WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee on Wednesday voted to send eight of the 10 grant applications the town received for fiscal year 2027 to May's annual town meeting.

 

Most of those applications will be sent with the full funding sought by applicants. Two six-figure requests from municipal entities received no action from the committee, meaning the proposals will have to wait for another year if officials want to re-apply for funds generated under the Community Preservation Act.

 

The three applications to be recommended to voters at less than full funding also included two in the six-figure range: Purple Valley Trails sought $366,911 for the completion of the new skate park on Stetson Road but was recommended at $350,000, 95 percent of its ask; the town's Affordable Housing Trust applied for $170,000 in FY27 funding, but the CPC recommended town meeting approve $145,000, about 85 percent of the request; Sand Springs Recreation Center asked for $59,500 to support several projects, but the committee voted to send its request at $20,000 to town meeting, a reduction of about two-thirds.

 

The two proposals that town meeting members will not see are the $250,000 sought by the town for a renovation and expansion of offerings at Broad Brook Park and the $100,000 sought by the Mount Greylock Regional School District to install bleachers and some paved paths around the recently completed athletic complex at the middle-high school.

 

Members of the committee said that each of those projects have merit, but the total dollar amount of applications came in well over the expected CPA funds available in the coming fiscal year for the second straight January.

 

Most of the discussion at Wednesday's meeting revolved around how to square that circle.

 

By trimming two requests in the CPA's open space and recreation category and taking some money out of the one community housing category request, the committee was able to fully fund two smaller open space and recreation projects: $7,700 to do design work for a renovated trail system at Margaret Lindley Park and $25,000 in "seed money" for a farmland protection fund administered by the town's Agricultural Commission.