Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Survey topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission seeks funding and procurement fixes to speed historic resource surveys
Summary
The commission discussed delays to historic resource survey work tied to procurement changes, uncertainty in Massachusetts Historical Commission funding and an active recon survey project with Penn/University of Florida; staff will pursue CPC funding for aerial scans and continue work on RFQs.
The Nantucket Historical Commission on July 18 discussed multiple funding sources and procurement obstacles affecting island historic resource surveys, including delayed Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) grants and a new town procurement portal that staff said lengthens the consultant-selection process.
Holly Backus, the town preservation planner, said the commission remains an active Certified Local Government (CLG) and that MHC provides federal historic-preservation funding to the state, which in turn allocates at least 10% to CLGs. She said the town has fiscal-23 MHC funds and an RFQ update is in progress, but procurement changes and staffing constraints at MHC are slowing the process.
Backus outlined other funding sources: a wind-farm community-benefits allocation the town received for survey work on town-owned scattered properties, and Community Preservation Committee (CPC) funds. She said CPC-funded projects are generally easier from a procurement standpoint and that she plans to apply to CPC for professional scanning of the town's aerial photographs.
Backus described active survey work this summer: a reconnaissance (recon) survey in the New Guinea/West Monomoy area being carried out with a program referred to as PIN and university partners, expected to produce roughly 250 survey forms. She said MHC’s current Form B survey methodology is labor intensive and that recon work to assemble historical context first is an important step.
Commissioners asked about timing. Backus said she has submitted draft RFQ material into the town procurement portal (OpenGov) and is waiting for procurement clearance; she hoped to have an update within a month. She also said she would prepare draft CPC applications for the commission’s August review ahead of the CPC deadline of Sept. 8.
Commissioners discussed additional survey opportunities with Penn (Pennsylvania) and the University of Florida, and Commissioner Angus McLeod said he had spoken with Dr. Clary Larkin at Penn about expanding that partnership for additional neighborhoods.
No formal vote occurred. Staff committed to circulate draft CPC applications in August and to continue coordinating survey work with university partners and consultants.
