The layout of a proposed town road that would provide a second means of emergency access to the new Windham High School was unanimously passed by the Board of Selectmen after a site walk and public hearing.

Windham residents who spoke out at the Monday, July 21, public hearing were split in their opinions about the road’s purpose and layout, with some agreeing that it should be a paved throughway and others saying it should be a smaller gravel road with limited access.

The board voted unanimously to pass the plans for a 24-footwide paved road that would extend from the high school over London Bridge Road and connect to Castle Hill Road.

The project, estimated to cost just over $1 million, will go before voters as a special ballot item during the Sept. 9 primary elections.

A deliberative session on the town’s warrant article requesting to take out a $1.25 million bond for the road will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. at the town hall.

According to the state Department of Education, the school needs to have a second access before it can open. It is slated to open in September 2009, which leaves the town the Sept. 9 vote and the March 2009 vote to secure funding for the road.

A similar ballot question appeared on the school district’s ballot this past March, but failed to get the 60 percent majority vote it needed to pass. Selectman Bruce McMahon had petitioned the article with the argument the school district could get 30 percent reimbursement from the state with the project’s passage.

Several residents voiced their concerns at the public hearing that the proposed road was too costly and should not be a paved street. The town may have a hard time getting approval for funding for the proposed road, some said.

“We don’t want to stop the school. We do want to have a second emergency egress in there, but beyond meeting those goals, why do more, and why do it at the expense of taxpayers?” said Betty Dunn of Woodvue Road at the public hearing. “You haven’t convinced me yet.”

Dunn suggested the funding could fall under a betterment clause, which would mean the developer would pay for the road. Town attorney Bernard Campbell said the state of New Hampshire does not have a general betterment clause, so that was not an option.

Windham Fire Police Chief Thomas McPherson has said the school needs to have an emergency access before it can open.

The fire department would like to see the road be made into a paved, standard-sized road that would allow police and emergency vehicles seamless access to the school as well as a means to get to the other side of town quicker, said Assistant Deputy Fire Chief Robert Leuci. Leuci added that creating a town road instead of simply a limited access way will ensure that the road is maintained throughout the winter.

The fire department wants to see the road paved because a gravel road could be full of potholes and ruts after the snow and rain seasons.

Selectman Roger Hohenberger said a paved 24-foot road would only cost $150,000 more than a gravel road, adding the gravel would be much more expensive to maintain over the years due to erosion.

Chairman Dennis Senibaldi said making the road a paved, official public road will allow for easier snow removal and more efficient repairs.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about how we got here, it’s about how the chief’s going to get there,” said Senibaldi, referring to the fire department. “If you can get there and save a life, no one’s going to be talking about this road.”

In order to expand the road, the town is going to have to eat up some of the abutting properties. The town currently owns about one-third of London Bridge Road, which is paved right now. The other two-thirds of it are dirt and privately owned.

Two attorneys, John Ratigan, representing abutter James Logan, and Patricia Panciocco, representing Kerry McKenna, said their clients would be glad to give up land for the road as long as it was paved and maintained.

Peter Schmidt, of Heritage Hill Road, said he’s concerned about the amount of traffic that will be coming down his street once the new road opens.

“You’re going to jam that road like there’s no tomorrow,” said Schmidt.