The Derry Town Council has approved applying for and accepting a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to explore the possibility of a local manufactured housing cooperative connecting with the town’s water and sewer system.
The grant would allow Running Brook Cooperative, a manufactured home community at 100 Rockingham Road, to fund an engineering study to determine the feasibility of connecting the community’s aging water and septic system to the town water and sewer system, which is being expanded down Route 28 (Rockingham Road). The grant application is for $12,000.
Planning Director George Sioras spoke on behalf of the cooperative, which is located next to Clam Haven on Route 28 South. The park was built in the 1950s, he said.
Donna Lane, an administrator for the CDBG, read from the application, “The community’s private water and sewer systems date back to the 1950s. Because the town has begun construction of municipal water and sewer to the Rockingham Road area (Route 28), the cooperative is exploring the feasibility of connecting its water and sewer systems to the town’s system. The proposed engineering study will evaluate their current infrastructure and pave the way toward a probable future application of CDBG funds for the actual replacement of the systems and eventual connection to the town’s water and sewer.”
Lane said at the Tuesday, Oct. 21 meeting that the funds are available to New Hampshire towns and cities through the Community Development Finance Association for projects that benefit low- to moderate-income people. Up to $500,000 is available for construction and up to $12,000 for engineering and other studies.
The project is in line with the Derry Housing and Development goal of “public and private wastewater systems that are safe, sanitary and meet the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services regulations.”
If the grant is approved, the town will be the fiscal agent.
While several members of the cooperative were in the audience, there were no speakers in a public hearing on the grant.
Lane said the application deadline was Oct. 30, 2014.
The Council approved allowing Acting Town Administrator Larry Budreau to apply for and accept the grant on behalf of the cooperative. The vote was 7-0.
