A Good Week for CPA
Last week there was a lot of good news surrounding the Community Preservation Act, beginning with the City of Lowell adopting CPA on election day! The Mill City is now the 176th community to pass the Community Preservation Act, which has gained ground with more cities adopting program.
There was also a great success in the town of Sharon, with voters approving $7.5 million in open space CPA funds to purchase and protect Rattlesnake Hill, one of the state's top conservation priorities for over 20 years. This is the third largest CPA open space acquisition (by acres) and ranked sixth in terms of dollar amount. Our partners at the Community Preservation Coalition provided the community with extensive technical assistance.
Since it was passed by the legislature nearly 20 years ago, the Community Preservation Act has been a game changer for historic preservation, open space conservation/recreation and affordable housing in Massachusetts. It's impact is clearly demonstrated by the numbers below, compiled and tracked by our CPC partners:
176 communities have adopted CPA (50% of the Commonwealth’s cities and towns)
Of the total number of adopted communities, 31 are cities and 145 are towns
62% of the state population live in a CPA community
Just over $2.1 billion has been raised to date for community preservation funding statewide
Over 12,000 projects have been approved by local legislative bodies
30,894 acres of open space have been preserved
More than 2,500 outdoor recreation projects have been initiated
Over 5,500 appropriations have been made for historic preservation projects
More than 6,800 affordable housing units have been created with an additional 10,700 units supported.
In the last year, communities approved $192 million for 1,100 CPA projects.
CPA has empowered many communities to support local preservation projects they feel are important, while being a critical source of funding. If you have questions or are curious about the Community Preservation Act, visit the Community Preservation Coalition website. It is an informational trove of useful data, success stories, technical assistance information and more!
