerns: open space protection, historic preservation, and affordable housing. The remaining 70 percent can be allocated for any combination of the core concerns, or to protect land for recreational use. This flexibility enables each community to determine its land planning priorities and dedicate funds accordingly.  Importantly, communities are able to bond against future CPA revenues to acquire key open space parcels even if they do not yet have sufficient funds available in the Community Preservation Fund.

Other communities have used alternative strategies to obtain long-term funding for land acquisition, such as setting aside funds by town meeting appropriation, or using a stable revenue stream such as cell phone tower lease revenues.

Local Examples

Several communities in the Ipswich River watershed have passed the CPA, levying property tax surcharges ranging from 1 to 3 percent, including Boxford (3 percent), Middleton (1 percent), North Andover (3 percent), Peabody (1 percent), and Wenham (3 percent).  The CPA failed to pass at community referendums in Beverly, Reading, and Topsfield.  The CPA initially failed to pass in 2002 at the 3 percent level in Hamilton, but passed at 2 percent in 2005.  Most communities exempt low-income residents and property up to $100,000 from the surcharge.

Boxford has been very proactive in leveraging the CPA for open space preservation.  A land trust, Boxford Trails Association/Boxford Open Land Trust (BTA/BOLT) had been active in Boxford since 1978, and the town also passed a $5 million open space bond in 1997.  In 2001 the town passed the CPA to further bolster land protection efforts.  Since that time, the CPA has directly contributed to protection of one very large parcel and one small but scenic parcel.  The Sawyer Richardson property, now known as the Wunnegen Conservation Area, encompassed 147 acres of forested land contiguous to Boxford State Forest.  It was purchased for $4.75 million, with $3 million of CPA funds and the remainder from state and federal sources.  The Davis Hayfield is a small 4.5 acre property located on a main road and adjacent to Fish Brook, a high-quality tributary to the Ipswich River.  The parcel was purchased for $225,000, with $160,000 of CPA funds and the remainder raised privately by BTA/BOLT.  Boxford’s recent land protection experiences demonstrate the importance of leveraging multiple funding sources, given extremely high land values in the greater Boston region.  The town has achieved success by combining CPA funds with the open space bond, private funds raised by BTA/BOLT, and state and federal funding sources.

Ipswich has not passed the CPA, but in 2000, facing heavy development pressures at several large and high profile parcels, passed an Open Space Bond Authorization of $10 million to be used for the acquisition and protection of key open space parcels.  The town developed a list of 85 “parcels of conservation interest” covering 3,000 acres, about 50 percent of the developable open space in Ipswich.  For these sites, the Selectmen need not obtain Town Meeting approval to take action to acquire protective interests, provided the costs are less than $1.5 million.

As of 2006, Ipswich has used the bond authorization to protect 345 acres of open space.  By 2002, the town had protected six parcels totaling 289 acres at a net cost of $3.8 million, including a major parcel of 106 acres at the Wendel property, a beautiful parcel abutting the salt marsh area now known as Strawberry Hill.  The town was able to successfully leverage other funding sources from the state and land trusts such as the Essex County Greenbelt Association, raising one dollar of external funds for every dollar of town funds spent.  The total cost of protecting the six parcels was $7.6 million.  Of the six parcels, all provide quality habitat for wildlife and wetlands/watershed protection, five offer public access, and two are scenic properties contributing to Ipswich’s rural character.

Resources

Boxford Community Preservation Committee (html)

Boxford Trails Association/Boxford Open Land Trust (html)

Community Preservation Coalition (html)

Hines, Tracie, Open Space Bond Program: Report to the Ipswich Board of Selectmen, June 2002 (pdf)

Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Community Preservation Act (html)

Trust for Public Land, Community Preservation Act (html)

 

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