Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Round 2

Updated: 12/11/2024 Added costs for School District projects.

The Capital Improvement Program Committee (CIP) will meet Thursday 12/12/2024 to review upcoming Town and School District capital projects. A bit of background on this post.

On 12/4/2024 I realized that the CIP Committee had only held one meeting this year see No Capital Improvement Plan for 2026-2031? I emailed the CIP Town Council, Budget Committee, and School Board liaisons asking what the status of the CIP was. In years past the CIP plan had already had a public hearing by the Planning Board, been approved, and sent to the Town Council and School Board, usually by mid November. The Town Council and Budget Committee liaisons did not respond to my email. The School Board and Planning Board liaisons responded and said several meetings were canceled and they would be scheduling a meeting soon. The Planning Board liaison also responded that he would notify me of the meeting date. On 12/10/20234 I received an email from the Planning Board liaison informing me the meeting would be held on 12/12/2024 at 6PM. The email also included information on 3 proposed School District project and 3 proposed Town projects. I posted the information 2024 CIP Projects Under Review – SEE CORRECTION BELOW. Shortly after posting I received an email from the School Board liaison that the information on the 3 school project was from June and the School District had sent updated information in October, they also attached the updated CIP proposal. I temporarily removed the posts, sent out a notification on this website that the post was inaccurate stating the post would be republished with the correct information. At 1:59PM I received updated information from the CIP Chair with updated information. At 6:06 PM I received another email from the Planning Board liaison, informing me that the Acting Fire Chief had removed two projects, and would not be presenting on Thursday night. The projects removed were: Londonderry Fire Department: Renovation & Update of Station 2 (South) and Londonderry Fire Department: Replacement of Fire Department Alerting System.

As Londonderry now faces a 17.5 to 25% tax increase Video: Town Council Discusses 17.5 to 25% Property Tax Increase we are now into the eleventh hour to review project that may have a significant impact on the Londonderry tax rate.

We are now left with 4 capital projects.

1. LEEP Space Needs & Full Day K in 3 Neighborhood Schools – $7,007,280
2. SAU Office – $1,704,120
3. High School Addition & Renovation – $116,424,000
4. DPW Facility – Cost $25,000,000 – $45,000,000

School District Projects

Project Name: LEEP Space Needs & Full Day K in 3 Neighborhood Schools

Project Description: Addition of 8 Modular Classroom to accommodate a Full Day Kindergarten program in each of the three neighborhood elementary schools. Project would include the manufacturing, outfitting, and installation of 900-1200 square foot modular classrooms. 2 each at North and South and 4 at Matthew Thornton, based on enrollment trends and projections. This project would free up some space for LEEP and Special education programs.

Narrative Justification: Currently Moose Hill School is past capacity to service LEEP programs. Therapy and office spaces are combined and often push instruction into the hallways, which can be very noisy. Our FRIENDS program for students with Autism requires individual spaces at times for their education, and they are forced to use a large partitioned classroom. Moving to full Day K in neighborhood schools frees up space to better accommodate LEEP and eases crowded spaces for Special Education programs in the Moose Hill building.

Additionally, Londondery firmly believes that full day Kindergarten is the best course of action for the students in the Londonderry School District. Londonderry is behind the state and country in providing full day Kindergarten. Having this additional program would give our youngest students significantly more time to develop for future success. 90% of brain development happens by the end of Kindergarten. We need to build a strong foundation in young students to improve out outcomes. Adding this program would make Londonderry a more attractive community to move to, increasing our tax base. By building strong foundation is our young learners, costly special education needs could be minimized in some students in future years.
Cost: $7,007,280

 Project Name: SAU Office

Project Description: Renovate one wind of Moose Hill School to accommodate the SAU Office

Narrative Justification: Londonderry currently leases office space at 6A Kitty Hawk Landing. The lease ends in June 2028. Without a new space, the District will have to either extend the current lease or find a new space elsewhere. Moving full day K to neighborhood schools opens up space for the SAU Office in a wing of Moose Hill
Cost: $1,704,120

 Project Name: High School Addition & Renovation

Project Description: High School Addition & Renovation. Londonderry High School has over the years adapted and re-used its facilities which has created inefficient and poorly suited buildings to meet today’s educational needs

Narrative Justification: Three major issues to address:

1. Phase I has a wood foundation. This is a safety issue and does not meet current fire codes and is the reason the main building cannot be expanded. Numerous spaces are not ADA accessible. Interior and exteriors systems are at the end of their useful life.
2. Auditorium – the lack of a large educational room which could be used for many purposes, including music and art performances has been a deficit in programming and has been pointed out on NEASC report.
3. Gymnasium was never completed. When constructed, the scope was reduced to reduce costs. There is a lack of gym space including locker rooms, and weight room.

