City Hall: School lunches could cost more this fall, traffic pattern change pitched at Hillside

May 10—QUEEN CITY STUDENTS could pay more for lunch next school year, following a vote by the school board's Committee on Finance and Facilities.

Under a proposal by Jim Connors, the district's director of food and nutrition services, the cost of school lunches would increase by 20 cents in the fall. The cost of breakfast and the a la carte price for an eight-ounce carton of milk would also go up 20 cents.

Current school lunch prices are $2.75 at city high schools and middle schools and $2.50 at elementary schools. The proposed prices are $2.95 for lunch at high schools and middle schools, and $2.70 at elementary schools.

Breakfast costs at all city high schools, middle schools and elementary schools will go from $1.30 to $1.50, and a la carte milk prices will go from 50 cents to 70 cents.

Members of the school board's Committee on Finance and Facilities supported the request this past week. Committee members Jim O'Connell, Karen Soule, Julie Turner and Chris Potter were in favor. Committee member Bob Baines was absent.

Connors estimates the price hikes would generate an additional $74,000 in revenue for Fiscal Year 2025. The matter will go before the full Board of School Committee for a vote Monday night.

The last school lunch increase approved in Manchester was a 10-cent hike in September 2019. Before that, prices went up by 10 cents in 2018, 10 cents in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2008, 2007 and 2001, and 15 cents in 2003 and 1998.

Connors proposed a similar 20-cent increase last summer, which the full school board rejected after former mayor Joyce Craig asked the board to transfer $44,166 from the district's general fund to the School Food and Nutrition Services fund, the amount that would have been generated by the proposed price increases.

Proposed traffic change

Members of the Committee on Public Safety, Health and Traffic gave their blessing to a recommended change in the traffic pattern on Reservoir Avenue, made necessary in part because of the addition of fifth-grade students at nearby Hillside Middle School.

The recommended change comes from public works officials, acting on a request from administrators at Hillside.

The change affects the traffic pattern on Reservoir Avenue from Circular Drive to a point approximately 150 feet east of Belmont Street. Current two-way traffic would be converted to one way in the direction of Circular Drive west toward Belmont.

The recommendation was prompted by concerns related to an expected 33% increase in enrollment at Hillside Middle School, which is expanding to include grades 5-8.

Public works and school officials say Reservoir Avenue traffic will increase during drop-off and pickup times. Parents currently drop off and pick up students on both sides of the street, which requires students to cross traffic.

Meanwhile, parking in the area of Derryfield Park and Hillside Middle School is limited. Additional staff at Hillside Middle School will require more parking and school expansion will eliminate some current spaces.

Sidewalks in the area are limited — only directly in front of the school on the north side.

Public works officials said a one-way traffic flow would allow students being dropped off to exit from the passenger side of vehicles. More drop-off-only parking would be posted next to the school entrance, and an added sidewalk on the north side of Reservoir Avenue, up to the tennis court parking area, would enable students to safely walk in the area if dropped off at a distance from the school.

Additional on-street parking would be added along the north side of Reservoir Avenue, from Circular Drive to a point past Hillside Middle School.

A previous Community Improvement Project provided funding to extend the sidewalk along the south side of Reservoir Avenue, from Circular Drive to a point across from Hillside Middle School, completing the sidewalk around Derryfield Park.

Once the plan is approved by the full board later this month, public works will submit specific ordinance changes for approval.

"Because funding already exists to perform the bulk of the required construction, it is the sincere desire for the Department of Public Works to complete this work as timely as possible," Caleb Dobbins, chief engineer for the city's highway department, wrote in a memo to aldermen.

Funding for projects

As part of the development process of Manchester's Fiscal Year 2025 Community Improvement Program, the city's Planning & Community Development Department has prepared a draft of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Action Plan that's available for public review during a comment period closing Thursday at 5 p.m.

The Action Plan is an annual component of the five-year Consolidated Plan, a prerequisite for receiving funding from HUD, including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and HOME funding.

The estimated level of funding for each is as follows: CDBG entitlement funds, including program income, in the amount of $1,620,470; HOME entitlement funds, including program income and unprogrammed funds, $1,737,020; and ESG funds estimated at $146,899, for a total of $3,504,389 in entitlement funding.

The plan will be submitted to HUD once approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, expected around Friday.

The Action Plan includes activities primarily benefiting low- to moderate-income city residents, either directly or indirectly.

Proposed activities mentioned in the plan include Public Services Activities like day care, health care services, youth outreach, after school and educational and recreational programs, social services and neighborhood safety oriented programs; Homeless Prevention and Homeless Support Services; General Municipal and Community Development Programs, including neighborhood and housing revitalization, infrastructure improvements, lead paint hazard remediation; and Planning and Administration, including administrative costs for overall program activities and contingencies.

Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com.