NOTES OF JULY 10, 2017 RYE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING
Draft Revision C – Provided by the Rye Civic League
Present (clockwise around table): Town Administrator Michael Magnant, Selectmen Craig Musselman, Priscilla Jenness and Phil Winslow, Finance Director Cyndi Gillespie.
Also present and sitting in the audience or the lobby outside: Police Chief Kevin Walsh, Public Works Director Dennis McCarthy.
Persons present from the public included: Victor Azzi, Steven Borne, Tom Clifford (Rye Water District), Peter Crawford, Bill and Helen Sloane.
Editor’s
note: For ease in finding particular
sections using the archived video and audio on the Town website, the elapsed
time is indicated. Use the slider and
the elapsed time indicated at the bottom of the video window to fast forward to
the desired section. Videos on the Town website may currently be accessed
at www.town.rye.nh.us by clicking on
“Town Hall Streaming” at the bottom left of the screen. Follow the link for “Town Hall Live
Streaming,” then find the meeting by date under “Previous.”
The video starts
at 6:39:55 p.m. (0:00 elapsed). The
audio is off until 6:40:25 p.m. (0:30 elapsed).
Summary
1.
Town Hall employees will be receiving
training in conflict resolution.
Sealing of minutes (1:20 elapsed)
The motion of Selectman
Jenness to seal the minutes of the non-public session
just concluded carried unanimously.
Public comment period (1:32 elapsed)
Robert Wylde had comments about plumbing improvements in the
battery barn. Editor’s Note: This is an
apparent reference to the Old Trolley Barn, also known as the Old Police
Station, which is located across the street, and down
the road a bit, from Town Hall. He
also suggested another bay be added at the Transfer Station for salvageable
items that are not appropriate for the Swap Shop.
Consent Agenda: Sign request for
Great Bay 5K race (4:25 elapsed)
The only item on the
Consent Agenda, Item A was pulled off.
It was a sign request by Natasha Goyette for
the Great Bay 5K race. The problem was
that the sign is proposed to be 3x3 feet when the limit is 2x2 feet, but the
larger problem is that the race was not to be run in Rye and was insufficiently
related to the Town. The motion to deny
the request inasmuch as the sign was too large and and
the request is inconsistent with the purpose of the sign ordinance carried
unanimously.
Minutes (8:21 elapsed)
The minutes of the June
19, 2017 meeting were unanimously approved with changes. The minutes of the non-public session of the
same day were unanimously approved without changes. The minutes of the June 26, 2017 meeting were
unanimously approved with changes. The
minutes of the non-public session of the same day were unanimously approved
without changes.
Hiring of Daniel Barron and Dan Walker by Public Works (13:47 elapsed)
Public Works Director
Dennis McCarthy explained that Mr. Barron is currently working part-time for
Public Works and he want to hire him for the full-time position. Mr. Barron grew up in Rye, but no longer
lives here, he explained. After that was
agreed to, Mr. McCarthy moved on to the hiring of Dan Walker to fill the
part-time position just vacated by Mr. Barron.
This would bring Public Works back to a full complement. The wage rate is $16.68 per hour. His hiring also appeared to be agreed
to.
State Senator Dan Innis (16:21 elapsed)
This item was skipped
as Senator Innis was unable to attend.
It will be rescheduled.
Salt Shed Consultant Selection (16:30 elapsed)
This matter was
tabled. It will be taken up in future
public and non-public sessions.
Resident requests to relocate electric service under town roads (17:04
elapsed)
Public Works Director
Dennis McCarthy addressed. He said that
they have received multiple requests to relocate electrical service under town
roads from residents that want to connect to a utility pole across the street
from their homes. This can prevent the
need for a second pole on the same side of the road as the house, wires over
the road and/or electric service above ground to the house as the wires can be
run underground from the house all of the way to the existing pole across the
street. One of these requests has
already been approved. Another request
at 195 Love Ln. has been received, and Love Ln. is scheduled to be repaved next
month, Mr. McCarthy said. There are
potential problems with differential settlement and he is concerned with
creating a precedent. He recommends that
the homeowner be required to bore underneath the road.
Selectman Musselman said that the homeowner would need to agree to
maintain the wiring. It should also be
buried in conduit, he said.
Mr. McCarthy said that
new subdivisions must have underground wiring, but this request involves an
existing development.
The request on Love Ln.
was unanimously approved, conditioned on boring under the road and the use of
conduit. It was agreed that a policy for
subsequent requests of this type would be developed.
