From jbherring at comcast.net Tue Dec 6 23:49:56 2005 From: jbherring at comcast.net (Barry Herring) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 20:49:56 -0800 Subject: [Fomp] Update on Morses Pond Plan Message-ID: <007b01c5fae9$b3ce68a0$6801a8c0@hsd1.ma.comcast.net> Dear Friends of Morses Pond: The Morses Pond Ad Hoc Committee, which has been meeting for 18 months in an effort to arrive at a long-term plan for Morses Pond, has completed its primary mission. The Comprehensive Plan for the Management of Morses Pond has now been finalized by the Committee and approved individually by the three town boards (Natural Resources, Recreation, and DPW) that, together with FOMP, comprise the Ad Hoc Committee. The Plan is a refinement of the issues and recommendations that have been publicly presented by the committee's consultant, Ken Wagner, at several public meetings over the past year. The text of the Plan is too large (180 pages) to attach to this memo, but everyone can read it on the Town Web Site (www.ci.wellesley.ma.us) in the Natural Resources Committee (NRC) section. The full Plan calls for the expenditure of $2.36 million over 5 years, so shepherding this Plan through the Town budgeting process is now the challenge. NRC is the "owner" of the Plan, and so will be taking the lead in presentations to the various Town committees, including Advisory, Community Preservation (CPC), and Selectmen, all in preparation for Town Meeting next spring. NRC has also scheduled a public presentation of the final Plan for Tuesday, December 13 at 7:30 pm in the Police Station Conference Room. This meeting will be a forum for asking questions about the content of the plan. FOMP members should plan on attending this meeting! In addition to the public meeting, there is a CPC meeting in the Town Hall on Thursday, December 8 at 7:30 pm where the Plan will be discussed (CPC already heard a full presentation of the Plan by Ken Wagner last Tuesday). Since CPC contributed 50% of the funding for the Ad Hoc Committee's study, it is now critical that CPC been seen taking the lead in funding at least some part of the capital expenditures of the Plan. FOMP has already written a letter of support for the Plan to CPC, but FOMP members can reinforce that support by attending the Thursday meeting as observers. The attached flyer is NRC's official announcement of the Dec. 13 public meeting. See you there! Barry Herring FOMP Chairman -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.morsespond.org/pipermail/fomp/attachments/20051206/6eb0e635/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Morses Pond Public meeting Flyer Dec. 13, 2005.doc Type: application/msword Size: 19968 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.morsespond.org/pipermail/fomp/attachments/20051206/6eb0e635/MorsesPondPublicmeetingFlyerDec.132005-0001.doc From jbherring at comcast.net Wed Dec 7 14:46:09 2005 From: jbherring at comcast.net (Barry Herring) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 11:46:09 -0800 Subject: [Fomp] Urgent call for tomorrow's CPC meeting Message-ID: <003401c5fb66$df837ee0$6801a8c0@hsd1.ma.comcast.net> Dear Friends: It has come to my attention that tomorrow's meeting of the Community Preservation Committee may be even more important than I indicated in yesterday's email. Therefore, I'm making an urgent call for FOMP members to attend the Dec 8 (tomorrow) meeting of the CPC in the Town Hall at 7:30 pm to express support for the use of CPA funds for the restoration of Morses Pond. I apologize for the short notice. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the CPA and CPC, here is a description excerpted from the Town web site: "On November 5, 2002 Wellesley residents demonstrated their commitment to open space, historical preservation and community housing by passing the Community Preservation Act (CPA). As approved by Town Meeting, the local funding source for the Act in Wellesley will be a surcharge of 1% on the annual property tax bill assessed on real property, with certain exemptions, commencing in fiscal year 2003. The Wellesley Community Preservation Committee (CPC) was formed in December, 2002 to make recommendations to Town Meeting on how to utilize the funds raised through the surcharge and the State match (CPA). CPA funds may be used for projects in the areas of open space, recreation, housing and historical preservation. Community Preservation funds originate from two sources: a one percent surcharge on the local property tax bills and State matching funds. For the two years ending June 30, 2004, the Town raised $1,071,000 through the surcharge and there have been two State matches bringing the total CPA funds to $2,142,000. It is anticipated that the FY 2005 surcharge will provide $590,748 and unless the State Legislature amends the Community Preservation Act , the Town can anticipate another 100 percent match from the State in October 2005." The restoration of Morses Pond clearly falls within the mission of CPA fund use. CPA funds can be used only for "capital" projects and not for ongoing maintenance, but that would still allow funding of at least half of the total Plan. Because CPC has already contributed $75,000 to the development of the Plan, it is doubly important for the Town to see CPC leading the way with funding for implementing Plan. Although it is not necessary for attendees to speak at the meeting, those who do wish to speak will be accommodated. Please come and show your support! Barry Herring FOMP Chairman -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.morsespond.org/pipermail/fomp/attachments/20051207/e272a27c/attachment.html