Selectmen received mild support and pointed criticism over the possible construction of a $1.25 million secondary access road for the high school during a deliberative session on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

The town is gearing up to vote on two warrant articles during a special Town Meeting on Sept. 9, one of which is a $1.25 million bond to construct a 24-foot-wide paved road connecting Route 111 to Castle Hill Road to provide a secondary access to the high school.

State law requires that the high school constructed in that location have a second access for emergencies unless a waiver is signed by the local authorities. Fire Chief Tom McPherson has stated he will not sign off on the building unless the secondary access is constructed, though he has said publicly that he will work with town officials to find a feasible solution.

“I’ve been to a lot of town meetings and school district meetings when I’ve had to sit through long and boring over-detailed projects ... I’ve never come to a town meeting about a $1.25 million project and not had a presentation made,” resident Betty Dunn told selectman, to applause. “This is an important step in the democratic process and I would like to have a presentation on what it is and what we’ll be voting on.”

Debate focused on the standard of the proposed road with town residents arguing both for and against the proposed construction of a paved road with underground conduits for electrical wiring and underground drainage as outlined in the warrant article.

“We’re here because we’re trying to get the school opened by 2009 and in order to do that, we need a second egress. That’s been determined by our fire chief. In order to do that, we feel that we need this special meeting to begin the process of (building the road),” Selectman Roger Hohenberger said. “Past discussion has been over whether it should be paved, gated or a through road. What we have been talking about is a through road.”

Hohenberger said the proposed road would give the town’s police and fire departments better access not only to the high school but to other neighborhoods in the town.

“To have this second access, not only because it’s a requirement, but because we have a school located down a mile of the road that is one way in, one way out,” Chief McPherson told the board and members of the audience. “As you know, the town of Windham operates with one station. We don’t have the luxury of having substations. (There is) limited travel to the other parts of town. Certainly this road, from a public safety standpoint, serves multiple purposes.”

Though building a gravel access instead of a paved road remained a viable option, both selectmen and town public safety officials said that move would cost more than paving the road.

According to selectmen, the gravel road option would cost $150,000 less and violate agreements with abutters who had donated the land to the town for the project in return for the paved road. The cost of annual maintenance of the gravel road combined with the price of buying out the abutters would make any savings negligible, officials said.

While residents also raised concerns over traffic issues, the presence of young and inexperienced drivers along the proposed route and the lack of either sidewalks or a bike path, the wording on the warrant survived the session unchanged and will retain the same wording when it is brought before voters in September.

“I think there’s one thing we can all agree upon – nobody is happy being here at this stage of this project dealing with this issue. It’s distressing. That’s reality. We are here and we are in this place and we have to face this reality,” Dunn said. “I am convinced we need another real access road. If you look at in theory, its one thing, but if you look at it and see how difficult of a road it’s going to be, you might be more inclined to say we need to do this.”