As part of a discussion on growth management and traffic options, Town Manager Mike Malaguti also addressed comments he made during his 2024 State of The Town Address from the February Deliberative Session.
“It’s taken me until now to talk about the State of the Town address from last February but let me just do it in a very discreet way by quoting myself. I said we have all the tools that we need to confront these challenges but we can only do (it) together,” Malaguti said.
He explained that the comments he made were about the challenges “accompanying growth and development, drain on our infrastructure traffic that seems to increase with time every year.”
“This is something that has been on my mind a lot in the last six months to a year,” Malaguti said about getting feedback from the community.
During the meeting, Malaguti discussed a number of possible options they can explore when it comes to growth and traffic.
In terms of traffic Malaguti said that they are looking to make improvements to different intersections in Town, saying for example they will be coming forward with a proposal soon for the Pettengill Road congestion, along with other improvements that they have made or are working on.
Another potential option, Malaguti said that could be discussed is having a dedicated traffic enforcement unit.
“Maybe we want to talk about a traffic enforcement unit,” he said, noting that the Police Department currently doesn’t have the resources to handle only traffic.
As they continue to work on the 2025 Master Plan Malaguti said they are looking at being able to work on changes that could have an immediate effect instead of things that require a lot of research and would need to be implemented as part of the full Master Plan process.
For example, he said they expect traffic,development, and how fast Londonderry is growing to continue to be areas of concern from the feedback of the current Master Plan process, similar to 2013, and similar to what concerns they hear from the community.
Malaguti said he doesn’t think the feedback they are going to get is “I want more cars on our roads going faster and more congestion.”
“I expect we’re not going to hear that,” Malaguti said. Malaguti said that while he doesn’t think they will be able to stop growth, there are a number of different things they can look at both at a state and local level.
“You’re never going to be able to stop growth and development,” Malaguti said.
Town Councilor John Farrell said he disagreed, saying they were supposed to have a build out in Town with 42,000 residents, but said they have been able to limit it by preserving open space.
Malaguti noted about 30 percent of the land in Town is in conservation easements or can’t be developed.
Another option Malaguti said that they could look at is the State creating some type of study commission to look at the rapid growth in Southern NH, and the impacts it has on the communities.
He also noted that they need to continue to advocate for local control when it comes to land use laws.
“We need to continue to resist it,” Malaguti said, also noting they can continue to pursue state and federal grants.