Changes to Concord’s parks, multiple new housing projects and a few long-planned road improvements are all on the city’s agenda for the next year.
At the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the City address on Thursday, Mayor Jim Bouley praised the city’s work to increase housing inventory, rattling off a number of projects that will begin construction this summer. Several multi-family projects have been approved, along with some single-family clusters, while others are still moving through the Planning Board process.
Penacook Landing, which opened 34 one and two-bedroom units in 2020, will get 20 additional units, 18 of which will be affordable, with construction starting this year.
The process for public input into the design of the nearby Canal Street Riverfront Park will also begin this spring and summer, with construction planned for fiscal year 2023, to be part of a larger interconnected network of Penacook green spaces.
Another upcoming proposal would create a splash pad at White Park. The Parks and Recreation Committee supports the idea, which could cost about $650,000 to put into place, instead of a renovation of the kiddie pool, which could cost about $550,000. Bouley said the splash zone would decrease the number of staff required and would be able to stay open longer than the city’s pools.
Work has continued at the $4.7 million commercial project off Exit 17 of I-93. Much of that project was paid for with bonds and notes that are part of the Penacook Village Tax Increment Finance District. The Market Basket, part of phase one of the project, is set to open soon.
Construction of a two-lane roundabout at Hoit Road and Whitney Road is underway and another roundabout has already been completed. “From my perspective, these are much-needed safety improvements,” Bouley said.
On April 20, the Planning Board will hear a plan to finally demolish the former Employment Security Building, which the city purchased in 2014 from the state. The John J. Flatley Company plans to replace the South Main Street building with 60 market-rate apartments, which the city estimates will bring in between $215,000 to $275,000 in property taxes annually.
City Manager Tom Aspell said the City Council would soon begin discussing phase three of improvements to Langley Parkway near Concord Hospital. Plans for a roundabout and bypass road have been in the works for years, but a recent Concord Fire Department study on response times and a proposal for new housing development by Brady Sullivan at the former Lincoln Financial site have added new urgency to the project. That project could cost between $17 and $18 million, Aspell said.
A Loudon Road bridge replacement project is also in the planning stages. The bridge over the Merrimack River is on the state’s red-listed program of bridges, and needs to be addressed before an I-93 expansion can take place, Aspell said. Changes would include a 14-foot multi-use path to the north side of the bridge, a 6-foot sidewalk on the south side, shoulders and a median.
Firefighter Drew Patterson received the Firefighter of the Year Award and Concord Detective Nicole Murray received the Officer of the Year Award on Thursday.
Next year’s city budget could include more spending on police and fire. Bouley said calls for emergency services have increased and that could mean more city money going towards police officers and firefighters and new equipment.
The number of calls the Concord Fire Department receives has increased over the past three years from 8,777 in fiscal year 2020, 9,721 in fiscal year 2021, and approaching 10,000 calls for the current fiscal year.
“There is a significant pressure on our fire department,” Bouley said. The council has already taken steps to shore up Concord Fire, approving funds at the March council meeting to bring staffing up to 20 positions.
The city purchased two ambulances for $275,000 each in the current fiscal year, and councilors has discussed adding another ambulance in the next budget. Adding a new ambulance would cost $300,000 and require four extra staff, costing about $900,000 annually. Bouley said the city could also buy a new ladder truck to the tune of $1.5 million this year.
Bouley also said the Concord Police Department has seen a “dramatic” increase in calls for service, although so far, the number of calls for service has remained below the average number of calls the department received between 2015 and 2019. In fiscal year 2020, there were 43,290 calls for service and 45,100 in 2021, and Bouley said calls for this year are estimated to reach 53,000. That would be an increase from 2020, but still below the number of calls the department received in 2015 and 2016.
“These departments are extremely stressed, I can’t stress that enough,” Bouley said. “It’s our desire as a city council, we’ve always supported community policing and interactions and activities. But the problem is these are becoming more and more difficult to do, as we’re dealing more often with these direct safety initiatives as they take priority.”
Bouley suggested that he supports adding more patrol officers. The department was authorized to employ 53 police officers in 2000 and 61 in 2010. The most recent budget included funding for 67 officers. That number doesn’t include sergeants and lieutenants, which brings the total to 85.
“We can’t sustain these additional calls with the same number of folks, so this is something that we as a council are really gonna have to wreswith next year,” he said.