Some building aid is possible due to the safety concerns in Phase 1. Improving the overall quality of the school building will make Londonderry a more attractive community to move to.
Cost: $116,424,000

Town of Londonderry

DPW Facility
Project Description: On August 14th, 2023 the Town Council authorized $64,500.00 to spent out of the AARP funds for the purposes of conducting a facility evaluation and spatial needs assessment as the DPW Master Plan with our engineering consultants firm Weston & Sampson (W&S). Since that date we have been diligently working with W&S to capture all necessary data to illustrate current conditions and appropriately size current and future facility department needs. They have interviewed all managers, foremen and administrative assistants, along with myself to clearly understand the needs of their reflective work areas and spatial needs. This led to a layout of the property at 120 High Range Road that we feel will work effectively and safely for all whom must utilize the site and future facility. We’ve worked closely on an appropriate phased approach to spread out costs and best approach to build such a facility while not adversely affecting the departments overall operation. Budgets have been drafted to reflect escalation based on known market trends.

Narrative Justification: The Town of Londonderry does not have a DPW facility, nor has the site of the DPW ever had a formal design completed to make the property functional and safe for its employees and visiting vendors, suppliers and the general public. The site is a collection of 5 old trailers, 3 old sheds, and a pole barn for the overall storage of items and construction materials scattered around the property. There is a single bay work garage built in 1970 with no proper ventilation for painting, welding or flammable materials. The mechanics don’t have a vehicle lift and the small parts room is located on a loft upstairs. There is no sprinkler system or fire protection in any of our buildings. Both salt sheds do not hold an adequate amount of salt for the Towns annual operation and the sand shed only holds enough material for one round of treatment. All $4.9M worth of town equipment is stored outside year-round. Leading to a quicker deterioration of vehicles and equipment. Some vehicles are under canopy’s but still susceptible to rain, snow, ice, temperatures, and wildlife perching or living under the hoods.

The site itself is largely dirt/gravel and what little is paved is unlevel, failing, uneven and in poor condition. There is no drainage or storm water management plan as is required by code for commercial style businesses in Town. There is a make shift detention basin poorly positioned in the middle of the yard that is in failure mode more often than not which then allows untreated storm water to directly sheet or run off our property into the woods. Due to the poor site conditions we do not currently meet any best management practices for storm water control which leads to employees walking across poorly plowed areas, ice, mud or puddles to get around the property. Overall the site is poorly lit and has no formal thought out flow to the site for operational direction providing no separation from the work environment to the public or professional access.

There is a small employee building constructed in 2015 to house the 14 employees that work for the DPW but is small in scale with little or no room to allow for growth. The locker room is undersized to the point that the employees still use the old lockers in the garage building. There is no formal conference room for meetings or training and lacks a paved and safe parking area for their personal vehicles and the visiting public. Most of the structures have no lighting or electricity and the garage and employee building doesn’t have adequate backup power.

Having spent the last year analyzing the site, buildings, storage areas, and overall operation of the department, we feel it is time to take on building a modernized facility to meet the departments current needs for Londonderry to lead the way in excellence for the services we currently provide and other services that we would then or otherwise be offering well into the future. For example, sidewalk snow plowing, street sweeping, drainage pipe jet cleaning, etc. The new facility would allow us to acquire the specialized equipment which must be stored in a dry climate-controlled environment. We feel strongly that the facility will expand and prolong our equipment life span; saving taxpayer money in replacement costs among other items.
Cost $25,000,000 – $45,000,000

Project Name: LEEP Space Needs & Full Day K in 3 Neighborhood Schools, SAU Office, and High School Addition & Renovation

DPW Facility