By Matthew K. Roy
PEABODY — If you keep asking a question, you might, eventually, receive the answer you want.
The City Council kept asking, three times since 2003, for a legal opinion on whether Peabody could use Community Preservation Act money to pay for the dredging of Crystal Lake and Elginwood Pond. After two "nos," the most recent one coming in 2005, City Solicitor John Christopher wrote in a letter to the council last month that CPA money could be used for dredging.
"The dredging of these waters to reverse the negative impact of eutrophication and sedimentation fall(s) within the CPA's intent to preserve natural resources and prevent harm or destruction to natural resources, and therefore use of CPA funds for dredging is appropriate," Christopher wrote.
Peabody voters adopted the CPA in 2001. It allows the city to levy a 1 percent tax surcharge on property tax bills. The city can spend the money, coupled with state funding, to address open space/recreation, affordable housing and historical preservation needs.
In 2005, then-City Solicitor Larry O'Keefe interpreted the dredging project as "maintenance" and therefore not eligible for CPA funding, according to Assistant Director of Planning Blair Haney.
"It's definitely good news," City Councilor Dave Gamache said of Christopher's opinion. Gamache is the chairman of the council's ad hoc Committee on Crystal Lake.
Christopher's opinion is supported by projects completed in other Massachusetts locations. In a memorandum to the council, Haney said the communities of Easthampton, Grafton, Lexington and Westport used CPA money for dredging.
Dredging the lake and adjacent pond has been talked about and studied for more than a decade in Peabody.
The council voted in October to ask Mayor Michael Bonfanti to borrow $1.8 million to dredge. Councilors wanted to combine that amount with $700,000 in state funding to cover the estimated $2.5 million cost of the project.
Gamache hopes the CPA money will reduce the amount the city needs to borrow.
"It could possibly bring that down to less than a million depending on how much CPA money we have," he said. "The less money we have to bond for, the better off we are."
Gamache said he would invite Bill Power, chairman of the preservation committee that oversees CPA funding, to a Crystal Lake meeting in the new year.
Bonfanti said he and his staff would also explore the use of CPA money.
"It might be something that can take the edge off the bonding request," he said.