Training on conflict resolution for Town
Hall staff (23:45 elapsed)
Town Administrator Magnant mentioned this issue, and added that it would
require the closing of Town Hall. He
prefers that the training be conducted in a single day.
There were cryptic
references by Selectmen Musselman and Winslow to
waiting until “other activities” were well along and the “situation.”
Amendments to Land Use Boards’ Rules of Procedure
(27:14 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman referred to their attention having been called to
some board members having interacted with members of the public outside of
meetings. The rules are sparse on ex
parte communications. The ZBA is quasi
judicial and this should be avoided.
Town Attorney Donovan had looked at this and opined that board members
should not be giving advice to either applicants or to those who would be
making comments, he said. It was agreed
that the Selectmen would write a memo to the land use boards suggesting that
their Rules of Procedure be amended in accordance with his suggestions.
There was also
discussion about whether the Historic District Commission and Heritage
Commission (with respect to its demolition delay authority) are land use
boards.
Steven Borne, speaking
from the audience, said that he would have thought that the Conservation
Commission should also be considered a land use board. Editor’s
note: While it does not have formal
authority, the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment often seek
input from the Conservation Commission, particularly with regard to wetlands
issues. The Conservation Commission
conducts site walks and has applicants come before it in furtherance of its
advisory role.
Mr. Borne also mentioned that certain pages
were discovered to be missing from the Planning Board’s Rules and Regulations.
Selectman Musselman said that he did not know about the missing
pages. He said that one of the issues is
board members talking to applicants regarding what is required. Applicants should talk to the Building
Inspector or the Planning Administrator about these issues, he said.
Mr. Borne described how
there was a twelve page version of the rules on the website, but the Rules and
Regulations Subcommittee had approved a nine page version. The entire document had been retyped in a
different font, he said. Editor’s note: Click here to see the letter from the RCL
on this subject. Click
here to see a summary of the undocumented changes.
Selectman Musselman said that a request to make sure that the rules
are complete could be added to the Selectmen’s memorandum.
The motion to pass on
the advice and documentation by Selectman Jenness,
seconded by Selectman Winslow, carried unanimously.
Breakfast Hill and Grove Road Landfill PFC
Testing Results (37:43 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman recused himself and left the front table to make
a presentation on behalf of his firm, CMA Engineers. He explained how his firm had been
responsible for monitoring both the Breakfast Hill and Grove Road Landfills
since 1996. As more and more data has
been obtained, the monitoring has become less frequent. To date, the water quality impact, based on
the conventional parameters measured, has been relatively minor, he said. That is more the case with the Grove Road
Landfill than the Breakfast Hill Landfill.
Prior to 1996, the Rye
Water District had its own testing and monitoring firm. In about 2005, when I became a Selectman, it
was determined that the Town would retain Eastern Analytical to do the testing,
but that CMA Engineers would review the data and file the reports with the DES
(New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services), Selectman Musselman said. He
announced that Paul Schmidt, a senior engineer with CMA was with him.
Previously the only
excess level was manganese at the Breakfast Hill Landfill, Selectman Musselman said. That
is present in the soil in New England and the landfill can cause more manganese
to leach out of the soil than would otherwise be the case. Some down gradient and up gradient wells
exceed primary drinking water standards.
That has been true of both on and off site testing wells. As a result, two or three years ago, the Town
established a zoning overlay district down gradient from the Breakfast Hill
Landfill which precludes the use of ground water for drinking water in this
area. One testing location had a level
of more than .84 milligrams per liter which is the manganese drinking water
standard. Selectman Musselman
pointed out monitoring well locations on the poster which is not visible in the
video. Editor’s note: See the notes of
the July 24, 2017 meeting. The Town has
refused to allow the public to photograph the posters, asserting that they are
the property of CMA Engineers, that the Town no longer has custody of them, and
that they are not “government documents” subject to the right-to-know law.
The Breakfast Hill
Landfill was in operation from 1976 to 1982 and has been capped with a clay cap
with loam and seed over the top. It has
Rye residential trash and some commercial trash from restaurants and minor
commercial businesses in Rye from 1976 through 1982.
(45:15 elapsed)
In
the last year of its operation, unbeknownst to me, and I was representing
Portsmouth at the time, and unbeknownst to Selectman Jenness,
whose husband was the Road Agent before that period of time, we found out that
ash from the waste-to-energy plant at Pease Air Force Base had been deposited
at the Breakfast Hill Landfill, Selectman Musselman
admitted. We had recently heard an
indication that there may have been a deal with the Town of Rye struck in the
late 1980s to take the ash, he said.
