Weston CPC shifts Housing Production Plan funding to administrative budget

WESTON -- February 10, 2020, Weston CPC pivots Housing Production Plan funding ahead of 2021 expiration. The Community Preservation Committee on Feb. 10 informally agreed to fund a roughly $30,000 update to Weston's Housing Production Plan from its administrative budget rather than as a Town Meeting article, allowing work to begin this spring before the current plan expires June 26, 2021. Chair Steve Wagner cited a December 2019 Department of Revenue Informational Guideline Release that bars housing needs assessments from CPA project funds; the Community Preservation Coalition is "alone in their very narrow interpretation," Wagner read from coalition correspondence. The committee will keep the roughly $32,000 Regional Housing Services Office contract as a Town Meeting project article. Sarah Rhatigan of the Affordable Housing Trust said losing the plan would forfeit 40B safe-harbor protections. Wagner also warned that CPA fund balance will dip below $1 million by June 2022.