Hooksett’s governing board has a long history of procrastinating on projects needed to prepare the town for growth, longtime Hooksett Planning Board Chairman Richard Marshall recently told the town council.

Marshall was asking the council to reconsider its previous decision to wipe out a warrant article on this year’s ballot that asks for $34,000 for studies needed to define roadway plans for the town’s three main corridors: Route 3, Route 3A and the Route 28 Bypass.

The professional studies are needed, said Marshall, so developers won’t sue when the town looks to spend road impact fees, which are fees developers pay when they get building permits. The fees must be used on planned road projects within six years, or they’re returned to the developers. The town currently has $43,000 banked in roadway impact fees, which began streaming in in October 2005.

Numerous pending residential projects will soon add to that fund at $1,272 per home. Marshall questioned the council’s foresight in striking the warrant article from the ballot.

“If you think you have time, you’re going to run out of it quick,” said Marshall. “Do you understand what it takes to do a job on a state highway – how many years it takes?”

The council previously stripped two other warrant articles that came from the planning board this year. One asked for money for a capital reserve fund created to update the town’s long-term Master Plan, and the other asked for study money for the southern leg of the north/south parkway, a road that’s been conceived in the town’s long-term plans for decades.

“This town needs to start investing in its future, and what I’ve seen in 34 years on the planning board is an unwillingness to do that,” said Marshall.

The council did vote 4-2 to add the $34,000 to the planning department’s budget, despite objections from some councilors.

“We’re trying to keep a lean budget and a lean ballot,” said Town Councilor David Ross. “If we don’t have the confidence of the voters that we’re doing everything we can to tighten our belts, then we’re putting the next two or three budget cycles in jeopardy.”