2011 Buzzards Bay Municipal Grant Program

Municipal Grants Awarded

The Buzzards Bay NEP, through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ (EEA) Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) announced that $180,958 in grants for eight Buzzard Bay watershed municipalities. Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and administered by our program, these grants will aid towns in testing and treating stormwater discharges, protecting wetlands and wildlife habitat, improving water supplies and safeguarding open spaces.

The eight awards announced on September 29, 2011, are:

• Acushnet — $18,653 to protect 46.6 acres of undeveloped land along the Acushnet River through outright acquisition and a conservation restriction. Protection of the property will preserve 1,900 feet of frontage on the east bank of the Acushnet River and important associated wetlands and open field habitats, as well as provide public access for passive recreational activities, such as hiking and bird watching.
• Bourne — $20,000 to develop engineering designs to treat stormwater discharging bacteria and other pollutants to Cohasset Narrows at the mouth of Buttermilk Bay. Altogether, storm water will be treated from seven culverts along Buttermilk Way. This area has closed shellfish beds due to runoff pollution.
• Fairhaven — $35,000 to acquire a conservation restriction on a 32-acre agricultural property in East Fairhaven. Protection of the subject property will preserve the existing open space character of the area including its agricultural use, provide public access to walking trails that connect to adjacent protected lands, and protect the drinking water supply and wildlife habitat.
• Marion — $18,653 to hire an engineering firm to conduct an illicit discharge detection and elimination program that will monitor and test stormwater discharges to identify pollution sources including illicit discharges. The water sampling data will be used to develop baseline stormwater quality conditions to implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) to improve the water quality of the receiving waters.
• Mattapoisett — $35,000 to protect 16.61 acres of undeveloped land along the Mattapoisett River through outright acquisition of the property. Protection of the property, which lies within a Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) drinking water supply protection area, will preserve 1,880 feet of frontage on the Mattapoisett River, as well as wetlands and rare species habitat.
• Rochester — $15,000 to hire a consultant to upgrade the town’s geographic information system (GIS) to account for new development and meet new state data standards. The town will also digitize wetland boundaries defined on plans previously submitted to the Conservation Commission.  The goal of the project is to provide the town with new, more accurate GIS data for municipal planning.
• Wareham — $18,653 to protect 32.5 acres of undeveloped land along the Weweantic River using outright acquisition and a conservation restriction. Protection of the property will preserve important watershed land along the Weweantic River and protect wildlife habitat.
• Westport — $20,000 to develop engineering designs to treat three municipal stormwater discharges from River Road into the West Branch of the Westport River. These discharges contribute pollution to the Westport River, which is degraded due to elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria, which triggers shellfish bed closures.

Read the full EEA Press Release.

Background

As part of the Buzzards Bay NEP’s work plan for the coming fiscal year, on May 6, 2011, the Buzzards Bay NEP posted a Request for Responses (RFR, a request for proposals) as part of our municipal grant program at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Comm-Pass.com system. A total of $180,958 of federal funds are available. Applications are due by 4 PM, Thursday, June 30, 2011.

Read the Spring 2011 cover letter to the municipalities on our current grant round.

The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program provides grants a technical assistance to Buzzards Bay municipalities in their efforts to protect and restore water quality and living resources in Buzzards Bay and its surrounding watershed. Our funding is made available through the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management office and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and is posted on the state’s procurement website Comm-Pass.com.

The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, a planning and technical assistance unit of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, is again making available funding to assist eligible Buzzards Bay watershed municipalities in the protection of open space, rare and endangered species habitat, and freshwater and saltwater wetlands, to help restore tidally restricted salt marshes, to develop designs and remediate stormwater discharges threatening water quality, to provide support for mapping stormwater drainage networks, to construct pump out facilities, to update town parcel data (MassGIS is in the process up updating municipal parcel data statewide, therefore only those towns that are not scheduled to be brought up to Level 3 standards by MassGIS until FY13 are eligible in this category. Eligible municipalities include Acushnet, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Rochester, Wareham and Westport), to digitize wetland boundaries approved in permits, to assist in the monitoring of water quality to prioritize stormwater remediation, to address problems in migratory fish passage, and to implement other recommendations contained in the watershed management plan for Buzzards Bay.

