CPC goes through submitted projects

The Norwood Community Preservation Committee (CPC) met recently and went through all submitted projects that came in for the pre-application phase.

This is one of the first steps of the process, and the current slate may not be what’s eventually submitted to Town Meeting for approval in May of 2027.

The biggest project discussed was the new bathrooms for the Norwood High School athletics complex, and is from the Norwood High School Alumni Association. CPC Chair Cheryl Doyle said the group is seeking $250,000 for the project. CPC Coordinator Kristen Phelps said the Alumni Association has committed to paying half of the total cost of the project, though they do not have a solid cost estimate as of yet.

“These things tend to escalate,” she said. “I’ll just give you an example where a similar project in an abutting town came in at $600,000 but ended up being $6 million for restrooms and a concession stand. It had a lot of to do with connecting water, sewer and electric hookups. And there are some big questions here: whether those connections are in place, whether they would need to be installed, and there are also some questions from the plumbing inspector as to what the code would require as to the number of bathrooms out there.”

Perhaps just only second to the bathrooms in terms of public use, Doyle said the Norwood Board of Selectmen is seeking $90,500 to restore the Dempsey Bandstand, perhaps better known as the Town Common Gazebo. The gazebo is 33 years old, and so doesn’t qualify for historic preservation and will be for open space and recreation.

“It’s only 33 years old, because the original bandstand was torn down so this one could be built there,” said Doyle.

“The original one was historic,” said CPC member and Historic Commission member Toni Eosco.

Doyle said the Facilities Department has been maintaining the bandstand, but that was mostly exterior maintenance. She said this project will include replacement of the decking for the bandstand, the ramp and the steps. It will also need a new iron handrail.

“It gets so much use,” she said. “With all the bands that get on it, there’s a lot of wear and tear,” she said.

Another big ticket item is the trailhead for the University Avenue trails on the northern border of the Town, and that would be for $250,000. The CPC agreed in principle to the request from the Norwood Trails Advisory Committee, just so long as the NTAC returns a $50,000 appropriation it never used from five years ago. The NTAC later voted to return those funds.

Up next was the Bond Street Tot Lot improvements, for which Doyle said there are two different applications. The Norwood Recreation Department is looking for $215,000 for site improvements and $375,000 for a new pavilion.

Then came the Morrill Memorial Library exterior rehabilitation for historic preservation. The project is for $447,433 and is part of the total $2-million-plus rehabilitation for the building. Doyle said this portion of the project is an historic piece of the building at the arch of the roof. The entire building needs a lot of work to fix leaks in the building’s facade – which you can imagine to be bad for books, computers and other items stored in the library.

Another project is the Morse House interior restoration for $250,000. The building has been going through renovations and historic preservation work for several years now. Doyle said the funds for the exterior renovations are winding down, and this request will fund the interior just as the outside work is completed. This will be for historic preservation.

Another project put on the docket was $6,000 for the restoration of the Board of Selectmen table sitting up at the Harry B. Butters Chamber in the Town Hall. Doyle said the Town is looking to verify that the table – which is a huge piece of solid wood furniture – is an original piece from when the Town Hall was construction in 1929. This is also under historic preservation.

The Norwood Housing Authority submitted three projects for $320,000 total, and all three are for affordable housing. The first is automatic door openers for the Kevin J. Maguire complex on Brookview Circle for $20,000, the second is for new fire alarms at Nahatan Village for $150,000, and another $150,000 for an electrical system upgrade to Nahatan Village.

CPC member Debbie Holmwood asked about state funding on these projects, and Doyle said there is $550,000 allocated for the fire alarms and $1.5 million for the electrical work. No funds are being allocated for the door openers.

The Conservation Commission is requesting $25,000 for open space and recreation for the Conservation Land Fund. This fund is periodically used to help purchase conservation land or deal with the associated costs of going through a public purchasing process for said acquisition.

The Community Development Department is also seeking $50,000 to develop an update to the current open space and recreation plan. The plan is necessary for a host of state grants.

Lastly, the Norwood Community Media is looking to digitally archive its digital records for $25,000. Phelps said they have to look into whether this is eligible, because the Community Preservation Act does not allow digitization of existing documents – you have to be preserving the originals for that to be historic preservation – and she’s not sure where this would fall in that determination, so she will return with more information.