Beverly Boards Gather for Rare Joint CPA Strategy Session, No Votes Taken

BEVERLY -- April 26, 2021, Beverly convened a rare joint session of the City Council and six boards to strategize over Community Preservation Act funding priorities. Mayor Michael Cahill called together roughly 52 participants, including the Community Preservation Committee, Affordable Housing Trust, Golf and Tennis Commission, Historic District Commission, Open Space and Recreation Commission, and Parks and Recreation Commission, to survey a project list running into the tens of millions of dollars against a fund that holds just $1.1 million and generates about $1 million annually. Finance Director Brian Ayles reported total CPA revenues since 2012 exceed $7.2 million, with more than $6 million already distributed, and noted the city recently secured 30-year borrowing rates under 2 percent, making a bonding strategy increasingly attractive. The Beverly Golf and Tennis Commission confirmed a $500,000 CPA-and-commission-funded master planning effort for its 110-year-old clubhouse, with construction costs expected to top a 2018 estimate of $5 million. Parks Superintendent Bruce Drouin disclosed that lights at Cooney Field alone would cost $575,000, and that the city's 28 playgrounds cycle through replacement so slowly that earlier work ages out before the circuit is complete; he and the mayor plan to file a state grant application in June targeting approximately $400,000 for court repairs across several parks.