By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Residents of the Lynchville and Danis Park neighborhoods have been complaining of poor road, water and sewer conditions on their property for decades, and will again take their case to the town at an upcoming Goffstown selectmen’s meeting.

Members of the Lynchville and Danis Park Neighborhood Improvement Committee will speak of the conditions in their area on Monday, April 17.

“It’s a nasty area. It’s like having an open waste site on the Piscataquog River,” said James Barden, who has owned property in Lynchville Park since the 1980s. Raw sewage could be found floating on the flooded streets during the heavy rains of last October due to poor drainage and outdated septic systems, Barden said.

Improvements to the neighborhood’s water, sewer, drainage and road systems will be the primary topic at the meeting, Barden said.

These concerns are hardly new to residents of the neighborhood, located off the intersection of Mast and Danis Park roads.

In fact, topics to be discussed at the selectmen’s meeting reflect a lifetime of concern for homeowners in the area.

“There are so many families here who are very low or completely out of water,” reads one letter from Lynchville/Danis Park residents to Manchester Water Works, signed by 28 residents.

“Have you ever been out or limited on water? Especially with small children?”

That letter is dated 1967.

Nearly 40 years later, the neighborhood still lacks connection to a public water line.

Homeowners still use dug wells, often with water filtration systems to fight poor water quality, said Martha Fournier, a co-chairman of the committee who has owned property in the neighborhood since 1998.

Efforts to have the neighborhood connected to Manchester’s sewer lines have also proven to be a struggle, Fournier said. Currently, most residents use septic systems with leach fields, while others use holding tanks.

“There are some antiquated septic systems. In some cases, property owners installed them thinking a connection to the sewer system was on its way, but that still hasn’t happened,” Fournier said.

The lack of water and sewer facilities manifest themselves in several ways, many of which are detailed in a fact sheet outlining conditions in the neighborhood.

There are 314 lots in the areas, containing 284 homes.

Problems outlined in the fact sheet include lower property values due to lack of a sewer connection; poor soil and drainage, with homes near the Piscataquog River experiencing flooding on an annual basis; and poor road conditions.

Of all the issues facing the neighborhood, the sewage problem may be the most pressing.

Stephen Crean, chairman of Goffstown’s Board of Sewer Commission, said about 1,800 of the town’s households are connected to the sewer line that runs from Goffstown Village to the Pinardville section of town and into Manchester.

While Lynchville/Danis Park could connect to the sewer line, the project may prove financially difficult, Crean said.

“It would be feasible to hook into the sewer line, but it would be very expensive. It would be hard to find a funding plan that would make everyone happy,” Crean said.

The best hope in connecting the neighborhood to Manchester sewer lines would lie in applying for grants, Fournier said.

In January, selectmen began applying for a federal grant through the office of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, with U.S. Rep. Charles Bass also listed as a key contact on this issue.

The purpose of the committee’s meeting with selectmen will be to establish a task force on the subject, Fournier said. She said committee members hope the task force will include representation from the board of selectmen, the sewer commission, the department of public works, Manchester Water Works, and a consultant engineer. Members of the Lynchville/Danis Park Neighborhood Improvement Committee will meet with selectmen at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 17, at Goffstown Town Hall.