Michelle Gasbarro: Beware Moultonborough: article 6 is not a shovel-ready plan

To The Daily Sun,

Moultonborough residents will be asked to vote on two warrant articles for new community buildings at the Town Meeting on March 14. Voters may want to consider the merits of both projects for the whole community before approving any major project.

Article 5 proposes a new community center on the former Lions Club property on Route 109, to replace and expand the old building plus additional parking that is a proven need there. Advantages here are an attractive open site that has been properly surveyed, with easy access from two directions, and existing community amenities including the gazebo and community garden. This is a familiar meeting place, where residents gather after the 4th of July parade and for many other private and public events.

Article 5 is a shovel ready project and could be completed in about a year. Article 5 is 100 percent supported by the BOS and ABC.

Article 6 proposes a recreational center with gym posing as a community center, shoehorned in behind the Academy, partly on the back of the Taylor property. The only advantage offered by its recreation advocates is the site’s proximity to the schools. Some of us finished school long ago and don’t need or want to revisit our adolescent years indefinitely. There are no proper site studies for this wooded parcel, and access is a big unknown. What is obvious is that building here will be exorbitantly expensive.

If it’s so important to have the recreation offices near the schools, and if there is a proven need for a new gym, why not locate it on the Central School property where parking and access on Blake Road can be used? And better yet, with declining school enrollment, why not locate the Rec offices in available space in the Central School?

Many question whether Moultonborough has overbuilt its schools. We should be looking for ways to use our existing buildings and infrastructure, not to add to our tax burden.

Speaking of tax burdens, is everyone watching the renewed battle over adequate school funding in N.H.? Stabilization aid for poor districts is back, and we can be sure that Moultonborough will be viewed as a donor town yet again and may be required to contribute to education funding. A state committee is reviewing the funding formula, since the present school funding formula was found inadequate and unconstitutional in late 2019.

As a property-rich community, Moultonborough is on the front line.This is not the time to commit to an expensive, unneeded, and unwanted project for the benefit of a few. It’s all about wants, not proven needs. Article 6 is not supported by the BOS or ABC. Article 6 is not shovel ready and voters need to vote NO on Article 6 on March 14.

Michelle Gasbarro

Moultonborough