Friday Updates - December 15, 2023

Friday, December 15, 2023

The last remnants of sunset at Wagon Hill Farm Courtesy, Jean McPeak

A COMMENTARY FROM ADMINISTRATOR SELIG REGARDING THE MANY VIOLENT CIRCUMSTANCES WITNESSED IN THE WORLD TODAY

On October 7th, the world awoke to horrible images from the Middle East. These images showed destruction, death, and abject human suffering. On October 13th, there was a response, with more images of the same.   

We generally refrain from weighing in on international affairs as a Town. All too often, people in positions of authority jump to render editorial comments stating their personal perspectives, despite the reality that many within a community might disagree with their views.

It occurs to me that within a welcoming, diverse, and academic community like ours, it is far better to foster a climate where people can decide for themselves where they stand on particular issues, be it the situation in Gaza, the election of a US president, the future of a dam, or the wording on a NH state historic marker. 

Accordingly, notwithstanding what we are all witnessing in Gaza and Israel, I have evaluated the threshold question of whether to speak out, and if so, what to say. Members of the Town Council and I have been hearing from members of the Durham community, some counseling us to say something, and others urging that we take no position.

Through my many years of work in local government, I understand that issues can be difficult, multi-faceted, nuanced, complicated by time, emotion, experience, religious or political belief, incomplete information, and driven by economics, power, or personal benefit. While there is no perfect system of governance, I believe in the merit of the rule of law and legal norms derived through a democratic process ultimately answerable to the people. 

Regardless of an actor’s rationale, disrespect for the law solves nothing. Taken to the extreme, it creates an unending cycle of cruelty where all reason evaporates. Bullets, missiles, and bombs eventually replace dialogue.

We should all condemn a circumstance where violence supplants discourse. There is no justification for killing innocent civilians, anywhere. This is as true in the Middle East as it is in Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Darfur and other places where violence and genocide occur. 

Many members of our Durham community are deeply affected by these tragic events, and I urge community members to reach out and support one another. Hatred, whether antisemitism, Islamophobia, racial animus or in any other form, has no place in the Durham community, nor anywhere in a civilized society.

Let us condemn violence as a way to solve issues, no matter how complicated or longstanding.

To quote a section of the Oath of the Athenian Citizens on the wall at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship, “We will ever strive for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many; we will unceasingly seek to quicken the sense of public duty; we will revere and obey the city’s laws; we will transmit this city not only less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.” 

On behalf of our Human Rights Commission and the Town of Durham, I encourage members of our community to work together to promote and provide equal opportunity for and good will toward all people.  

TRAFFIC AND PROTEST ADVISORY FOR TRUMP CAMPAIGN VISIT ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16

The Durham Police Department would like to remind residents that there will be an expected increase in traffic in the area Main Street, particularly around the Whittemore Center, due to the impending visit of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, December 16. We are anticipating a considerable increase in the volume of traffic. We would recommend all residents find alternate routes to help alleviate any possible congestion if they are not visiting the local businesses.

The Durham Police Department and University of New Hampshire Police Department are currently coordinating efforts to decrease the impact that several thousand visitors may have to the community, while trying to ensure the safety of all those wishing to attend. UNH will be allowing demonstrators and protesters to use the lawn across the street from the Wildcat statue, the lawn of Nesmith Hall.

Free holiday parking for shoppers will begin on Wednesday, December 20 and run through Tuesday, January 2. 

The parking kiosks in the immediate downtown business area will allow free parking to encourage residents and others to shop the downtown during the holidays. The screen on the applicable kiosks will inform parkers of the free parking and will not accept any payment.

No receipts on your dashboard will be required during the Holiday Parking period.

Years of planning paid off on Monday, when Durham residents and Town leaders went to the State House to receive an LCHIP award from Gov. Chris Sununu. The $286,000 grant will help pay for rehabilitation of the historic Bickford-Chesley House at Wagon Hill Farm.

Local historians Nancy Sandberg, Janet Mackie, Charlotte Hitchcock, and Carolyn Singer worked with Public Works Director Rich Reine and Admin. Selig to prepare the LCHIP grant application for funding to support much needed improvements to the building. Exterior and interior restoration, and renovation are needed to return the building to a fully usable condition including ADA accessibility.

The improvements will accommodate the building's adaptive reuse which will create a caretaker’s apartment on the second floor and public uses including an exhibit gallery and meeting rooms on the first floor. The Bickford-Chesley House Gallery will house temporary exhibits on Durham’s history as well as the work of local artists.

Wagon Hill Farm is on land originally occupied by the Indigenous Abenaki, and it became one of the first farms in the area to be settled by English colonists. It remained in continuous agricultural use for nearly 300 years.

The 139-acre site was purchased by the Town of Durham in 1989 and is known for its natural resources that include shoreline frontage on the Oyster River, open fields, forestland, and salt marshes. Less known perhaps, is the abundance of cultural and historical resources onsite that include the foundation of the 17th century Davis Garrison House facing the river, a family burial ground (1749-1788), a wharf on the Oyster River, remains of an orchard, barn and cider mill, and Chesley’s Grove, the site of 1920's Durham Day picnics (revived in the 1970’s).

