WESTFIELD – The Community Preservation Commission held its quarterly meeting Thursday at City Hall. Vice chair Thomas E. Sharp asked city planner Jay Vinskey for an update on available Community Preservation Act funds.
Vinskey said altogether there is about $700,000 remaining in the account, including unspent funds from previous years which will be available after state certification. The $250,000 allocated to the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail in July for design work on the central section and $135,000 to the Westfield Woman’s Club for a exterior work had been deducted from that total. Vinskey said the CPA funds are at the end of the annual cycle, and any new state matches will be added to the total. In July, Vinskey said the state had budgeted for a 15% match for the coming year.
Community Preservation Committee members Vincent Olinski, William Porter, Cynthia P. Gaylord and Thomas E, Sharp.
New projects before the commission were then discussed, including a request for $85,000 for renovations to the Colonial Village in Stanley Park. Vinskey said that he spoke to the park’s director Bob McKean before the meeting, who said he wanted to wait until the next meeting in January to continue the discussion.
Cynthia P. Gaylord, CPC member from the Historical Commission said the Colonial Village doesn’t qualify under historical preservation, because the buildings are replicas, but it does have cultural significance. Gaylord also spoke to McKean, who told her he is currently fundraising and seeking private donations for the project.
Vinskey sent the park an example of the historic restrictions that CPC places on projects. He said he was also looking into whether historic restrictions can be applied to landscapes. Originally, Vinskey questioned whether the application should be for historic or recreation funding with a park restriction.
Vincent Olinski, member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, said Stanley Park would have an issue with the historical preservation restriction as it is a private organization. Sharp said the CPC would need to ask for some kind of assurance.
Vinskey said one possibility being considered is to make the Colonial Village a separate parcel. The discussion was moved until the quarterly meeting in January.
Another project brought up by Vinskey was the Hotel Bismark, which was approved one year ago for $250,000 in historic preservation funding for restoration of the porch façade. Vinskey said the funding is still pending before the City Council, and since it was granted in the last fiscal year, the CPC might want to take a compensatory vote for this fiscal year.
According to Vinskey, work on the project was stalled when the Finance Committee requested that the mortgage holder, Westfield Bank, submit to the historic restriction. Discussions with the bank took some time, but Vinskey said they sent a letter agreeing to the restriction a few weeks ago.
“It may be cleaner to take a vote this year, and reintroduce it to the Council,” Vinskey said. Olinski moved to have the commission confirm its commitment to the project, which passed 4-0.
The commission also agreed to invite Carol Martin, owner of Westfield Whip Mfg. to the January meeting to give a final report on the preservation work to the Whip Factory done with CPA funds several years ago. Members said they are also interested in the Westfield Museum’s progress.
City Councilor Dan Allie, who was present at the meeting, asked for an update on the Wyben School. CPC member William Porter reported that in 2013 the CPC had originally granted $25,000 to stabilize the one-room school house building. An additional $65,000 was granted last year for handicap access, stabilization of the floor and ceiling and rebuilding the entrance.
Gaylord said that a very large tree is overhanging the school which is causing problems. “We’ve been asking the city to please remove the tree,” she said to Allie.
City Councilor Dan Allie offered to help the CPC get a tree down that was interfering with work at the Wyben one-room schoolhouse.
Allie said he would look into having the city remove the tree. “This is our only remaining one-room schoolhouse. Let’s get the tree down so the building is not threatened and work can go forward,” Allie said.
Gaylord said an original shutter for the building was unearthed during the work, which the students at Westfield Vocational are reproducing. She said the goal is to open the Wyben School for student tours of “a day in the life of a one-room schoolhouse.” Gaylord also said that former Historical Commission member Walter Fogg was the “mover and shaker” behind the project, which is currently being led by Dick Patterson.
Sharp reported on a CPC conference that he attended in Somerville, Mass. He said twelve cities in the CPA program attended the conference, adding that Westfield was most closely aligned to the work being done in Northampton. Sharp said he plans to work on hosting a conference for CPC cities in Western Massachusetts in the next two years.
Olinski asked whether they discussed at the conference the state cutting back on matching funds. Sharp said they had a speaker who painted a dark money story for matching funds, adding that Vinskey was wise not to budget state CPA funds, because they could be close to $0. Olinski said he has been involved since the conception of the CPC, and “phenomenal things” have been done with CPA funds.
Vinskey also said he has updated the standard grant agreement with guidance from the Law Department, which he said now spells out the restrictions. He asked the commission to consider retaining 10% of the funds until a restriction is recorded.
Members were generally in agreement with the idea. Porter said once a project is approved, there is nothing stopping the principal from recording that restriction. Vinskey said the state can take more than a year for a review. He suggested adding in exceptions to holding back the money on a case by case basis.
At the end of the meeting, Gaylord asked for guidance for the Westfield 350th Anniversary Committee, and the historical sub-committee that she co-chairs. She said they would like to move some markers onto Park Square in advance of the celebration.
Gaylord noted in particular the marker for the General Knox Trail, which she said was placed in front of the Tavern without any guidance by the Historical Commission. She said they would like to take that marker and a cannon replica in the Athenaeum, and put them next to each other on Park Square. She also spoke about a stone mile marker with Roman numerals that was knocked off of E. Mountain Road by a truck and rescued by a resident that she wanted to move there as well. “This would be the perfect time to showcase the things we have,” Gaylord said, asking for input from commission members.
Porter said he didn’t think it would be a problem to move a stone mile marker sitting in someone’s garage. Vinskey said the green has a design aesthetic that they don’t want to go into “the world of clutter.”
“People complain about it. Let’s make it something to see,” Gaylord responded. Olinski agreed, saying people wonder why the Pavilion doesn’t have a historic side.
At her last meeting as liaison, City Councilor Mary O’Connell was asked for any comments. “Kudos to all of you for doing this. It’s important,” O’Connell said.
