Community Preservation Committee Greenlights Work on "Old South"

At its Tuesday evening meeting, the town's Community Preservation Committee, charged with making decisions about funding derived from the town's adoption of the Community Preservation Act, handled a number of ongoing matters.including unanimously approving a resolution for Annual Appropriations and Reservations

More significantly, the Committee also approved resolution 24-27 Community Preservation Appropriation of Funds-Capital. Items authorizeid included:

• Historic Preservation Reserve Rehab Old South Church $100,000
• Community Housing Reserve 237 Pleasant Street Affordable Housing $360,99
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve King St Memorial Park Phase 1 $500,000
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve Schmidt Farm Master Plan $100,000
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve Maple Hill Master Plan $100,000
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve Maple Hill Principal $150,000
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve Maple Hill Interest $110,318 Open Space & Recreation Reserve Schmidt Farm Principal $180,000
• Open Space & Recreation Reserve Schmidt Farm Interest $152,750

Total $1,754,058

Kim Thomas, CEO of Old Colony Habitat for Humanity, spoke briefly about the importance of the funding for Old South, which will now permit historic preservation to go ahead, hand-in-hand with creating a home in the building’s interior space for a family. The building will be deed restricted for affordability and to maintain its historic exterior in perpetuity, she explained.

The Old South, a former Congregational Church, was given to the town by the congregation for use as a museum in the early 1970s, a role it fulfilled until the early 2000, when the current Historical Museum at 80 West Central was opened. Various ideas for reuse have been floated over the years but none seemed feasible until the Habitat for Humanity proposal.