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Community Preservation Act Public Hearing on Project Ideas for Housing, Open Space, and Historic Preservation June 20

caution sign The information on this page may be outdated as it was published 4 years ago.

NorthPoint by Kyle Klein

The Community Preservation Act (CPA) Committee will hold a Public Hearing on Thursday, June 20, at 6 p.m., at Cambridge City Hall, Sullivan Chamber, 2nd Floor, 795 Massachusetts Avenue. The Committee is seeking ideas from the public and city staff for affordable housing, open space, outdoor recreation and historic preservation projects.  Recommendations can be submitted at the June 20 meeting or online at CambridgeMA.gov/CPAProjectIdea.
 
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) was created by a state law (G.L. c. 44B) to help cities and towns preserve the character of their community. In 2001, Cambridge residents voted to adopt the CPA locally, which allowed the City to implement a 3% surcharge on Property Tax bills to fund eligible projects. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides "matching" funds in addition to those raised locally by the surcharge. The percentage of the state match varies from year to year, depending on two factors: the amount of fees paid at Registries of Deeds throughout the state, and the number of communities that have adopted the CPA locally (thereby receiving a share of the state match).
Each year, the City is required to spend at least 10% of its annual CPA revenues on each category – open space, historic preservation and community housing. The remaining percentage can be used towards any of the three funding categories.

Through fiscal year 2019, the City has allocated over $193 million dollars for Cambridge CPA projects, including approximately $154.4 million for affordable housing initiatives, $19.3 million for historical preservation projects and $19.3 million for open space projects. To date, the City has allocated approximately $118.3 million received from local surcharges, $51.5 million received in state matching funds, and $23.3 million from the CPA fund balance.

For more information about the Community Preservation Act, visit CambridgeMA.gov/CPA
                         


Page was posted on 6/6/2019 4:27 PM
Page was last modified on 7/25/2023 4:14 AM
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