Apparently the NH RBC has been working full steam ahead on the Merrimack KH.
Yup, it's a pricey KH. They've already invested over 150,000 on the ground site and the preliminary landscaping of the heavily wooded area.
The neighbors were so upset at the extra truck traffic, noise and deforestation that Brooklyn sent in "appeasers" to meet with each of the neighbors.
The town of Merrimack is demanding hundreds of thousands go into landscaping. Also they had to put a sidewalk for hundreds of feet that goes along, starting from no place in particular, all in front of the property to... you guessed it, coming to an end in no place in particular further down the town road.
The parking lot is three times that of most KHs in the New England area (why so big? no clue, that's what the Bethel Architects came up with. They've had to do all kinds of rainage and drainage studies and present these at the town meeting but no explanation for the obviously oversized parking lot).
Several congregations in New England have taken loans 30,000 to 50,000 to help the new build. These congregations are taking loans from the WTS but the ownership of the Hall will be in the hands of the WTS when everything is built and paid for.
One congregation that took a $30,000 loan on behalf of the Merrimack project is situated an hour and 15 minutes away and the median age of the congregants is in the low 60's which means most of the publishers are retired and on Sundays the attendance is around 70, not a child is to be seen, in this mostly elderly but very generous KH. I visited a couple of meetings there and sitting through their "Wednesday" meeting was like pulling back molars, I'd rather they pulled teeth than sit through one of those again. Booooorrring! It was like the whole KH was one tired crowd that went along with the mechanics of the meeting.
Another congregation that took a loan from the WTS on behalf of the Merrimack KH Build project is way over in the State of Vermont, over two hours away. They had sent letters to quite a few congregations and these sent in responses to the Branch about whether or not their BOE felt they could help by taking out loans to finance the project.
Unfortunately the original costs for the project now seem underbudget. There's already plans to appeal for more financing since the materials have gone up and there have been quite a few snafus.
I plan to go to the dedication when all is said and done and take a few photos if all goes well.
