GREENFIELD — Community members floated numerous proposed projects — from pickleball courts to accessible housing — to support using fiscal year 2025’s round of Community Preservation Act funds during a public hearing on Thursday evening.

The state Community Preservation Act allows municipalities to adopt a property tax surcharge of up to 3%, the revenues from which are matched by state funds. Greenfield joined the CPA in 2020 with a local surcharge, allowing the city to receive state-matched funding for projects and initiatives related to housing, historic preservation, open space conservation and outdoor recreation.

Explaining the priorities for CPA projects, Community Preservation Committee member Travis Drury noted that the committee sees housing development as its top priority, with roughly 30% of the city’s annual CPA funding being used for this purpose.

“The No. 1 thing that we identified is the creation of housing opportunities of the city,” Drury said. “Community Preservation Act funding can be used for affordable housing for people up to 100% of the area median income and we have funded, at least partially, multiple projects in that area. We also want to make sure we further climate resilience and/or improved physical access to or quality of the city’s current open space.”

Since 2020, Drury said Greenfield has received more than $1.4 million in requested CPA funding.

He recalled the committee’s vote in the spring to distribute roughly $300,000 in CPA funding toward numerous community projects, including a $125,000 renovation at Hillside Park, more than $90,000 for three affordable housing projects and approximately $50,000 for historic preservation.

Before opening the public hearing on Thursday, Drury presented an overview of the CPA, listing the city’s three completed CPA projects — the Franklin County Fairgrounds barn roof replacement, construction of bocce courts on Garrett Street and the Shattuck Park Fitness Cluster — along with seven projects that are currently in progress and an additional eight projects that will be funded once the city receives its allotted fiscal year 2024 CPA funds.

In Thursday’s public discussions on how FY25 funds should be prioritized, multiple residents mentioned housing as a priority, such as resident James Fortin, who said he believes housing should take precedence over recreation and open space.

“If somebody needs a place to live and somebody needs a place to play, I think it’s pretty clear who gets the priority,” Fortin said. “I don’t know why money would go anywhere else than housing, if everything’s equal.”

Although the construction of pickleball courts was funded in the city’s first round of FY23 CPA funds and not funded in the committee’s most recent CPA allocations, resident Mike Reddig, who referred to himself as a “part of the pickleball community,” said he would rally behind additional funding for the sport this year.

Others, such as Greenfield Tree Committee leader Mary Chicoine, listed housing development as a top priority for the city’s use of funds, second to open space projects that would “protect the city’s natural resources.”

“We live here in New England and we think we have this unending abundance of natural resources that somehow magically just spring out of the ground, but I think with climate change and degradation of our natural resources, we need to do what we can to protect those areas that are the most critical,” Chicoine said. “I fully support you funding housing as well, but I would urge you to entertain project proposals that contain large numbers of universally accessible units. Continuing to build housing just for able-bodied people is shortsighted.”

The committee will meet again on Aug. 8 to further discuss CPA funding allocations. FY25 project funds will be approved by the committee and City Council in the spring.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.