By Jen Claise
Staff Writer

Candia voters will consider at least two major proposals totaling almost $10 million in March.

School officials are working hard to prove to residents why now is the time to go forward with a $5.6 million Moore School addition and renovation proposal, even though similar proposals have failed in the past.

Also, voters will once again consider the construction of a transfer station – slated to cost about $4 million – which could bring in about $500 a day in revenue, according to town officials. A majority of voters approved the project last year, with 157 voting yes and 134 no, but not the required two-thirds majority necessary for the issue to pass.

Members of the school’s facilities committee, which includes school board members, town and SAU 15 officials, parents and community members, recently held their first community forum aimed at winning public support for the project. Additional forums will be announced in the coming weeks.

Committee and school board member Bill Zarges said the board’s ultimate goal is to put Moore School in the top 10 percent of New Hampshire schools – something that can’t be achieved in the current facility, he said.

With about 430 students, the school is not overcrowded, but lacks adequate space for special education, science instruction and sports, members say.

By approving the current proposal, voters would be gaining a new middle-school regulation-sized gymnasium, science labs and a restored media center. SAU 15 Superintendent Armand LaSelva said the changes would serve the town’s needs for the next 12 to 15 years.

During the recent forum, Clark Thyng, chairman of the board of selectmen, said the school’s needs will only increase in the future, and so will the costs of the project.

In 1996, he said, voters rejected a $1.8 million proposal that would have accomplished the current goals.

“If that had passed, we would not have been sitting here tonight,” Thyng said. “We all know construction costs are just going to keep going up.”

Transfer station
Coincidentally, Gary York, member of the board of selectmen and interim operator of the town’s recycling center and incinerator, raised the issue of a new transfer station during the school forum, but the groans and sighs from the audience seemed to indicate it was not the right time for that discussion.

Under that plan, the new facility would likely be built near the intersection of Old Candia and Brown roads abutting Route 101. York said the area is zoned residential, but the town is not constrained by its own zoning regulations.

The new recycling and solid waste transfer center would store trash from Candia and other communities. A private trash hauler would contract with the town to lease the facility, and would be responsible for capital, operation and maintenance costs.

If the facility is built large enough to take in 500 tons of garbage each day, and if the town charged a private hauler $1 per ton, it would equal $500 a day in revenue for the town, or about $130,000 each year, York said.

However, several factors, including the exact location of the facility, its design, and the contract with a private hauler, still need to be worked out, York said.

Additionally, resident concerns about the proposal and the ramifications of a partnership with a private hauler will need to be addressed soon.

“There’s still work to be done, but the board of selectmen will be bringing the proposal forward again in 2005,” York confirmed.

The permit for the current incinerator is set to expire in 2008, as the state is trying to crack down on incinerating garbage. It is unclear whether the incinerator would be given a new permit, town officials have said.

However, York and the town’s solid waste committee are still trying to make improvements at the current site, and are planning to begin recycling plastic sometime after the first of the year. More details on that plan will follow, York said.