A Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) grant of up to $1 million will be used for renovation projects at the Peterborough Community Center after being approved by Select Board members Tuesday.
Town Recreation Director Lisa A. Koziell-Betz said the Recreation Committee discovered the grant in February and volunteers wrote letters to the CDFA.
There would be no alterations or improvements to the envelope of the building, as the grant would be covering general upkeep such as window and shingle replacements. The Recreation Department does not have the expertise to oversee such a construction project and will be working closely with the Department of Public Works and Director Seth MacLean.
The grant would prevent spending taxpayer money for the work on the building, in observance of the 2008 ordinance chartering the building stating that taxpayers would not pay for any aspect of the building. Thus far, the sole taxpayer expense for the entire project has been the food pantry.
The grant covers all but a 15 percent match of the renovations, and the Recreation Committee agreed to cover the $150,000 town portion. The Recreation Committee’s funds are not from taxes and rely on the Isabelle Miller Fund as well as usage fees for the various recreation facilities in town. The terms of the grant include the project needing to be “shovel-ready,” which it is. The other stipulation is that the expenditure would be complete by Aug. 1, 2025.
The salary of the administrator collaborating on the project will not be covered by the grant, resulting in overhead that would be covered by taxpayer funds. There will also need to be money allocated to pay any federal auditors to look over the renovations once completed.
The Recreation Committee has also opened a 501(c)(3) called “Friends of Peterborough Recreation Project,” in hopes of generating more funds for the project.
“I think we are going to need every dollar in the project budget for the project itself,” said MacLean, “I think we are going to have a hard time meeting all of our objectives based on construction exclusion right now.”
The Select Board also heard an update on the Elm Street Fire Station project. Representatives from construction manager Harvey Construction and project architect SMP Architecture addressed the board. Both parties expressed eagerness to get the project underway and their devotion to the people of Peterborough as the project moves forward. The members of the committee that chose Harvey Construction and SMP were approved as a building committee in July.
The goal is to bring a project to Town Meeting in 2024, a goal MacLean has previously said he is “very optimistic” of meeting.