Medford council committee reviews Community Preservation Act funding recommendations, refers most items to regular meeting; UU item severed

Medford City Council Committee of the Whole members on Monday reviewed the Community Preservation Committee(CPC) recommendations and voted to refer the set of funding requests to the councilregular meeting, with one project—the Unitarian Universalist Church exterior restoration—severed for separate consideration.

The CPCmanagement presentation and applicants covered a slate of projects funded from MedfordCommunity Preservation Act (CPA) revenue, including a $250,000 initial tranche for the newly established Affordable Housing Trust, design completion money for Oak Grove Cemetery restoration, a $526,000 estimate to resurface Placehead Park tennis courts, $98,285 for Condon Shell lighting improvements, a $322,500 council chamber window restoration request (funding-source change discussed), $2.4 million for Shiloh Baptist Church ADA improvements (phase 2), $99,000 for Unitarian Universalist Church exterior restoration, and $100,000 for ABCD(Action for Boston Community Development) Medford move-in rental assistance.

Why it matters: The CPC has recommended these projects for CPA appropriations; the committeediscussion advanced the items to the regular council meeting for formal appropriation votes. Several items involve historic preservation and accessibility upgrades and at least one request (the Affordable Housing Trust seed funding) is intended to position the city to leverage further state or federal grants.

Applications and key points

- Affordable Housing Trust (request: $250,000). Aditi Mogul, staff to the Affordable Housing Trust, and Lisa Ann Davidson, chair of the trust, described the trust as newly established by an ordinance adopted last year and developing a five-year action plan. Mogul said the $250,000 would serve as initial "seed money." She described possible uses including applying for technical-assistance grants (mass-housing predevelopment grants in the $50,000 to $100,000 range that require a 10% local cash match), site feasibility and predevelopment work on city-owned parcels, land acquisition, down-payment assistance, and support for rental-assistance programs. Mogul said, "We are requesting…