Middle school plans to get planning board commentary

Plans for a new middle school in Concord will go before the city’s planning board for non-binding review and public comments Wednesday night.

State law exempts government projects like the school rebuild from local regulations, but the planning board can make comments and suggestions about project plans as they relate to city rules. Wednesday night’s review also includes a public hearing.

City staff, in notes attached to the agenda, especially urged greater clarity and signage on the flow of traffic through and around the new school — like where backups around drop-off times might be and which areas would be one-way or two-way traffic — and suggested an additional traffic study. Staff reports also voice concern about insufficient parking during events, outreach to the residents of abutting streets and the need for new infrastructure to make walking and biking to the school safer.

The joint city-school committee, where Concord and Merrimack Valley School district voices meet with city representatives, will also meet later this week, at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, for the first time since last February. The middle school, memorial field projects and budgets populate the agenda.

Next Wednesday evening, the Concord Board of Education will meet again to finalize its bond schedule for the middle school project.

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