The Community Preservation Committee looks forward to establishing a budget framework and priorities for the use of Community Preservation Act funds in Brookline.  For information about CPA in Brookline, see Brookline's CPA Funding page.

Meeting Schedule

The Community Preservation Committee will usually hold meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month at 6:30 PM.  Please see below for the scheduled dates for 2023:

January 30th
February 13th
March 13th
April 10th
May 8th
June 12th
July 10th
August 14th
September 11th
October 16th
November 13th
December 11th

Eligibility Application Round 1

  • Applicant: Robert King CPE-2023-000002
  • Organization: Brookline DPW
  • Category: Recreation
  • Location: Beacon Street
  • Request: $1,000,000
  • Total Project Cost: $3,000,000

Description

"The Bridle Path project area is the entire length of Beacon Street within the Town of Brookline: from Ayr Road to Saint Mary’s Street (See Appendix A: Site Map). While the path itself is proposed in the median on Beacon Street, the adjacent roadway and intersections as well as connections to existing bicycle and pedestrian facilities at cross-streets and end of the corridor are included within the project area.

Beacon Street is a principal urban arterial and a critical route to downtown Boston from Chestnut Hill, Newton, and other western suburbs. Beacon Street is also part of the Boston Marathon Route, approaching the final stretch into Boston’s Back Bay. It is a critical component of Brookline’s transportation network, as both an arterial road and the route of the MBTA Green Line’s C Line.

Beacon Street is a key commercial corridor in Brookline, linking four commercial areas: Cleveland Circle, Washington Square, Coolidge Corner, and Saint Mary/ Lower Beacon Street. The study area coincides with the Beacon Street Historic District, included in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1985.

In the Olmsted’s 1896 design, the “bridleway” ran parallel to the trolley tracks and provided designated space for horseback riders separate from the carriageways, sidewalks, and the rail right of way. As motor vehicles came to dominate the street in the twentieth century, the space of the bridleway was re-purposed for parking. Today, head-in angled parking extends almost the full length of the street along the railway median, and the street lacks consistent, safe facilities for biking.

In 2018, the Brookline Town Meeting adopted a resolution to “study the feasibility of restoring the Olmsted bridle path along the median of Beacon Street in Brookline”. Public promotion of the Bridle Path built broad support for the project, leading to the Town’s commission of Toole Design Group in 2021 to conduct a feasibility study and develop conceptual design alternatives of the Bridle Path.

This project’s intent is to reinstate the Olmsted bridleway as a facility for multimodal active transportation and a linear park, represents more than a historic restoration interest; the Bridle Path objectives are contemporary for inclusive, safe streets and climate change mitigation that align with the Town’s larger urban planning and sustainability goals.