NASHUA – City residents raised numerous concerns in opposition of the planned $82 million middle school during a Monday public hearing, but Budget Review Committee members still decided to provide a recommendation for passage to the full Board of Aldermen.

Members of the BOA are expected to consider the matter at the next meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Aldermanic Chamber of City Hall, 229 Main St.

This week’s lengthy sequence of back-to-back meetings ended with committee members supporting Resolution 19-191, which aims to issue bonds in the amount of $118 million for the city’s to fund the design and construction of a new middle school in the city’s south end, while also funding extensive renovations at the other public middle schools.

In addition to the $82 million middle school in the south end, the resolution calls for renovations in these amounts:

• Pennichuck – $25 million,

• Fairgrounds – $12 million.

“It is estimated the interest rate will be approximately 3.5% and the total cost of the bond will be $171,690,000, including interest,” the fiscal note on the resolution states.

Prior to committee members making their determination, a special BOA meeting offered members of the public an opportunity to speak on the issue. Berkeley Street resident Laurie Ortolano has been vocal in the Aldermanic Chamber numerous times since she began fighting for change in the City’s Assessing Department more than a year ago. She questioned the bond analysis.

“I think it’s really unacceptable that you’re asking us to get behind $118 million without being able to tell us what the impact on the tax rate is at some estimated level,” Ortolano said. “I can’t shop that way in my budget, and I don’t want my city spending that way with my money.”

Former BOA member Fred Teeboom also took issue with this bond, and asked where the bonding analysis was, and if it has been performed. City Treasurer David Fredette said the city has a bond plan that is updated annually. He also said debt payments are going down from fiscal year 2022 to 2025.

Aside from the cost, two outgoing Board of Education members spoke in opposition, including Howard Coffman, who said his particular concern is access to Buckmeadow Road.

“We do not have access to the building site and I think it’s really poor, poor public policy to approve a bond when you can’t even access the property you want to build on,” Coffman said. “That is an affront to all logic and total disrespect to the taxpayers and what’s supposed to be a democratic process.”

Doris Hohensee will also soon leave the BOE. She said the school district’s enrollment has gone down through the years, citing decreases in enrollment at both Fairgrounds Middle School and Pennichuck Middle School. She said there is supposed to be a study on enrollment in advance.

School District Director of Plant Operations Shawn Smith also attended Monday’s public hearing, and stepped up to the microphone to speak in favor of this bond, also addressing the enrollment situation. He said enrollment has been on the decline, but that he does not see this continuing.

“Elm Street is well beyond its useful service life,” Smith said. “It’s toast.”

While this $82 million middle school is set to replace Elm Street, some neighbors living in the south end area abutting the planned development site of the future school have concerns. This includes Kristen Ford, who spoke in opposition of the bond Monday night.

She and her husband, Jon, live on Cherrywood Drive, with their property directly abutting the site of this new middle school. Kristen Ford said that in September, she started a petition in opposition of this new middle school being constructed just beyond her yard, collecting a total of 254 signatures.

“Dropping a giant middle school into this quiet neighborhood is something that myself and my neighbors have been staunchly opposed to,” Kristen Ford told officials Monday night.

However, once she saw the concept design, she said some living in the area, including herself, feel a little bit better about the project, essentially with having the main access point off Buckmeadow Road. She is concerned about the buffer between her property and the new school.

“It’s not a huge buffer. I mean, all due respect, you can basically see 150 feet into the woods right now,” Ford said. “Stand in my backyard, any of you, please, come to my house – I’ll show you,” Ford said.

Ford wants to ensure that her voice, along with those of her neighbors, are being heard. She has emailed BOE members, BOA members and Mayor Jim Donchess about the matter. Ford also said she has become sort of the “unelected official here,” by reaching out to city leaders and keeping neighbors informed.

As with others, Ford also has concerns regarding the safety of the children who will attend the new school, but also the disruption to the quiet neighborhood she calls home. During the public hearing, she asked how officials plan to work with neighbors to make sure that happens.

Nashua Joint Special School Building Committee Chairman, Alderman Richard Dowd, said officials are now in the concept phase of the project. He said the intent is to make it as neighbor-friendly as possible.

“Personally, my biggest concern is the disruption to the neighborhood,” Kristen Ford said Tuesday.

Ford and her husband recently moved to Cherrywood Drive, so they are concerned with the buffer zone. When they originally moved a couple miles to reach this new neighborhood, they were unaware of the middle school plans in the works. She hopes officials will compromise with neighbors as the project unfolds.

“The fact that they pushed it so quickly before the end of the year bothers me the most,” Jon Ford said Tuesday.

Kristen Ford said aside from her primary concern, all the information about the bonding was “concerning.”

“I had worried about our taxes going up, but the fact that there’s no bond analysis, as one of the women stated during the hearing – it’s concerning,” she said.

Since Ford started the petition drive in September, her view on the matter has shifted slightly. Although she still would prefer this project not happen at all, she knows she has to accept it.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.