A $15 million plan to double the capacity at the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Plant may be dead on its arrival at the upcoming deliberative session of Allenstown’s Town Meeting.

Town Administrator Kelley Collins said a bond attorney for the town has informed selectmen that the warrant article is defective since it doesn’t include a recommendation from the board.

The $15 million question will remain on the warrant since it was already publicly posted, said Collins, but a “yes” vote in March won’t set the plan in action.

“According to the bond counsel, they couldn’t issue bonds based on that defect in the warrant article,” Collins said.

The recommendation from selectmen would be needed to satisfy a state statute outlining how to present a bond request in excess of 10 percent of what’s being recommended by the budget committee at an annual Town Meeting.

In a split vote, the budget committee previously voted not to recommend the plan for the plant upgrade.

Selectmen also previously voted 2-1 to not post a recommendation on the warrant article. Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney has said selectmen in favor of withholding a recommendation didn’t want to influence voters one way or another on the $15 million request.

McKenney couldn’t be reached by press time. The state Department of Environmental Services placed a moratorium on new hookups to the plant – which is at maximum capacity – in 2005. The Town of Pembroke would have been responsible for just over half the cost of the plant upgrade, according to an agreement signed between the neighboring town’s sewer commissions last year.

Allenstown Sewer Commission Chairman James Rodger said Allenstown would have ultimately – given some successful grant applications – been responsible for about $3.5 million of the plant upgrade.

Rodger said he wasn’t overly confident about the plant renovation plan passing this year, but said he’d hoped it could have been a good year to start a dialogue with voters about the plant’s issues.

“Now I think it was all a waste of time,” Rodger said. “Yes, (the warrant article) is going to be there, but it doesn’t really mean anything.”

Rodger said it’s difficult to get people rallied behind any plan with such a hefty price tag. “The fact that the budget committee didn’t pass (a recommendation) and the selectmen didn’t give a recommendation shows me the issue is a hot potato,” Rodger said.

The deliberative session of Allenstown’s Town Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, at 10 a.m. at Allenstown Elementary School.