The Leeds Civic Association and the Department of Public Works are seeking money for the Hotel Bridge study in the hope that the bridge might one day be integrated into the city's system of bike paths.
NORTHAMPTON – The Community Preservation Committee is recommending that the City Council approve four applications for funding, including two major grants to help pay for the development of prime farm and recreation land near the Mill River.
The committee wants to award $104,500 to Grow Food Northampton for the creation of a 400-plot community garden on the former Bean/Allard property. It has designated another $127,576 to the city’s Recreation Department towards the construction of playing fields in what is being called the Florence Fields Recreation Center. Both projects are part of the 185-acre Bean and Allard farms bought last year for $2.46 million. In a complication transaction, the non-profit Trust for Public Lands purchased the property, then sold it back to the city and Grow Food Northampton, another non-profit that plans to lease some of the land to farmers and develop 17 acres as a community garden.
In addition, the Community Preservation Committee has designated $100,000 for a special fund used by the Conservation Commission to protect open space and $35,000 for an engineering study of the historic Hotel Bridge in Leeds. In all, the committee is recommending the city fund four of the six projects it reviewed in the spring cycle of its application process for a total of $367,076. The City Council has final say on the grants. It is scheduled to vote on the recommendations Thursday.
Frances Volkmann, a long-time member of the Community Preservation Committee, said there was great interest in the community garden project proposed by Grow Food Northampton.
“It’s a big step forward,” she said. “It’s going to serve a lot of people.”
It is hoped that the purchase of the two farms, one of the biggest in recent city history, will satisfy several pressing needs. Because most of the land is in the flood plain of the Mill River, it offers prime agricultural soil. The city has obtained Agricultural Preservation Restrictions ensuring that much of it will remain in farming. Grow Food Northampton has already leased some land to local farmers.
The Recreation Department will develop 24 acres into five much-needed playing fields. In additional, the city has preserved 35 acres along the river as conservation land. Volkmann noted that the CPA money targeted for the Conservation Commission Fund will be used for other purposes, however.
“It’s an on-going fund that allows the Planning Department to grab pieces of land that come up fast,” she said.
The Leeds Civic Association and the Department of Public Works are seeking the money for the Hotel Bridge study in the hope that the bridge might one day be integrated into the city’s system of bike paths. The one-lane span in the center of Leeds is closed to motor vehicles.
Volkmann said the committee wanted to see further public discourse on the two projects it declined to fund in this round: a request for $100,000 to create a “pocket park” in front of City Hall and a $200,000 application to survey a stretch of land between River Run condominiums and Hatfield envisioned as another link in the rail trail system. The Planning Department is proposing to widen the area in front of City Hall to create a small park and narrow that stretch of Main Street, which it says is too wide and creates traffic hazards. The land survey will help planner identify parcels that need to be purchased to create a rail trail link to Hatfield.
Volkmann said the pot of money available to the community has shrunk since the city adopted the act in 2005. The state legislation allows communities to impose a surcharge on local taxes to pay for projects involving land conservation, affordable housing, historic preservation and recreation. In the beginning, the local tax money was matched 100 percent by the state. As more and more communities adopted the act, however, the state funding has been stretched thin. Volkmann said the match is now down to about 30 percent. The Community Preservation Committee will accept applications for a second round of funding in the fall.