Mayor proposes $34M for preservation work
Church renovations, parks among 56 projects
Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced Saturday his office will recommend $34 million in Community Preservation Act funding for 56 projects, including renovation money for churches, parks, community centers and affordable housing.
“I am proud to recommend these proposals for funding approval, which will support our community in countless ways,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh in a statement.
In a November 2016 referendum, voters approved the Community Preservation Act, which puts a 1 percent surcharge on residential and business property tax bills. As a result, the city created the Community Preservation Fund and formed a nine-member committee that makes recommendations to the mayor and City Council on projects to fund.
“We look forward to continuing to use this revenue to build on our work related to affordable housing, historic preservation and open space,” Walsh said. The program, now in its second year of funding, will provide $34 million toward 56 projects once city councilors approve the recommendation.
The recommendation includes projects at churches in the Back Bay. The First Baptist Church will receive $420,000 to stabilize, restore and weatherproof its steeple. Another $200,000 will be used to restore the stairs and fenced-off main entrance of the Arlington Street Church on Boylston Street.
In Hyde Park, $350,000 is proposed to go toward repairs to the roof and exterior masonry features to stop water damage at the Hyde Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, and $450,000 is slated to build an outdoor playground at the Thomas M. Menino YMCA for public use.
“The recommended CPA funds will help these buildings address structural needs critical to historic preservation,” the city’s Community Preservation Committee said in a statement to the Herald.
The commission stresses that the disbursement of funds will not go toward interior work or programming and activity. Instead, funds will only go toward structural or integrity issues with a church’s property, such as stairs, towers, roofs, steeples, etc.
“The Committee does not recommend funding for projects that include religious imagery or support worship activities,” the committee states.
The projects will be submitted to the Boston City Council for approval with an anticipated vote by the council in March.