Though the rainy season has come and gone this year, homeowners in the Beauchesne neighborhood in the heart of the Village area in Hooksett are worried two new 55-and-older communities on Route 3 will mean drainage problems in their basements further down the line.

More than 20 homeowners attended a Hooksett Planning Board meeting at the public library on Nov. 24 to express concern about the proposed Brookview Senior Housing development, slated for an 8- acre parcel near the site of the former Mount Saint Mary’s College.

Brookview is one of two similar senior developments proposed for the immediate area along Route 3 in Hooksett.

Harmony Place, a project with a similar target demographic, has been planned adjacent to the Brookview site. Neither project has been given the go-ahead by the Hooksett Planning Board.

Now town officials say a comprehensive drainage study must be conducted in and around the Village area in Hooksett before any proposed new developments are approved by the board.

“In order to get a true picture going forward, this is calling for a complete study,” said Town Council Vice Chairman Paul Loiselle at the meeting. “This is a big order, but if it’s not addressed in this manner, I don’t see how it can be addressed.”

Hooksett resident Frank Lee, who lives on Albert Avenue in the Beauchesne neighborhood, explained to Planning Board members that he and his neighbors never experienced water problems before the developers of the Granite Heights neighborhood, to the northeast of the proposed senior communities, began construction three years ago. Since 2005, he said many cellars on the street flood every time it storms.

“Each year the water issue gets a little worse and worse and worse,” Lee said. “We’re the ones who will suffer for it. We’re the ones who will have flooded cellars. That’s why we’re all here.”

Members of the community said that adding another construction project upstream from their homes will only exacerbate existing drainage problems.

Resident Mary Farwell of Grant Avenue said the board has an obligation to look at the big picture before approving the individual projects. “Each individual thing might be OK, but when you put it all together, it’s not OK,” Farwell said.

The developer of Harmony Place agreed at the meeting to help fund one-third of the drainage study, estimated at $10,000 to conduct. The developer of Brookview Senior Housing told Town Planner JoAnn Duffy they would contribute ony $800 in addition to the $2,500 they already provided for a preliminary hydrology study.

The Hooksett Town Council was expected to hear about plans for the drainage study on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

“We must find money for the study,” said Town Councilor Patricia Rueppel.