Deliberations continued over the potential projects within the annual Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) at the Budget Committee’s latest meeting on July 27.
Over the past few weeks, Business Administrator Peter Curro has been working with the Londonderry School Board and town hall to advertise and explain the CIP and what it hopes to accomplish. In essence, the annual plan takes into account various projects that the town believes are necessary in one way or another and that would be carried out within the next five years. After several plans are put up for consideration by assorted committees, the planning board will eventually analyze each project and potentially approve one or more.
Amongst the projects in the most recent CIP are plans for a new school district office, which has been receiving complaints about air quality and space management, a new high school/district-wide auditorium, a new elementary school to accommodate Londonderry’s recent growth, and assorted renovations for various school buildings throughout the district.
During the Budget Committee’s meeting, committee members went over each of the four projects,  starting with the new district office. Curro noted that a new office would run the town about $4 million, but it is a necessary build because the current office was built for 12 people, while about double that number currently work the building. Suggestions were made for a new ventilation system, but Curro noted that the heating system simply would not be able to keep up.
A discussion on a proposed auditorium was then dicussed.
Curro described the building as being “acoustically sound” and “multi-purpose,” and would ultimately be created simply to have better quality materials and better sound for attendees, although there would be fewer bells and whistles in order to cut down costs. It was noted by Curro that the current high school gym simply could not be expanded due to property restrictions.
Some members questioned the need for a new auditorium and the use of taxpayer dollars to fund the project, and they said they would be more open to the idea if it was more geared to the community at large.
Not much discussion was held on the topic of the new elementary school. Plans for the renovations were kept relatively generalized, revolving around updating materials used in the walls of each school, upgrading mechanical elements, and potentially moving the LEEP program into the Moose Hill Kindergarten while having kindergarten students be moved into the elementary schools.