Eligible Respondents to our Grant Programs

Unless otherwise specified in an RFR, eligible municipalities include Fall River, Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Acushnet, Fairhaven, Rochester, Mattapoisett, Marion, Wareham, Middleborough, Carver, Plymouth, Bourne, Falmouth, and Gosnold. However, specific restoration and protection projects must lie principally within the Buzzards Bay watershed (see map below). For participation in the stormwater program, the discharge must be contributing to an existing impairment.

Municipalities must submit separate application forms for each grant proposal. Municipalities may submit any number of applications in any grant category. However, no single project award can exceed $35,000, and no municipality may be awarded more than $50,000 through this solicitation. Municipalities may submit applications in partnership with other public or private organizations, or subcontract tasks, however, we will award contracts only to municipalities. Municipalities should never self-select grants and limit their applications to local priorities or municipal grant limits because it is impossible to predict how applications will fare against projects in other towns. Municipalities should always submit all of their good proposals.

Eligible uses of funds

Below is an overview of projects eligible for funding according to the Spring 2011 RFR. Generally there are no other limitations on the use of funds, other than as defined in the RFR. Refer to the RFR for additional details.

• 1) Stormwater remediation designs
• 2) Implementation and construction of existing stormwater designs
• 3) Stormwater mapping support
• 4) Wetland-open space-habitat restoration, preservation, acquisition, or protection
• 5) Town parcel GIS data acquisition (MassGIS is in the process up updating municipal parcel data statewide, therefore, only those towns that are not scheduled to be brought up to Level 3 standards by MassGIS until FY13 are eligible in this category. Eligible municipalities for GIS data acquisition include: Acushnet, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Rochester, Wareham and Westport) or update or digitizing of wetland boundaries from wetland permits.
• 6) Migratory fish passage and habitat restoration
• 7) Water quality testing in support for establishing priorities for stormwater remediation
• 8) Construction of a boat pump-out facility in a municipality or harbor where none exists
• 9) Creation of online reporting systems for tracking the operation, maintenance, and monitoring of innovative and alternative septic systems
• 10) Other activities in support of the Buzzards Bay management plan.

Questions Received and Responses to the Spring 2011 Round

Questions received (which may be paraphrased), and answers to those questions.

QUESTION 1: When citing goals of the CCMP, should we cite the 1992 version or the draft 2011 version of the document?

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 1: Because the current draft CCMP has not yet been approved, the goals and the objectives in the 1992 version should be cited.

QUESTION 2: If a town forms a partnership with another town on a project, can money spent by the partnering town be used as match?

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 2: Any non-federal cash or in-kind services provided by a partnering municipality, or any other public or private entity, are eligible to be used as match, if it is directly related to the proposed activity, and was spent after January 1, 2011.

QUESTION 3: Can costs incurred by a BOH for water sampling of beaches be used as matching funds to an Innovative/Alternative Septic System Tracking System grant proposal?

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 3: In general, applicants can use as match any new water quality testing initiated to compliment proposed projects (including monitoring to evaluate needs or outcomes). However, existing monitoring programs and levels of effort, as well as monitoring not related to the proposed work, are ineligible as match. In the example provided, if the water sampling consists of the routine beach testing required under state law and is unrelated to tracking I/A septic systems, these expenditures would be ineligible for match.

QUESTION 4: Does a specific “municipal official” have to sign the cover letter that accompanies the grant proposal?

RESPONSE TO QUESTION 4: The RFR does not proscribe or limit which municipal official is eligible or appropriate to sign the cover letter. We consider this an internal municipal policy matter. The RFR states only that if we select a proposal for funding, only the individual or individuals identified on the municipality’s “Contractor Authorized Signature Verification Form” on file with the Commonwealth can sign the contract with the Commonwealth.