Concord School Board tours forest where 29 acres of trees will be cut down for new $150M middle school

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (center) shows maps as the group of school officials and members of the public walks the area behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools on the site tour for the proposed middle school on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (center) shows maps as the group of school officials and members of the public walks the area behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools on the site tour for the proposed middle school on Saturday, Sept. 28. GEOFF FORESTER photos / Monitor staff

Participants walk around the fields behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they look over the site for the proposed  middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Participants walk around the fields behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they look over the site for the proposed  middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Participants look over maps of the trails behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they visit the site proposed for the new middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Participants look over maps of the trails behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they visit the site proposed for the new middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Participants look over maps on the trails behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they tour the site for the proposed middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Participants look over maps on the trails behind Millbrook and Broken Ground schools as they tour the site for the proposed middle school on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Jack Dunn, the SAU 8 business administrator, and Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson use a map to show the participants of the middle school site tour the area as they stand at the trailhead which would be near the new school.

Jack Dunn, the SAU 8 business administrator, and Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson use a map to show the participants of the middle school site tour the area as they stand at the trailhead which would be near the new school. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Jack Dunn, the SAU 8 business administrator, uses a map to show the participants of the new middle school site tour the land as they stand on North Curtisville Road which is near the proposed site for the school.

Jack Dunn, the SAU 8 business administrator, uses a map to show the participants of the new middle school site tour the land as they stand on North Curtisville Road which is near the proposed site for the school. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (left) and Ward Five City Councilor Stacey Brown look over maps as they walk the trail where the proposed new middle school would be located during a tour of the area on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (left) and Ward Five City Councilor Stacey Brown look over maps as they walk the trail where the proposed new middle school would be located during a tour of the area on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Ward Five City Councilor Stacey Brown looks up at the apron of trees along the path where the proposed middle school would be located behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground school on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Ward Five City Councilor Stacey Brown looks up at the apron of trees along the path where the proposed middle school would be located behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground school on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Participants look over maps of the trails behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools as they begin the tour for the middle school proposed site on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Participants look over maps of the trails behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools as they begin the tour for the middle school proposed site on Saturday, Sept. 28. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (center) shows maps as participants in the tour of the area proposed for the new middle school walk the area behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Norbis project engineer Morgan Dunson (center) shows maps as participants in the tour of the area proposed for the new middle school walk the area behind Mill Brook and Broken Ground schools on Saturday, September 28, 2024. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

Monitor staff

Published: 09-30-2024 2:37 PM

Modified: 09-30-2024 4:52 PM

Six members of the Concord School Board and about 15 members of the public toured the forest that, if all goes to the district’s plan, will one day be city’s new middle school.

“So, here, at this intersection, this is right in the middle of where the school will go,” said Morgan Dunson, the project engineer with the Nobis Group, showing where the existing trail network snaked through the project map. 

The 59-acre piece of land, which runs from a small trailhead off South Curtisville through to the cul-de-sac end of North Curtisville road, contains a few miles of trails and a mixed-age, largely white pine, maple and oak forest. A section of the city’s Batchelder Mill Road trails would be re-routed around the back of the new school and athletic fields as part of the project.

As the group lobbed questions at Dunson and district staff, a boy riding a red and black BMX-style parted the group like a sea, pedaling through the sun-dappled dirt path and into the rest of a pristine September Saturday.

“Is that one of yours, Jay?” someone asked Middle School Principal Jay Richard, who donned a gray “Concord Football” Hoodie.

“Not yet,” he responded. The biker was too young to be a current student at Rundlett. Likely also too old to attend its replacement. 

Between the footprint of the school, its several playing fields, parking lots and driveways, 29 acres of trees would be cleared for the project, according to the latest estimate shared by Dunson.

For those who attended the tour who opposed the new location, the tour served only to confirm their opposition. 

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Thousands scramble for health coverage as Medicare Advantage firms leave N.H.
Merrimack Valley bus driver woes lead superintendent to get behind the wheel
Federal judge rules Bow parent can attend school games after protesting transgender athletes
Merrimack Valley schools turn to trust funds to cover $1.1 million budget shortfall
Three new athletic directors and their visions to push high school sports forward
Concord police: 1 wounded in Rollins Park shooting Monday night
Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

Twenty-nine acres, they remarked, hands on chins and eyes turned upward to the thin canopy, is a lot of trees. 

The school board is scheduled to make a final up-down vote on the project in late 2025, after the amount of state building aid the project could receive is set, and construction, if approved, would begin in January 2026.