On Monday evening, Newton’s Finance Committee approved two appropriations of $1,471,000 and $204,000 for the Jackson Homestead and Museum and $109,930 for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).
The appropriations given to the Jackson Homestead and Museum will be used for a renovation that includes waterproofing the basement, implementing climate control in the HVAC system, and refining finishes, according to Mollie Hutchings, Newton’s community preservation program manager.
“Water is infiltrating the basement through the fieldstone foundation walls, causing instability to the structure,” Hutchings said.
Hutchings described Jackson Homestead’s qualifications for historic resource funding.
“I think people know pretty much that the Jackson Homestead is eligible for historic resource funding,” Hutchings said. “It really is the face of historic resources in Newton. … It’s a local landmark.”
The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) decided to bond the project, which would protect against financial loss if a contractor didn’t complete the construction. The committee also determined that all projects that are bonded should be publicly owned, according to Hutchings.
“[First Baptist Church and Grace Church are] privately owned, and so therefore, they’re not great candidates for bonding, as opposed to the Jackson Homestead, which is a resource where we can easily allocate funds over a period of time,” Hutchings said.
The $204,000 would go toward basement renovation costs that don’t directly relate to the physical construction of the project.
“CPC is also requesting an appropriation of $204,000 in Community Preservation Act funding from the unrestricted prior year funds to the control of the Planning and Development Department for the immediate soft cost expenses of rehabbing the basement,” said Ward 4 Councilor-at-Large Leonard Gentile.
Gentile recommended that the CPC consider using some leftover savings for generators in case the power were to shut off at an inconvenient time.
“It’s a historic building,” Gentile said. “We’re trying to preserve things. Maybe, if there’s some savings when you get into the project, and you wanted to consider using them for this purpose, I think it would make sense.”
The motion to approve the grant passed in a 7–0 vote. The motion was also previously approved by Newton’s Public Facilities Committee in an 8–0 vote.
The grant for MassDEP will be used for a waste reduction project. Waneta Trabert, Newton’s sustainable materials management professional, detailed the research the project would perform.
“This grant is a competitive grant that Newton applied for [last June],” Tarbert said. “This project is a statewide education project to study and better understand with tangible data the benefits of policies, such as extended producer responsibility.”
Producer responsibility is a policy concept where manufacturers are held accountable for the proper disposal of their products once they become waste.
Trabert highlighted how the money for the project would be allocated.
“The grant would pay for a consulting team, which is the Product Stewardship Institute, to perform this work,” Trabert said. “And in addition to the money from the state, the city would be putting in $10,000 of existing grant funds, our recycling dividend program funds, for this project.”
Trabert explained that if these programs were implemented in the future, Newton would benefit financially.
“I would say Newton has a lot to gain if these programs were to be adopted at some point in time,” Trabert said. “[We would receive] reimbursement all the way up to everything that we pay for processing of our recyclable materials that we collect from residents and the transportation of those materials, which for Newton, is millions of dollars.”
Newton has a long way to go, however, before the city meets the requirements for reimbursement.
“I’d be the first to say that these recycling systems at our municipal facilities need improvement,” Trabert said. “We do meet the minimum standard for the state right now, simply by having recycling service. There are municipalities that don’t actually even have recycling service for their schools or for municipal buildings, and that’s really what they’re trying to resolve at this point in time.”
Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large Alison Leary described her support for the plan.
“I’m very pleased that we’re getting these grants, the EPR [Extended Producer Responsibility] in particular, which is way overdue, and in our state I think we know that it will save us money,” Leary said.
The motion to approve the grant passed in a 7–0 vote.
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