Special Board of Aldermen Public Hearing — 12/16/2019 Page 17
So with this rate of decline of students, 35% less students we will have over the course of 25 years which is about
the life of the bond. So we won’t need one out of the 3 schools. So! am sure there is a reason to do some of this
work and | am not opposed to it but | think we are not doing our due diligence before we run and bond. It is the
process, it is the process, itis the process. Thank you.
Howard Coffman Also on the Board of Education, thank you Ms. Hohensee, just to validate what she said. My
particular concern is access through Buck Meadow, we do not have access to the building site. | think it is really
poor public policy to approve a bond when you can’t even access the property you want to build on. That is an
affront to all logic and total disrespect to the tax payers in what is supposed to be a democratic process. The
school re-districting plan is in your Q&A. The fact is, that is the kind of planning that should be done at the front
end, because that will help you determine your enrollments, which will help you decide your capacities. Doris
mentioned no historical or projected data which is required by law by the way. It should be in the plan now, not
later. There is no staff impact plan, there’s no transportation on how we are going to move the 1,100 kids that are
at Elm Street. There’s been no public hearings at the School Board level or the JSSB on this matter. You saw the
detailed work presented for well it exists for Pennichuck and Fairgrounds; that level of detail does not exist for the
new building. | guess you can’t plan a road when you don’t have access to it, maybe that is the most honest thing
they’ve done in that plan. There’s no technology plan recommended by the State. The Special Education plan
while | wholly support it, is grossly inadequate because it only does the middle school, it is only going to cover
grades 6 through 8; it does not address the whole District’s need for Special Education which is to the tune of $6
million dollars a year now in out-of-district placement right now plus transportation.
There is no analysis or impact statement regarding what the tax rate is going to be as a result of this. There is no
impact on what the operating budget for the District is going to be if we have to hire staff or whatever, there is no
operating budget. Our Finance Committee is now beginning to borrow within the Finance Committee and the
Operating Budget, you'll see that on Wednesday night. There’s not Citywide Demographic Analysis, the buildings
although they have similar capacity approximately of 800 students, the square footage is very different. The two —
Fairgrounds and Pennichuck are roughly 125,000/135,000 square feet. The new building is 193,000 square feet.
There’s 50,000 feet, maybe Public Works should move in there, there’s plenty of room. | did ask the architects,
they said it is accounted for in stairways and hallways and equipment, but 50,000 square feet. That’s a lot of
space. The District Office currently now is about 9,000. So just in terms of perspective 50,000 extra square feet of
space. Noise abatement people in the community are concerned about that, has not been committed. | believe
we are overbuilding, no reasonable analysis has been made, enrollments are not included in our strategic plan.
They are not included in this plan as required by law. This is a premature decision | suggest you get road access
before you decide and commit $118 million dollars.
Kristin Ford | live at 101 Cherrywood Drive. My property abuts this land for the new proposed middle school.
Some of you may already know my name because I’ve been very vocal in the last 6 months in opposition of this
project. Dropping a giant middle school into this quiet neighborhood is something that myself and my neighbors
have been staunchly opposed to. Once Harriman, thank you, you know, once they came up with a concept design,
some of us, myself included, have felt a little bit better about the project, essentially with having the main access
point off Buck Meadow and not Cherrywood, essentially because Cherrywood is not, it’s just not a street that can
handle that kind of traffic. So | don’t know where things are, | know that Doris and Howard are criticizing with not
having the easement, I’d like to echo that but also hope that can go through because | have talked to some of my
neighbors recently and they are concerned. What if the easement doesn’t go through, what is Plan B? I’m not
asking that right now, | am just saying that is the concern. Does then fall back on having the access point through
Medallion and Cherrywood, | don’t know, | mean maybe that’s to be decided. So you know there’s a huge concern
there. We are also concerned about buffers, | know in the FAQ’s it says X amount of feet, but you know there are
13 properties that essentially between Medallion and the part of Cherrywood that | live, it’s just not a huge buffer. |
mean all due respect; you can basically see 150 feet into the woods right now. Stand in my backyard, any of you,
please come to my house I'll show you. So we want to make sure that we are being heard and being listened to. |
have e-mailed the entire Board of Ed, all of you Aldermen, Mayor Donchess, you know, | have become sort of the
unelected official here and | just want to continue to push and push.
