Gloucester preservation committee hears $125,000 Saunders House request, votes to end its own term limits

Gloucester's Community Preservation Committee heard three more grant requests Monday, extended four earlier grants and voted to ask the city to drop the two term limit on its own members.

What happened

• The Sawyer Free Library asked for $125,000 toward a $275,000 project to make the Saunders House reading room accessible, with a first floor bathroom and a level floor from the new library into the 1764 house.
• Action Inc. asked for rental and mortgage help money again. Its average payment last year was about $1,600 per household, and 80 percent of those helped earned under 30 percent of the area median income.
• The Gloucester Affordable Housing Trust asked for $300,000 for fiscal 2027 and reported that its last $300,000 in preservation money went to Habitat for Humanity's purchase of 47 Washington Street for three affordable units.
• The committee extended the Main Street affordable housing grant to the end of 2028 and three other grants to the end of 2027, all without opposition.
• It voted unanimously to recommend removing the two term limit from the city ordinance that created the committee.
• Gloucester Stage's presentation moved to Nov. 16, when the committee also starts weighing this year's awards.

Saunders House: a bathroom and a level floor

Jeff Bradford, who chairs the library's Saunders House Stewardship Committee, said the house on the corner of Middle Street and Dale Avenue is on the National Register and has been a library building since 1884. Past preservation grants paid for fireplace stabilization, mural restoration, sill and foundation work, an electric heating system to replace a failing oil boiler and, most recently, structural reinforcement of the floors, which he said are now sound.

The next step is to make the first floor usable. The project adds an accessible bathroom, rebuilds the subfloor so it is level with the new library's gallery next door, removes an old dumbwaiter that blocks a doorway, replaces acoustic panels with plaster and fluorescent lights with LED fixtures, and clears out shelving. A second phase, not part of this request, would add a lift to the second floor and another bathroom; the library has applied for a state tourism grant for that.

The budget is $275,000, with $125,000 requested from the committee, about 45 percent. The rest comes from library trust funds and donations. Work would start July 1, 2027 and finish by Oct. 15, 2028. Bradford said the library cannot actively raise money for the Saunders House until it pays back its loan to the city for the new library, though it can accept gifts. Wellspring House uses the reading room for English classes and tutoring.

A member said the committee is short on money compared with what has been requested and asked whether the library could split the request over two years. Library director Jenny Benedict said that would be hard: the whole job should go to one contractor, and because preservation grants reimburse actual costs, a split could force a pause in construction while waiting on a 2028 award.

Action Inc.: $1,600 keeps a family housed

Action Inc.'s presenter said the area median income for a family of four in Gloucester is $164,600, and most of the households the agency helps earn less than 30 percent of that, $36,000 for one person or $51,400 for four. The MIT living wage figure for a single adult in Essex County is about $60,000, she said.

Last year's grant helped households with an average of about $1,600 each, a figure she said has held steady for several years, including nine households with mortgages. Fair market rent set by the federal government is $2,518 for a one bedroom in Gloucester and $3,008 for a two bedroom. The agency checks whether applicants qualify for the state's RAFT program first and refers them for fuel aid, food help and legal help. She said the Section 8 waiting list in Gloucester is closed, and people on vouchers can still fall behind when their income drops before the rent is recalculated. Applicants must show a hardship, and there is a limit, at her discretion, on how much one household can get.

Housing trust: where the $300,000 went

The trust's presenter said the committee's $100,000 in fiscal 2025 and $200,000 in fiscal 2026 both went to Essex County Habitat for Humanity, which asked for $360,000 and got $300,000 to buy 47 Washington Street, Action Inc.'s former fuel assistance office. Habitat plans two one bedroom units and one four bedroom unit, all at 60 percent of area median income, with work done by the end of next summer.

The trust has about $885,000 on hand, most of it from an inclusionary zoning payment of more than $500,000 from a project off Grapevine Road. It also gets about $100,000 a year from the 3 percent short term rental fee. This year it put $100,000 into the Forbes Schoolhouse rehabilitation through the city's housing rehab program and $35,000 toward the Housing Compass plan. It is studying an accessory dwelling unit assistance program, buy down and lease to locals programs. The request for fiscal 2027 is $300,000.

Chair Matthew Lundberg said the committee needs to know before the trust spends preservation money, because the money carries state restrictions, and he learned of the Habitat award by chance. The trust agreed to notify the committee when it commits preservation funds. Lundberg said he will check with the city solicitor on whether City Council approval of trust spending covers the preservation rules.

Term limits

City ordinance Section 2-534 gives committee members three year terms and bars more than two terms. Lundberg said he asked two other towns, the committee's founders and the Community Preservation Coalition, and found no clear reason for the limit; the coalition discourages term limits because it is hard to keep qualified members. One member recalled being told the limit was meant to keep members from getting too close to the groups that apply year after year. Members said the committee as a whole can watch for that, and that the mayor, who appoints all members, can decline a reappointment.

The committee voted unanimously for a resolution asking the city to remove the two term limit. Lundberg will send it to the mayor and the council, where it would go through the Ordinances and Administration Committee.

Also

• Bronze plaques marking preservation grants at the schooner Adventure and the library's fountain garden will be bought through the city, using a small part of the 5 percent of yearly preservation money allowed for administration.
• A member asked for a look in November at how the Manship Artists Residency is doing on its earlier projects.

What was decided

• Sept. 21 minutes, as amended: approved, 5 yes.
• 252 to 256 Main Street affordable housing grant: extended to Dec. 31, 2028, unanimous.
• City owned artworks preservation (Committee for the Arts): extended to Dec. 31, 2027, unanimous.
• Babson-Alling House historic structures report (Cape Ann Museum): extended to Dec. 31, 2027, unanimous.
• Manship granite deck and stairway restoration: extended to Dec. 31, 2027, unanimous.
• Resolution to remove the two term limit (Section 2-534 A): passed, unanimous.

What happens next

• Monday, Nov. 16: the committee hears Gloucester Stage's presentation, a finance update from the city, and begins its first round of recommendations for this year's awards. The meeting is at the harbormaster's office.
• The term limit change goes to the mayor and then to the City Council.

Where to find the records

• Committee agenda, Oct. 19
• October 2026 Past Meetings, the city's page with the recording
• Community Preservation Committee agendas and minutes

How we did this: Cape Ann Current watched the meeting online and checked names against the agenda and the committee's roster on the city website. These are our meeting notes, not the city's minutes.