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What is the CPA and what is the Newton Community Preservation Program?

The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is a smart growth tool that helps communities preserve open space and historic sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational facilities. The CPA allows local communities to adopt a surcharge on property taxes and receive state matching funds for affordable housing, historic resources, open space and recreation land. The citizens of Newton adopted the CPA by ballot in 2001, the first possible year, with a 1% surcharge on local real estate taxes. (177 communities, or 50% of the state’s municipalities, have passed CPA.) The CPA is administered in Newton by the Community Preservation Program (Lara Kritzer, Program Manager). The all-volunteer Community Preservation Committee recommends an amount of funding, a funding method, and funding categories, which are then voted on and appropriated by the local legislature, the Newton City Council. A detailed overview of this process is described HERE.

How much do I contribute to the CPA each year?

If you pay property taxes on a residence located in Newton, or a landlord does so on your behalf, you contribute to the Community Preservation Program. For a median-value single-family home, the CPA fund contribution is $90 annually. You can calculate your own contribution using this formula.

How are CPA funds spent?

Newton’s allocation targets for CPA funding of the different eligible resources are flexible guidelines (see chart below), though there are minimum annual spend rates by statute that vary based on the type of project. These targets reflect Newton’s past funding patterns, available information about possible future proposals, and feedback the CPC has received through community surveys and public hearings. By mandate, at least 10% of the general reserve and newly acquired funds each year must be allocated to each of these four project areas.

What else in Newton has been funded by CPA funds?

A complete list of other projects which have been funded using CPA funds is available HERE. Newton CPA historic resource projects include the Nathaniel Allen House (appropriated $2.9 million between 2014 and 2018), the Durant-Kenrick Homestead (appropriated $2.8 million between 2006 and 2007), Farlow and Chaffin Parks (appropriated $567,655 in 2008 and 2014), and more.

What about using public funds to preserve a structure owned by a religious organization?

The congregation of Grace has identified our tower as non-essential to our mission, to who we are as a religious organization. Our liturgical practice does not take place in this part of our campus. Therefore, its preservation is a matter of public interest. Funds received from the CPA would not directly advance the mission of Grace, but would be used to preserve an architectural and historic resource in Newton Corner.

What other cities are committing CPA funds to preserve structures owned by religious organizations?

A growing number of similar and excellent projects have been accepted in other MA communities—including Grace’s Esty-designed sister church in Boston, Emmanuel—when they are presented with exterior or structural-only projects that do not include religious imagery, as is the case with the Grace tower. It is worth noting that Grace is featured in documents prepared by the Newton Historic Commission over the past 30-40 years, including historic walking tours, heritage and landscape surveys (defining the landscape of projects also funded by CPA, e.g. Farlow Park), and the nomination of the Kenrick-Farlow Parks district to the National Register of Historic Places prepared by Candace Jenkins and the Newton Historical Commission in 1982 (and renewed/expanded twice since then).

A listing of CPA funded projects related to preserving religious structures is forthcoming on this website.

What is the legal precedent for using CPA funds to support the preservation of structures owned by religious organizations?

For a more complete analysis of the anti-aid test and the use of CPA funds in preserving the tower of Grace, we invite you to read this memo provided by Ryan P. McManus of Hemenway and Barnes. We believe that upon your review of Mr. McManus’s letter, you will join us in believing that the restoration of this Newton Corner tower is a matter of preserving first and foremost a dominant architectural feature and historic resource within a prized district of the City of Newton.

How does preserving the Grace tower help the City of Newton?

The Newton Comprehensive Plan of 2007 stated: “Principle I: Identify historic places, both architectural and natural, that give the community its special character and that can aid its future well-being. (p. 1-2). In addition to their religious and social value, [Religious Institutions] offer architectural variety and in many cases open space in their neighborhoods. . .” (p. 8); as well as, in the Heritage Landscape Report for Newton (2010), “Churches, synagogues and other places of worship help to define Newton’s villages and neighborhoods. Many are prominently located landmarks with attractive surroundings, have distinctive architectural styles and serve as community gathering places. Some also provide important public functions by housing various social services. Residents emphasized the importance of preserving these buildings. . .” (p. 30).

By supporting exterior and structural restoration to Grace’s tower CPA funds contribute to community preservation and public benefit by maintaining the historic look, soundscape, landscape, and character of one of the City’s most cherished streets and neighborhoods. It can also be noted that we’re asking for 50% of the direct costs—what Grace cannot do on its own—and have demonstrated a more than proportionate “buy-in” to this project given our resources.

What can I do to help?

We thank the over 700 neighbors who signed the petition we presented to City Council. We also thank all those who sent letters to their councilors, who reported they heard more about Grace’s tower than even leaf blowers—the previous record holder for most communication received! We welcome financial support of any amount from our neighbors to help us keep our Newton Corner neighborhood beacon standing tall and strong for many years to come.