Boscawen voters will be asked to establish an 82.5 acre town forest along Walker Pond, primarily on land acquired in 2021 from a sale with the water district.

The town-owned land offers residents an opportunity to access the 200-acre pond, a former source of drinking water.

The land had been owned for decades by the Penacook-Boscawen Water Precinct, which now provides water from wells to about 1,100 customers, mostly residential, in Boscawen and Penacook. The town forest would be managed by a committee and appointed tree warden. 

Boscawen residents will also consider a $4.9 million operating budget at their town meeting this year, an increase of roughly $54,000, or 1.1%.

Relatively small increases spread across departments, many related to rising wages or insurance costs, make up the increase. Capital reserve fund allocations totaling $585,000 are also up for approval this year. Last year, residents faced a 6% operating budget jump of more than $280,000.

The town will also decide whether to adopt community power – a system where towns and cities can buy power as a unit on the open market, rather than through a utility company, providing more choice on renewables and, in theory, saving on rates – through the Community Power Coalition. The town would join dozens of  peers – including Canterbury, Loudon, Pembroke, Webster, Warner and Wilmot – in changing over to this system, authorized by the state in 2021.

Voters previously approved the sale of Boscawen’s former library, a 1913 building on the National Register of Historic Places, but a plan for the sale will need approval this year.

During voting on Tuesday, residents will decide on a number of zoning amendments, which will give the town more flexibility when approving new housing, including cluster developments that allow a higher density of homes on smaller lots to preserve more open space and more options for accessory dwelling units on existing housing lots.

Tuesday’s town meeting will be held at the Boscawen Elementary School on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Ballot voting will be held during the day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the town library at 116 North Main St. The race for a single seat on the Select Board is uncontested.