Hingham Massachusetts: Town Government & Services - Committees: Community Preservation Committee

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Committees: Community Preservation Committee

Do you care about Hingham's Open Space, Affordable Housing, Historic Assets…and its future?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then please take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire!
In April 2001, Hingham voters adopted the Community Preservation Act, which established a Community Preservation Fund for open space, affordable housing and historic preservation. That fund is composed of a 1.5% surtax on Town real estate taxes effective beginning July 1, 2001, state matching grants payable each October 15th based on the surtax revenues for the fiscal year ending the prior June 30th, and interest on the accumulated funds. The total amount collected by the Fund through June 30, 2009 is approximately $7,609,000 including a total of $3,168,000 in state grants. Through 2007, CPA communities benefited from a 100% state matching grant. In recent years, due to the increase in CPA communities, the state match has declined and is expected to be 28.7% for FY 2011. The Community Preservation Act requires that at least 10% of each year's Community Preservation revenues be spent or set aside for each of the three Community Preservation categories. The remaining 70% is available for use on any one or more of the categories as the Committee and Town Meeting see fit.

The Town's Community Preservation Committee is charged with identifying long and short term goals and needs in the aforementioned three areas, establishing criteria for evaluating proposed initiatives, and making recommendations to Town Meeting for the expenditure of the Fund. The Committee wants to make recommendations that have broad public support and meet a compelling vision of the Town's future. To that end, we are asking citizens of Hingham to complete this Questionnaire expressing their views on how the Town's Community Preservation Fund can best be deployed, both short and long term, to meet our community preservation goals.

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Your Name:
Your E-mail address:
Your Address:
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Open Space and Recreation

Question 1. How can the Town's Open Space Community Preservation Funds be best used to benefit Hingham?

"Open space" includes land that protects a scenic vista, forested land, land that protects wells, aquifers and recharge areas, fields, as well as land used for recreational purposes, including playgrounds and athletic fields (but not stadiums, gymnasiums or similar structures), trails, non-commercial sports, parks, and community gardens.

Does one or more of these open space types deserve priority?

If any specific open space parcels come to mind, please list them below.

Historic Preservation

In your opinion, what would be the best way to use the Town's Historic Preservation Community Preservation funds?

These funds may be used to acquire, restore and rehabilitate "historic structures and landscapes", defined as any building, structure, vessel or real property that the Hingham Historical Commission determines to be significant in the history, archeology, architecture or culture of the Town, or that is listed or eligible for listing on the state register of historic places. If you feel that historic preservation in certain parts of Town (such as, for example, the waterfront, Hingham Square, Hingham Centre or South Main Street) should be emphasized, list the locations below.

Community Housing

What is the best way to use the Town's Community Housing portion of the Community Preservation fund?

These funds may be used for the creation, preservation and support of "community (affordable) housing", defined as housing for both low and moderate income families (including seniors). Eligible activities could include: rental assistance; acquisition of land or buildings to create affordable housing; conversion of existing buildings for community housing; home modifications (including accessibility) to allow seniors to stay in their homes; and grants or loans to provide down payments, assist with closing costs, or subsidize interest rates for qualified buyers.

List your priority uses below.

How important do you consider the following purposes for which the Town's Community Preservation Fund might be used?

	Extremely Important	Somewhat Important	Not Important
Protecting Scenic Views
Protecting historic structures and landscapes
Protecting water supplies
Linking existing parcels of conservation land
New playgrounds and athletic fields
hiking and bicycling trails
Increasing the supply of affordable housing
Protecting public access to the waterfront
Other (describe below)

What's on your mind? What thoughts or advice do you have for the Community Preservation Committee as we continue our role in evaluating worthy project applications?

Enter the characters shown in the above image [0-9, A-F]: