Land Sale Negotiations For New Concord Middle School Reach An Impasse

CONCORD, NH — The elders of a Concord church are moving toward requesting its members to pull out of a purchase and sale agreement concerning 37-acres of land on Clinton Street that the Concord School District wants for a new middle school.

The CenterPoint Church negotiating team, which has been working with SAU 8 for many months to come to some agreement, reported to church elders Wednesday it had reached an impasse on acceptable terms, in the church’s view. The members agreed unanimously to cease the negotiating process. Elders also agreed with the decision to discontinue spending church resources trying to reach a deal.

While there were still a lot of unknowns about the project, the basic concept was to build a new Rundlett Middle School, at a cost of somewhere in the neighborhood of $176 million, on Clinton Street, not far from its intersection with Langley Parkway. A possible collaboration involving the Concord YMCA was also being floated.

The church negotiating team outlined four main objections to the deal.

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The first involved a land value fee which would need to be made to the city when the current use tax status changed. The fee could cost the church between $225,000 and $275,000.

“We find this completely unacceptable as the CSD is the entity changing the use of the property, not CenterPoint Church,” the email said. “This tax is collected by the city of Concord and there are no religious organization exceptions.”

Negotiators were also upset about “numerous contingencies” the district built into the agreement which would allow them to “exit the contract without cost.” The provisions include a 90-day “due diligence period” and a 12- to 15-month “permit contingency period” that could be “further extended in the case of appeals if permits are turned down,” the email said.

This, the team said, “could also be delayed by public protest against the CSD plan.” The email added, “Our land will be tied up for a lengthy period of time with no funds to show for it.” The negotiators called the withdrawal penalty for the district “very low” and would not kick in until the permit contingency period was complete.

“We feel the risk is high that CSD will not perform (follow through to closing) for any number of reasons, and we will not be adequately compensated to cover our costs,” the team said.

Part of the negotiations included the church also being able to find another 5 to 10 acres, somewhere in the city, as a replacement parcel, for recreation, gatherings, and athletics. Another $300,000 was added to sweeten the deal but those funds were “inadequate” to find a replacement parcel, negotiators said.

There was also discussion about the Concord School District offering some of its land holdings to the church as part of the deal. But, the negotiating team said, “CSD is unwilling/unable to include land as part of the sale for our 38 acres.”

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The negotiators did not mention a specific price for the land but circulated a memo outlining how the church would use the money.

Church members agreed the funds, if a deal were accepted, would not be integrated into its general fund except for reimbursing out-of-pocket expenses during the sale negotiations. Members would like the funds to be used toward local, regional, and world missions and outreach, “blessing Concord Christian Academy and other Christian schools,” and the church’s capital fund. There is a $120,000 capital fund debt the church was also floating.

The Clinton Street land was set aside to build either a larger church, at some point, or a Christian school that would provide room for “growth and ministry.”

According to its land holdings, the district owns several parcels around the city.

SAU 8 owns White Farm, about 30 acres of land across the street from the CenterPoint property.

While there are wetlands setbacks and use restrictions, there would be more than enough land to build a middle school there. The use restrictions, which are primarily educational in nature, could easily be worked into the curriculum of students — with some more profound thought and provisions made.

The state of New Hampshire and St. Paul’s School also owns hundreds of acres directly abutting the district’s parcel.

The district also owns nearly 90 acres of land in and around the Broken Ground Elementary School and Mill Brook Primary School — an area of the city where most of the increases in younger student enrollments and population growth have occurred. The land holdings offer more than enough room for a new middle school or a smaller, second middle school, a concept that has been repeatedly raised by community members for nearly two decades.

Proposals for a second middle school were made many years before the $90.8 million elementary school consolidation plan but ignored by officials. Property taxpayers will be paying millions of dollars per year for the elementary school project through 2041. Property taxes have also not been lowered on previously bonded items like repairs at Concord High School, which have long since been paid for. The current Broken Ground-Mill Brook parcel has nearly 10 acres available with frontage on Portsmouth Street for easy access to city water and sewer, too. Changes would need to be made to the configuration of playing fields and parking, shifting them onto undeveloped areas.

The district also still owns the former Eastman Elementary School property, a 4.6-acre parcel with a historic building and land, that is currently zoned for housing, that it is currently leasing.

In the email, the elder board told church members a kitchen table conversation, an intimate meeting setting put together by church officials and the congregation, would be held on Sept. 28. A formal membership vote will be held on two dates in October, to ensure as many members as possible play a role in the decision.

“Regardless of how you expressed yourself during the survey in March,” the email said, “you are free to vote in step with how God is leading you at this time. There has been much time for conversation, prayer, and discernment together since the first discussion back in February.”

Pastor Matt Furr was on sabbatical and not available for comment at post time.

Back in July, there were rumors the deal between the district and church was collapsing. At that time, Furr said he was unaware of the rumors but knew there was community action to stop the deal.

“We trust God’s movement and if the deal doesn’t go through, we trust that He will lead us to good use of the land in other ways,” Furr said.

Associate Pastor Joe Ercoli also did not return an email seeking comment.

A two-thirds majority of church members would be needed to approve the purchase and sale agreement.

An email has been sent to Kathleen Murphy, the district’s superintendent, seeking comment.

Also, for the past few months, the same activists that worked to have the third leg of the Northwest Bypass-Langley Parkway project removed from the Concord City Council’s CIP have also been promoting a rebuild option for a Rundlett Middle School at its current location.

Meredith Cooley from the Concord Greenspace Coalition said during the process of working to stop the parkway, the all-volunteer organization heard from members who raised issues about the relocation of the middle school to Clinton Street.

“We decided to empower our fellow Concord residents to advocate for green space by helping them organize around this issue,” she said.

Concerned residents have raised the cost, the added traffic, and commuter congestion, the amount of time students will be transported by bus, safety, and the lack of walkable and bikeable options. Hundreds of signatures have been collected against the relocation. Signs are also posted in the yards of homes around the city, promoting a rebuild.

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.

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