In her June 30th article entitled “CPC calls for halt on White Cliffs CPA spending until plan”, Laura Hayes’ reporting on the June 13th Community Preservation Committee (CPC) zoom meeting is essentially accurate, but her headline is misleading and feeds into the prevalence of misinformation in our community regarding the White Cliffs situation. The CPC does not distribute funding or set policy. By law, the CPC evaluates applications for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding from Town staff and committees and citizen groups, and determines which should be brought to Town Meeting vote after considering established criteria and the required State guidelines for distributing CPA revenue among Historic, Affordable Housing, Open Space and Recreation projects. Ultimately, the voters decide which projects are approved for funding. The CPA has been very good for Northborough, bringing over $3 million in State matching funds to support some of our most recognizable projects including the Town Common, the Assabet Park renovation, and affordable housing apartments downtown, to name just a few. In the case of the White Cliffs mansion, our Historic Commission recommended this as the top priority for preservation via CPA funds many years before the 2016 vote to purchase the property. In deliberations prior to the 2023 Town Meeting, the consensus among CPC members was to maintain a large reserve for the potential costs associated with the White Cliffs restorations, and as a result, there is currently a reserve of approximately $1million, plus a forward revenue stream of nearly $1million each year. The CPC is most certainly committed to the preservation of White Cliffs through CPA funds and is open to collaborate with any and all citizens toward that goal.
John Campbell
Chairman, Northborough Community Preservation Committee
