The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts General Assembly (Legislature) has once again provided funding for the District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) Program for Calendar Year 2023. Since 2006, this program has enabled CMRPC to provide technical assistance to member communities on eligible projects. This year CMRPC received approximately $265,000 to support our communities.
Submission: Requests should be submitted in coordination with CMRPC staff prior to March 9th at 5pm for consideration at the Physical Development Committee on March 16th.
One or more DLTA assistance requests may be submitted for consideration in 2023. In addition to this solicitation, CMRPC will advertise and solicit requests until the funds have been allocated. Requests for Resources for 2023 DLTA assistance should be submitted via email to CMRPC to the attention of: Trish Settles, Deputy Director via email tsettles@cmrpc.org.
Priorities
Regular DLTA
According to the most recent guidelines of the Commonwealth's DLTA program, a proposed project must fall into one of the following four (4) general priority categories (see Attachments A and B for examples of eligible projects for each priority funding area) to be considered eligible for technical assistance:
1. Planning Ahead for Housing;
2. Planning Ahead for Growth;
3. Technical Assistance to support Community Compact Cabinet Activities including Regionalization; and
4. Supporting the Housing Choice Initiative
The goal of the DLTA Fund is to direct these funds to projects and activities that result in change in the municipality(ies) receiving these DLTA Fund services, whether in law, regulation, program management, or practice, that serve to further these objectives. Community Compact Cabinet (CCC) best practices should include both those that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is seeking to fund as part of the CCC program as a first priority and also best practices that explicitly align with CCC best practices but are not best practices identified in a signed CCC agreement. COVID-19 relief/recovery activities that fall under the above priority categories are eligible.
Additionally, DHCD released Compliance Guidelines for Multi-family Zoning Districts Under Section 3A of the Zoning Act (“guidelines”) in August 2022 to implement this program and would like the assistance of CMRPC to help its MBTA Communities in the region to comply with the guidelines. Therefore, CMRPC will prioritize DLTA funding to assist communities with Section 3A compliance.
In addition to innovative and standalone projects, CMRPC seeks to maximize impact and efficiency by assisting multiple communities with related projects. The following needs have been identified by multiple communities in recent years. If your community is interested in assistance in any of the following areas, please let us know:
- Stormwater/ Low-Impact Development Bylaws
- Wildlife corridor planning and establishment of local regulations for wildlife corridor protection
- Activating vacant commercial spaces: help with vacancy registries, pop up retail, event, and dining/ food truck ordinances.
- Permitting and zoning for outdoor dining
- Development of Cottage Housing (or similar housing) bylaws
- Development of Accessory Dwelling Unit bylaws
- Economic Development Committee or Business Association visioning processes and action plans
- Municipal Housing Trusts: establishment and early-stage guidance
- Dark Skies zoning bylaws
- Demolition delay and historic preservation zoning
- Streamlining permitting
- Enabling Home Occupations: bylaws and best practices
Supplemental Funding
This year we are fortunate to have supplemental one-time funding to help our member municipalities or other local and regional public entities take advantage of variety of beneficial funding opportunities, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (DLTA Augmentation). DLTA Augmentation activities and projects may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- identification and understanding of top project priorities;
- research, assessment, and identification of federal, state, and other funding opportunities;
- review of grant application guidelines and preparation of applications and/or identification of specialty skills needed (e.g. specialized technical assessment,
- engineering, cost benefit analysis)
- provision of needed procurement services; and
- assessment of municipal grant reporting capacity and determination if assistance is needed by the RPA.
All potential projects should be discussed with CMRPC team members. They will work with project proponents to develop the application (sample application attached.) Please note that all Traditional projects must be completed by December 31, 2023, however Augmented DLTA projects may extend until June 30, 2024. All potential projects should be discussed with CMRPC team members. They will work with project proponents to develop the application (sample application attached.) Please note that all Traditional projects must be completed by December 31, 2023, however Augmented DLTA projects may extend until June 30, 2024.