The waste-to-energy plant was owned and operated by the City of
Portsmouth, he said. After talking to
Roger Philbrick who had observed the ash being
delivered, we confirmed that the assertion was true. Editor’s
note: The RCL has also learned that
State Representative Mindi Messmer,
some time prior to this revelation, located a copy of the contract providing
for disposal of the ash and forwarded it to the Selectmen. The last several feet on top of the
landfill is ash, with sand, then a clay cover, and loam on top of that,
Selectman Musselman said.
We were asked in April
by NHDES, as were all owners of active or closed solid waste landfills, to
obtain samples from selected monitoring wells to analyze them for perfluorinated compounds, PFCs, Selectman Musselman said.
These are man-made chemicals that are ubiquitous, and exist in lots of
materials including certain types of clothing and cosmetics, in Teflon and in
anything that is slippery, he said. They
have only recently been able to be analyzed for. They are analyzed at a very low level. The standard is 70 parts per trillion,
whereas VOC standards are typically in parts per billion. DES asked the landfill owners to select wells
to test in 2017 and 2018. DES wanted us
to go early, and they were particularly interested in the Breakfast Hill
site.
In the third week of
May, water quality samples for PFCs were gathered at both sites. DES left it to us to choose what to do at the
Grove Road site.
There are two main
classifications of perfluorinated compounds, PFOAs
and PFOSs. An up gradient well that was
sampled had a PFOA level of 3.3 and a PFOS level of 5.8, for a total of
9.1. One of the up gradient wells that
DES wanted sampled was not tested as that was not possible. The 9.1 total is not uncommon for a
background sample. Airborne deposition
can be a source at these very low levels, he said.
Two of the down
gradient wells on site showed excesses of the 70 parts per trillion. At MW4A it is 82, at MW6A 74 and on the south
side of the site it is 22. The off-site
monitoring well was a total of 68. That
is in the zoning overlay area. I have no
reason to doubt any of these results. We
are not proposing to resample, Selectman Musselman
said. Editor’s note: It appears from
the context that these figures apply to monitoring wells around the Breakfast
Hill Landfill. In 2016, a different
part of DES did a rather comprehensive sampling of water wells in the entire
area relative to the Coakley Landfill investigation, Selectman Musselman said. Editor’s note: The Coakley Landfill, unlike the other two,
is not in Rye. It is near the Breakfast
Hill Landfill (to the southwest of it), in Greenland and North Hampton. Access is obtained by a short walk along a path
from the parking lot of the Bethany Church in Greenland, which is located adjacent
to the Breakfast Hill Landfill, which is just across the town line in Rye.
Most of the area is served by the Rye Water
District and most of the houses are not using ground water for drinking water
purposes. DES is checking to make sure
that they have checked all of the wells, and I do not know that another step is
necessary, Selectman Musselman said.
Selectman Winslow asked
whether PFCs had ever been tested for before.
Selectman Musselman said that they had not
been and that testing is not required by any of the groundwater management
permits in New Hampshire. DES might
change that. There are 100-150 landfills
in New Hampshire. They will get data
from them and then decide on the next steps, he said.
(54:47 elapsed)
Selectman Musselman then turned to the Grove Road Landfill site. The site was active from the mid-1930s until
1975. It was initially a burning
dump. The trash would be piled up for a
period of time and then set on fire.
That was the operation until 1964, at which point an incinerator was
installed on the site. That operated for
three years and, what I am told is that the smoke ruined a wedding of the
daughter of a judge. He sued the town in
1965 and in 1966 the court ordered the Town to abandon the incinerator. Editor’s
note: The case went to the New Hampshire
Supreme Court, which affirmed the lower court’s decision in 1967. See https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1496398/webb-v-rye/. It was a burning dump for 26 years, an
incinerator ash dump for 3 years, and a so-called sanitary landfill where trash
was deposited and then covered by soil from 1967 to 1975, Selectman Musselman said. It
is in the recharge area of the Rye Water District’s Garland Well. The property was originally a gravel pit and
dump site for the Farragut Hotel, I hear.
The Farragut Hotel sold it to Abbott Drake in the early 1900s, who in
turn sold it to the Town of Rye in the 1930s.
When the site closed in 1975, the Rye Water District wanted to, and did,
acquire the site from the Town, for fair compensation. I don’t know whether it was for a dollar, he
said. Editor’s note: See Rockingham
County Registry of Deeds (RCRD), book 2271, page 874. Prior transactions are book 841, page 135,
book 952, page 282, and book 1713, page 164. See also RCRD plan D-6388. The RCL has not reviewed these deeds in
detail, but they appear to be consistent with what Selectman Musselman stated, except that some of his dates appear to
be incorrect. No data on consideration
is included in the deeds.
