By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Planning board approval of the Capital Improvements Program does not constitute approval of a scheduled roundabout intersection in town, the board’s chairman said recently.

The statement from Goffstown Planning Board Chairman JoAnn Duffy came during an overview of the Capital Improvements Program, or CIP, on Thursday, Sept. 21.

One line item on the CIP requests $450,000 for improvements to Wallace and Mast roads. This improvement would take the form of a roundabout intersection, said Director of Public Works Carl Quiram.

Because residents often consider planning board approval of the CIP to be approval of individual projects, Duffy said she wanted to clarify the board’s position.

“I don’t want it to be construed that if we approve this matrix, we are approving a roundabout,” Duffy said.

The roundabout at Mast and Wallace is scheduled for 2007, and joins another roundabout set for Henry Bridge Road and Center Street. That intersection, in the Grasmere area of town, was scheduled as a 2005 project, Quiram said. It was selectmen who approved the Henry Bridge roundabout, said selectmen’s representative Nick Campasano.

CIP Committee Chairman Fred Plett said approval of line items should be seen as a green light for necessary improvements rather than specific projects.

“We didn’t approve a roundabout, we approved a capital solution to a problem intersection,” Plett said.

The CIP Committee approved the document on Aug. 17. The CIP offers a five-year overview of all town and school expenditures over $25,000 and all vehicles to be purchased by the town, Plett said.

Items included in the CIP for 2007 total $6.9 million, with the school portion at $2 million and the town at $4.8 million. The combined town and school projects constitute an increase from last year’s voter-approved CIP total of $4.9 million.

The CIP committee has the dual responsibility of ensuring the projects aren’t in conflict with the town master plan, and to rate those projects in order of importance. The CIP committee acts in an advisory capacity, he said.

“We don’t look as tightly at the numbers as the budget committee does, but we will see whether or not something passes the laugh test,” Plett said. “If it doesn’t pass the laugh test, it might be taken off the matrix.”

Following planning board approval, the CIP is subject to review by the selectmen, school board, budget committee and water precinct before appearing on the warrant at Town Meeting in March.

The planning board did not vote on whether to approve the CIP at the meeting, but instead tabled the vote until the meeting scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 28. Results of that vote were not available at press time.