Community Preservation Committee

Overview

The Community Preservation Committee shall study the needs, possibilities, and resources of the Town regarding community preservation. The committee shall consult with existing town boards, including the Historical Commission, Housing Authority, Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Recreation Commission, Open Space Preservation Commission, and the Board of Selectmen, in conducting such studies. As part of its study the Committee shall hold one or more public informational hearings on the needs, possibilities, and resources of the town regarding community preservation possibilities and resources, notice of which shall be posted publicly and published for each of two weeks preceding a hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town.

The Community Preservation Committee shall make recommendations to the Town Meeting for the acquisition, creation, and preservation of open space; for the acquisition, rehabilitation, restoration, and preservation of historic resources; for the acquisition, creation, and preservation of land for recreational use; for the creation, preservation support of community housing; and for the rehabilitation or restoration of such open space, land for recreational use and community housing that is acquired or created as provided in this section. With respect to community housing, the Community Preservation Committee shall recommend, wherever possible, the reuse of existing buildings, or construction of new buildings on previously developed sites.

The Community Preservation Committee may include in its recommendations to the Town Meeting a recommendation to set aside for later spending funds for specific purposes that are consistent with community preservation, but for which sufficient funds are not then available in the community preservation fund to accomplish that specific purpose, or to set aside for later spending funds for general purposes that are consistent with community preservation.