The 30 foot by 60 foot fire pond, which was
well below the ground water level, was backfilled with trash. There is municipal solid waste up to 13 feet
below the ground water level. The ash is
buried. Towards the surface, it is a
more conventional sanitary landfill, Selectman Musselman
said.
Selectman Musselman referred to the locations of the various
monitoring wells. MW1 is up gradient
towards Joe Tucker’s property. MW3 and
MW3E are screened at two different levels, down gradient of the landfill, MW6 is down gradient of the landfill and the old
fire pond. MW101 is screened in the
waste, below the ground water level. MW5
is an off-site monitoring well, TW1574 is a Rye Water District test well for
the Garland Road Well, which has been regularly monitored for some 20
years. MW102 was installed in the late
90s and is 900 feet from the landfill.
The up gradient PFC
concentrations were a total of 8.9 parts per trillion. MW3 was 15.
There is not a significant increase from passing under the waste at the
site. MW6 has a PFOA level of 41 and a
PFOS level of 110, for a combined total of 152, which is a little more than
twice the established drinking water standard, Selectman Musselman
said.
These data came out a
week ago Thursday, late in the day.
Friday morning I notified Ken Aspen of the Rye Water District and both
the water supply and water quality monitoring divisions of NHDES of the
results, Selectman Musselman said. NHDES acted very quickly and there was an
engineer by Monday morning. He sampled
the Garland well, TW1574 which had not been analyzed, and took another sample
of MW6. A confirming round is needed. These are very low concentrations. Special gloves and equipment are needed to
avoid contamination. There could also be
laboratory error. DES also attempted to
take samples from 15 private wells that are within 1000 feet of the old dump
site, he said.
During the ensuing
period after 1975, two additional deposits of solid materials were made. A local contractor (once a Rye Water District
Commissioner) deposited clay silt brought in from a construction site in
Epping. That is near MW101 and MW6, but
also all over the site. Dredge spoils
from Rye Harbor were also deposited.
Soil from this site was used to build a berm across Rye Harbor in the
early 60s. Then dredge spoils from Rye
Harbor was deposited behind the berm.
That is where all of the boats are stored during the winter between
Ocean Blvd. and the new edge of Rye Harbor.
They ran out of room and some dredge spoils were deposited in the Awcomin Marsh as well as at the Grove Road Landfill site,
Selectman Musselman said.
The suspected source of
the contamination is the trash from 1975 in the old fire pond. MW101 was installed in the deepest location
as determined by borings that CMA had done, he said.
Selectman Musselman pointed to the posters and provided further
descriptions.
(73:07 elapsed)
The Garland Road well has been sampled
several times, with levels of 6 to 8, well below the drinking water standard,
Selectman Musselman said. What is in the ground here is only one slice
of a 360 degree cone that it draws from.
I believe that the flow gradients are correct and that the flow is
towards the Garland Road Well, he said.
In all likelihood this is not new contamination. There has been no public access to the site
for 30 years, he said.
From 1996 to 2004 there
was a long series of selectmen.
Selectman Musselman said that he met with
former Selectman Mills to see what he recalled.
In the late 1990s CMA had evaluated closure options for the site. At one time it was believed that it was
heading towards a full capping, but Rye Water District was concerned that more
harm than good would be done.
Selectman Winslow asked
whether the worst case was, short-term, dealing with residents with wells
within 4000 feet, and long-term looking at closing the Garland Well. At the last Water District meeting there was
discussion about a $150,000 warrant article to look at beginning the process of
locating an additional well site.
Selectman Musselman disagreed, saying that that the data thus far
does not lead to the conclusion that the Garland Well would need to be closed.
(81:49 elapsed)
Tom Clifford, a
Commissioner of the Rye Water District agreed, saying that they are looking to
increase their production capacity. The
Garland Road Well is their primary water source. PFC levels for the last two tests have been
relatively low. There is no discussion
about closing this well. If the levels
reach an action level, there would be a potential need for a treatment plant to
reduce the level of PFCs. There is growth occurring in Rye. At night, when people have been watering, the
tank levels have been falling as the pumps have been unable to keep up, he
said.
Selectman Winslow asked
about the cost of a treatment plant.
Commissioner Clifford
spoke about a $6 million cost, but that was for a different sort of plant that
has been in the Capital Improvement Plan.
