MIDDLEBORO — The Middleboro Community Preservation Committee is looking for residents’ input. 

The Committee will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. in the Select Board meeting room at Town Hall to discuss how to use Community Preservation Act Funds. The Community Preservation Act enables communities to levy a property tax surcharge to create a community preservation fund, which can be spent on projects in the following categories: open space, recreational areas, historic preservation and community housing. 

Middleboro plans to revise its five-year Community Preservation Act plan this year and the town’s Community Preservation Committee wants residents input on how to spend the funds. Members are encouraged to attend the hearing where they will have an opportunity to share contributions on the following questions:

• Do you agree with the priorities in our current plan?
• Which projects have you most appreciated and think best help preserve our community?
• What else would you like to see?

Residents are encouraged to send an email with their feedback to CPCChair@middleboroughma.gov if they can’t attend the meeting. 

Each year Middleboro’s CPA fund collects about $500,000 from local property taxes and state matching funds. Projects must have a public benefit and must be brought to the CPC by an applicant/project manager. The deadline to submit an application to begin the annual grant process is September 15.

Recent projects funded by the CPA include acquisition of Picone Farm on Plymouth Street, which has been preserved by agricultural and conservation restrictions and now has public walking trails, a down payment assistance plan for first-time home buyers, playing fields on Wood Street, and restoration of the Reed-Peirce Cemetery on Marion Road.