The Community Preservation Committee on March 19 voted unanimously to fund six projects worth more than $6.5 million in this year’s grant round, with more than $6 million of that total going to affordable housing requests from the Needham Housing Authority and the Charles River Center.
The final decision on the awards will be made at Annual Town Meeting in May, when the six projects will be presented and voted on as individual warrant articles.
For the second straight cycle the NHA received the largest award, a $3.2 million grant that will go toward a more than $20 million upgrade of the NHA’s Seabeds Way property, four two-story buildings with 46 one-bedroom units for elderly and disabled residents.
Built in 1982, the Seabeds units are generally worn out. The project is intended to upgrade bathrooms and kitchens, restore deteriorated entryways, patios and balconies, and improve antiquated systems.
Last year, the NHA received a $5.5 million CPC commitment that will go toward Phase 1A of the redevelopment of Linden Terrace, a project that will replace 40 well-worn studio units with 76 new one-bedroom units at a total cost currently estimated at $58 million. It will to followed by Phase 1B, which will replace the remaining 32 studio units with 60 new one-bedroom units. The CPC funds will not be released until construction has been completed.
The other CPC affordable housing grant will dedicate $2.84 million to the Charles River Center to be put toward construction of its Charles River Heights project — 86 new housing units that will serve people with developmental disabilities at its East Militia Heights property.
The five-building complex will provide inclusive housing and supportive services to allow individuals with disabilities to live independently and actively participate in their communities. The current total estimated project cost is $50.1 million and, as with Linden Terrace, the CPC funds will not be released until after construction.
The Charles River Center had applied for $3.5 million. Granting that full request while also fully funding the other five projects would have exceeded the CPC’s readily available funding capacity. Emily Achtenberg, the CPC’s affordable housing and finance consultant, recommended adjustments in the CRC’s financing plan that lowered the award by some $650,000.
Achtenberg noted that the CRC project “is at perhaps a more formative stage” compared to the NHA project, which is nearly fully advanced. “There’s more room in (the CRC) pro forma to imagine alternative funding structures,” Achtenberg said in explaining why the CRC’s project was pared back instead of the NHA’s.
Recreation and historic preservation also funded
The CPC awarded the remaining half-million in funding to three recreation projects and one for historic preservation.
The largest grant is $300,000 for the design portion of both an Action Sports Park and pickleball facilities at Claxton Field, across the street from the Recycling and Transfer Station on Central Avenue. This proposal originated in 2022 with the ad hoc Active Recreation Assets Working Group, which was established to evaluate existing town-owned assets and identify unmet needs for active recreation.
The working group identified an action sports park for those who like doing tricks on wheels of various kinds and pickleball courts as “possible options for popular, yet unmet active recreation needs.” The town conducted a feasibility study that suggested the action park and pump track be located at the quarry adjacent to Claxton, and the pickleball courts along Central Avenue at the former playground across from the transfer station.
The $300,000 in CPA funds will allow the Park & Recreation Department to proceed with the design phase that could begin this summer. No funding has been approved for eventual construction.
The town’s Conservation Department and the Conservation Commission are jointly in line to receive $104,000 for improvements in trail signage and other amenities along the 25 miles of town trails at 11 locations.
The CPC also awarded $69,960 jointly to Park & Rec and the Department of Public Works for design costs associated with the renovation of the Eliot Elementary School fields and playground. The study will seek solutions for the field, playground, basketball court and walkways at the Eliot.
The final grant of $46,712 will go to the Needham History Center & Museum “to pay for heavy-duty modular shelving, racks and cases to increase storage capacity, dehumidification equipment for its basement storage area, shipping, assembly and disposal of materials.”
CPC funds are derived from a 2% surcharge on property tax bills and can only be used to support open-space protection, historic preservation, community housing or outdoor recreational facilities. The town estimates the surcharge will yield $4 million for fiscal 2026 — $3.64 million from the property tax levy and another $345,000 from state matching funds.
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