The Bickford-Chesley house was built in 1804 by John Bickford, a sea captain from Salem, MA and was sited specifically to face the First NH Turnpike – now US Route 4. Livestock maintained on the farm included oxen, horses, milk cows, a bull and a few hogs. There was a flock of about thirty sheep plus lambs.

After Bickford’s death, his heirs sold the farm to the Chesley family who, over several generations, owned the property until the mid-1960’s. Farming based on cattle and sheep continued but poultry farming became increasingly important with a flock of 75 chickens. The orchard expanded, covering the hillside around the barn with a hundred bearing trees as of 1880. Apples were shipped by rail from Durham or Dover and cider and cider vinegar were produced on the farm.

The Chesley’s acquired an automobile by the 1920s, and farm income was supplemented by taking in summer boarders. Most came from the Boston area by train to Dover. They stayed for a week or a month; rowed, swam and dined on fresh local food.

Loring and Mary Tirrell purchased the farm in 1960 and placed the wagon on the crest of the hill to create a silhouette. The town subsequently purchased the farm in 1989.

48 proposals sought more than $7.3 million in funding from the program which had only $3.7 million in available funding. As a result, the program was forced to turn down 23 of the 48 proposals received. 

In addition to the LCHIP grant of $286,600, the Town received a Moose Plate Grant in the amount of $20,000 for a total of $306,600 capital funding. Work on the Bickford-Chesley House is expected to begin in late Spring 2024.

NH PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY WILL BE JANUARY 23, 2024

The NH Presidential Primary will be held on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. Voting will take place at the Oyster River High School Gymnasium from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Voters must be registered and domiciled in Durham, N.H. to vote at Oyster River High School. Sample ballots are available for viewing on the Town of Durham’s website, at the Durham Post Office, and or in the Durham Town Clerk’s Office. Please click this link for more information https://www.ci.durham.nh.us/clerk/upcoming-election-information.

Absentee Ballots are now available for qualified voters that cannot make it to the polls on election day. Please note that New Hampshire does not offer mail-in voting, but rather “absentee voting,” which is limited to qualified voters that cannot appear in-person on election day. Applications for absentee ballots and information on absentee voting may be found on the Town of Durham’s website HERE or you may pick up an application and absentee ballot at the Durham Town Clerk’s office between the hours of 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday.  

Please contact the Durham Town Clerk’s Office by email at rdeane@ci.durham.nh.us or by phone at 603-868-5577 if you have any questions about voting.

DO YOU QUALIFY FOR AN ELDERLY EXEMPTION?

Due to the 2023 revaluation, increased residential assessments and in some instances increased property taxes, several Durham residents have been inquiring as to whether they qualify for an elderly exemption.

The following information is the criteria needed to qualify for an elderly exemption:

INCOME GUIDELINES

    Single: Cannot exceed $47,000

    Married: Cannot exceed $65,000

ASSET GUIDELINES

Single/Married: Excluding your primary residence plus 2 acres, cannot exceed $200,000.

EXEMPTION AMOUNTS

The exemption amount is based on age and is subtracted from your assessed valuation.

Ages 65 through 74: The exemption is $175,000.

Ages 75 through 79: The exemption is $225,000.

Ages 80 and over: The exemption is $275,000.

AGE, RESIDENCY & OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• The applicant must be at least age 65 or over as of April 1st of the year applying and a resident of New Hampshire for the past 3 consecutive years. Proof of age must be submitted, ie. current driver’s license.

• The property for which the exemption is claimed must be owned by the applicant and be his/her principal place of abode.

• If the spouse of the applicant owns the real estate, the couple must have been married for at least five years.

• The applicant must sign the permanent application and the annual tax exemption financial worksheet & affidavit. The worksheet and affidavit are available as a separate document during the filing period.

• Supporting documentation for income and asset amounts must be presented with the application.

• If the property is held in a trust or life estate, a copy of the trust and the Statement of Qualification Form (PA-33) must be filed with this application. (Please contact our office for a copy of this form)

• This application must be filed annually by April 15th, preceding the setting of the tax rate.

• Tax exemptions cannot be claimed in more than one community within New Hampshire nor if receiving similar benefits elsewhere, such as Florida Homestead exemption.

• Income, Asset & Exemption amounts are subject to change from year to year. Durham recently increased the asset and exemption amounts for tax year 2023.

The Assessing Office shall grant the exemption provided the taxpayer qualifies in all categories, the Office is satisfied that the applicant has not willfully made any false statements in the application for the purpose of obtaining the exemption, and the applicant co-operated with any Assessing Official’s request for further documentation if it applies.

PLEASE CALL THE ASSESSOR’S OFFICE WITH ANY QUESTIONS: 603-868-8064

SWAP SHOP SEASON ENDS ON DECEMBER 16

The Swap Shop will be closing on Saturday, December 16. On that day we will NOT take any large items or furniture. Other items may be dropped off in the morning and only with the approval of a Swap Shop volunteer.

We do not store most items for the winter to keep mice and other rodents from nesting in the building. Any Items that we cannot store for the winter will be delivered to Savers by volunteers or placed in household or bulky waste at the Transfer Station.