The focus had previously been on biologics. This would be an entirely different
design.
Selectman Musselman referred to the worst case not involving closing
the Garland Well, but rather removing the contamination from the ground.
(89:04 elapsed)
Victor Azzi asked
what the Rye Water District had done.
Selectman Musselman said that it was Ken Aspen of the Rye Water
District who had gotten DES mobilized.
They have been out to the site.
They shared with us the first suspicion, which was that, in 2012 there was
a fire on two pieces of equipment adjacent to the parcel, a box trailer and a
piece of excavating equipment. The fire
department responded and may have used some foam, he said. Editor’s
note: Fire-fighting foam contains PFCs. Press reports
have asserted that foam used at Pease Air Force Base, mostly for training, led
to the need to close the Haven Well, that previously
supplied Portsmouth. The Air Force will be paying several tens of
millions of dollars to clean up this well and two others at Pease. We think that it was Class A foam, which does
not have these chemicals in high concentrations, Selectman Musselman
said. He pointed out the location, and
asserted that it could not have impacted location MW6.
Selectman Musselman said that he and Paul Schmidt had pulled the
project boxes out of archives in Milton, New Hampshire and had them brought
“down here.” We have gone through that
entire file and looked at the history.
We walked the site with Roger Philbrick, a
neighbor who knows the site well.
Victor Azzi asked whether the Rye Water District had bought the
site due to the aquifer being located there.
Selectman Musselman and Commissioner Clifford
affirmed. Selectman Musselman
also confirmed that the same aquifer underlies the present Transfer
Station.
Selectman Musselman referred to discussions between 1990 and 1995
between the Rye Water District and the Town regarding the responsibility for
monitoring. I don’t think it was ever
deeded back to the Town. In 1996, with
my involvement, Attorney Donovan worked on an agreement, but I do not believe
it was ever signed, he said.
Steven Borne asked
whether the posters could be posted to the town website in pdf form. He also requested a summary table. The state reps are going to be talking at the
Library on the 13th,,
he added. Mindi
Messmer is very focused on this, he said. Hampton is also looking at an additional
well. Eversource
is buying Aquarion.
Storm water runoff is the leading contributor to contamination, but last
year a consultant, paid for by the Town, spent a lot of time on the issue but
the Planning Board dropped it. Editor’s note: This was mostly due to resident opposition.
Selectman Musselman said that that was a lot to respond to and that
he could not. He spoke about a report
with two of the charts going up on the “one stop” data website. The old plans and cross sections are part of
the project file. I don’t know that it
is appropriate to get them reproduced at this point. These were more for the understanding of the board
and the attendees. However, the basic
data will be available on the website, he said.
Peter Crawford pointed out that all of this
work was done by CMA under contract to the Town over the years. He asked whether CMA would make all of its
data publicly available.
Selectman Musselman said that all of the reports that were
transmitted to the Town are public information.
Mr. Crawford asked
about documents in CMA’s files.
Selectman Musselman said that these are not usually sent out to the
public. There is nothing hidden
here. The information was used to
prepare reports to the Town of Rye, which is what is available. There are boxes and boxes of plan sheets
showing the grading of the landfill closure and cost estimates. None of that is relevant here. All of the relevant information is in the
Town and State files and available to any citizen, he asserted.
Mr. Crawford said that
he understood Selectman Musselman to be asserting
that the information is not subject to the right-to-know law. He said that he is asking Selectman Musselman whether, as President of CMA, he would waive the
right to keep the information private.
Selectman Musselman said that they had never had a situation where
people have come to their office to cull through files. Everything that I reviewed, that would be
relevant to anyone, is in the Town and State files, he said. Editor’s
note: Subsequently, Town Administrator Magnant
asserted that the posters displayed at this meeting were owned by CMA Engineers,
were not in the possession of the Town, and were not “government records” that
were subject to the right-to-know law.
See the notes of the July 24, 2017 meeting.
Mr. Crawford asked that the backup
information used to prepare the reports be provided.
(101:59
elapsed)
Victor Azzi said that this is not only concerning, but it is
alarming. We are the beginning of what
should be a very complete and long investigation. It affects the life and health safety of the
people in town. Some states are using a
considerably lower threshold than 70 parts per trillion, he said. He said that he doesn’t know whether he
should go home and drink the water. He
doesn’t know which of the sources the water comes from as it is all mixed
before it is distributed.
