Holyoke City advisory committee recommends funding for six preservation and community projects, approves $772,960 in awards

The Holyoke City Community Preservation Advisory Committee voted to recommend funding for six preservation and community projects and to forward those recommendations to the City Council.

At the meeting the committee recommended full funding for Scott Tower repairs at Anniversary Hill Park ($200,000), a City Hall granite-stairs study ($100,000), exterior work at the Holyoke Health Center children's building ($225,000), restoration of four hand-painted merry-go-round horses ($31,960), a Wisteria Hurst butler's pantry project ($65,000) and neighborhood infrastructure at the Neighbor-to-Neighbor community garden ($50,000). The committee said it will transmit the funding recommendations to City Council this week for final action.

Why it matters: The Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds historic preservation, open-space and recreational projects in Holyoke City. Committee members voiced that the projects are highly visible downtown priorities for safety, historic preservation and neighborhood benefit and that CPA funds can leverage other outside resources.

The budget picture and required set-aside

Staff explained the account balances and required set-asides under state law. Committee members were told the cycle began with a combined balance and carryover of approximately $919,112; by statute the committee must withhold 10% of that total for affordable-housing allocations (reported as about $81,035). After set-asides and prior carryovers the committee…