Community Preservation Committee Seeks Public Comment on New Funding Guidelines

Residents can also participate in an online survey about funding priorities.

Want to weigh in on how projects receive Community Preservation Act funding? Now's your chance. The Community Preservation Committee is currently seeking public comment on its draft funding guidelines for projects that receive Community Preservation Act money.  Adopted in Newton in 2001, Community Preservation Act (CPA) provides money for historic projects, affordable housing, recreation and open space. The Newton Community Preservation Committee then decides what projects receive funding, a decision that is ultimately approved by the Newton Board of Aldermen.  Some past CPA projects in Newton include work on Angino Farm, the Durant-Kenrick Homestead, Gath Pool, the Newton Corner Library, Newton Centre Playground, Warren House and many …

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Happy 10th Birthday, Newton CPA!

The Newton Community Preservation Program recently celebrated the 10th birthday of the Newton Community Preservation Act.

The following is a press release from the Newton Community Preservation Program:  The Newton Community Preservation Committee held the first of five birthday parties for the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Community Preservation Act in Newton on November 15, at Newton North High School.  The Act provides state & local funds for affordable housing, historic resources, open space & recreation land.    Following a presentation about the Act, with an emphasis on Newton Corner, Nonantum, & Newtonville (Wards 1 & 2), there was a discussion of future funding priorities. Finally, we enjoyed cider and birthday cake while looking at the interactive maps exhibit.  For details of past projects, see Reports and Proposal & Projects pages at   …

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Then & Now

Community Preservation in Newton

Who makes decisions about how Newton develops over time

We all know that Newton has grown over time, but how exactly does a city grow, and who makes the critical decisions about how to control (or not) the continued development of the city? Today, a major tool for preserving recreation land, affordable housing and historic sites in Newton is the Community Preservation Act. For the first couple hundred years after English settlement of Newton, the population grew steadily over time, however the area remained fairly rural, characterized more by farmland, meadows, and trees than anything else. The arrival of the railroad in Newton drew a new population of commuting Bostonians to the area in the 1840s, and after that point development continued for the next hundred or so years at a fairly rapid …

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