Rye Water District
Commissioner Tom Clifford says that Mr. Azzi is on
Rye Water. Sixty percent of the water
comes from the Garland Well. The other
forty percent comes from one of the bedrock wells. Currently there is 12-13 parts per trillion
of PFCs in the Rye Water. That is what
comes out of the Garland Well. Sometimes
all of the water comes from the bedrock wells, which gives it a very faint
hydrogen sulfide smell. Mr. Clifford assured that no water would be distributed that
exceeds State requirements.
Steven Borne said that
he doesn’t know how Mr. Clifford can say that, unless the water is continually
tested.
Selectman Musselman said that it takes a very long time for water
getting into the ground water to get to the Garland Well. The intervening soil is all sand and it
likely takes months and months. Any
contamination is likely not new as nothing has changed at the site since 1975,
other than the soils that were brought in, he said.
Victor Azzi asked whether the Coakley Landfill was contributing to
the contamination.
Selectman Musselman said that there was no indication of that. The Breakfast Hill Landfill is much higher,
he asserted.
The motion to authorize
Selectman Musselman and Town Administrator Magnant to meet with DES and the Rye Water District was
made by Selectman Winslow and seconded by Selectman Jenness
carried. It appeared that Selectman Musselman did not vote.
Replacement of stairs at the Town Hall (118:15 elapsed)
The matter was tabled.
Resident parking permits for those from out of town (118:40 elapsed)
Town Finance Director
Cyndi Gillespie pointed out that homeowners renting their properties are
eligible to receive temporary permits that can in turn be provided to
renters.
Selectman Jenness suggested that two temporary stickers that can be
borrowed be provided to the Webster at Rye.
Editor’s note: This suggestion apparently related to the
request from a Stratham resident who wanted a permit so that she could take her
mother, who lives at the Webster at Rye, to the beach.
Selectman Musselman thought that that was a great idea. He suggested also that permits for those from
out of town be sold for $60 to $100, and that more resident spaces be added.
Selectman Jenness suggested that he might want to run that by Town
Meeting.
Steven Borne said that
he had suggested non-resident stickers for dogs and surfers.
Police Chief Kevin
Walsh, apparently facetitiously, suggested a sticker
for alcohol consumption on the beach. He
spoke about 3 or 4 beach stickers having been stolen. There is another parking study ongoing, he
said. There is strong objection to the
fines. They are receiving lewd comments
along with the online payments when fines are paid, he said. He explained that, while stickers are
supposed to be on the rear of cars, the front is also checked before a ticket
is issued.
All were in favor of
the motion to authorize the issuance of two stickers to the Webster.
The sticker for the
non-resident daughter of a man who is a property owner in Rye was not agreed
to.
Letter from Bill and Helen Sloane regarding water and dirt flooding
their driveway (131:53 elapsed)
Public Works Director
Dennis McCarthy noted that it is not illegal for water to run onto the road, however it is illegal to discharge more than the site
originally discharged onto the road. He
explained the alleged offending homeowner had been required by the Building
Inspector to submit a storm water management plan. Water to a depth of six inches should be
retained on site due to a berm, but this is not occurring. The landscaper never installed the berm. The homeowners
attorney met with me, he said.
Selectman Winslow said
that the issue was straightforward. The
plan called for a six inch berm, but this was not constructed.
Helen Sloane said that
they have tried to talk with alleged offending homeowner but they cannot.
It was agreed that a
site walk would be arranged.
Editor’s note: Although it
appears that Selectman Musselman knew, early in the
meeting, that the Sloanes had come to discuss this
issue, but he did not ask whether they would like to be taken out of order so
that they could leave early.
Lang Road and Route 1 intersection
Selectman Winslow said
that he had attended a meeting where this was brought up. The cost to relocate Lang Rd. behind the
Service Credit Union would be $600,000.
The State would be willing to pay half.
However, Portsmouth would need to pay the other half and there is no indication
that they have such funding, he said. Editor’s note: Due to restrictions preventing two traffic
lights from being located close to each other, the intersection of Lang Rd.
with Route 1 does not have a traffic light.
There have been a number of accidents at this intersection and delays
turning left can be long. The proposal
is to relocate Lang Rd. so that it meets up with Route 1 at the existing
intersection with Ocean Rd., which has a traffic light.
Selectman Musselman noted that Portsmouth is borrowing $29 million
for infrastructure projects.
Adjournment
After Steven Borne
attempted to make additional comments, Selectman Musselman
stated that the public comment period was at the beginning of the meeting and
refused to allow him to make his comments.
Whereupon the meeting adjourned at approximately 9:03
p.m.