Please remember that there are many options for your reusable items throughout the winter. In Durham, you may want to donate clothing to Echo Thrift at the Community Church of Durham, the clothing shed at the Durham Evangelical Church, or Ecosmith bins located in front of the Middle School and at the Transfer Station. Books may be donated to the DiscoverBooks collection bin at the Transfer Station. Also, books in excellent condition are collected during the last full week of each month at the Durham Public Library. Savers, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other collection sites are some of choices for all items. 

The following websites are options, too, that allow you to shop, donate, or sell your reusable items.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ORPassitOn

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OysterRiverOnlineYardsale

Thanks so much for visiting the Swap Shop this season!

The Durham Historic District/Heritage Commission is hosting three roundtable discussions in early 2024 to talk about the Oyster River Massacre Marker and potential revised language for the marker. The marker was removed from its location on Newmarket Road several years ago by NH Historic Resources and NHDOT, along with numerous other signs statewide, pending a re-evaluation of the appropriateness of certain existing markers. See the picture of the former sign above. The roundtable discussions will be held on the following dates.  

• Thursday, January 18
• Thursday, February 15
• Thursday, March 21

These meetings will be held in Council Chambers in Durham Town Hall from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The Town of Durham has hired Charlotte Bacon and Barbara Will of Montgomery Will Consulting to facilitate a conversation about the sign, potential new language for the sign, and how the community might address broader related issues more effectively.  

The NH Division of Historical Resources had worked with several interested parties over the last year in trying to formulate revised language for the marker, but no agreement has been reached among the parties. 

In order to help address the issue, the Durham Historic District/Heritage Commission (HDC/HC) offered to host discussions among the stakeholders and requested that the Town of Durham hire a consultant to facilitate them. Admin. Todd Selig as well as Nadine Miller and Amy Dixon of the NHDHR have given their okay for this process. NHDHR, in coordination with NHDOT, will make the final determination about how to handle the marker but they will likely defer to any consensus reached in these discussions.

These meetings will be open to the public, but due to limited time, there will probably not be an opportunity for members of the general public to share comments at the meetings. Any interested person is welcome to send a note to Town Planner, Michael Behrendt at mbehrendt@ci.durham.nh.us.

Here are some easy ways to skip the plastics and reduce waste this holiday season. 

• For decorations, you can use strings of popcorn and cranberries, pine cones and branches from outside, children's art, or photos from past years.
• Instead of purchasing colored tissue paper for gifting, stick to white or brown (without glitter, etc.). White and brown tissue paper (only) can be composted. 
• Going out to dinner to celebrate the holidays? Bring a reusable container you can use for leftovers instead of using disposable plastic or Styrofoam containers from the restaurant.

Consider these sustainable gift ideas:

• Lessons: art, cooking, dance, exercise, ice skating, martial arts, yoga, pilates 
• Memberships: museums, botanical garden, music groups, galleries, theater season subscriptions, local land trusts - some offer adventure events
• Green Business Gift certificates: refilleries, garden supplies, curbside compost service, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships, gallenes that feature local artists, spas 
• Special Personal Care: hair salon, massage, acupuncture, herbalists, pool membership

Source: Dover Plastic Reduction Group

Brought to you by the IWMAC Committee and Durham Public Library

Questions about recycling or composting? Email us at DurhamRecycles603@gmail.com

Not sure if an item can be recycled? Click HERE.

Learn about the amazing Durham Swap Shop and the service it provides to divert clean, reusable items from the landfill.  Click HERE.

REQUEST FOR GAS CARDS AND BLANKETS TO SUPPORT FAMILIES IN NEED

To support families experiencing homelessness the Durham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is partnering with Seacoast Family Promise and Connections Through Kindness to collect gas cards and blankets. Cash or checks can be accepted for the gas cards. Checks should be made out to Seacoast Family Promise and all donations can be dropped off on Sunday, December 17, between 10am – 1pm at the Unitarian Fellowship building on 20 Madbury Road in Durham.  Thank you for helping families in need. Your donations make a real difference for families in our community.   

If you have any questions, please contact Chip Noon at chipnoon@gmail.com or 603-866-1121.

DPW WINTER NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE – Christmas Tree Collection Begins January 8

The Durham Public Works annual Winter Newsletter is now available HERE. The 2024 recycling calendar and holiday collection schedule is contained within the newsletter and is also available in separate files within the hyperlink. Durham Public Works is slated to undertake numerous high value projects in 2024. Narratives for several of these projects can be found within the Newsletter, in addition to information regarding the Department’s policies and procedures on snow and ice control and municipal solid waste collection. The Christmas Tree Residential Curbside Collection Program begins on January 8th at 7:00 AM. Please place trees curbside no earlier than January 6th. The Winter Newsletter is available in hard copy version at Durham Public Works, Durham Police Department, Durham Town Hall, and the Durham Public Library.

2024 RAYMOND A. LAROCHE SR. TRANSFER STATION AND RECYCLING CENTER PASSES AVAILABLE DECEMBER 18

Durham Public Works would like to remind residents that a yearly pass is required to access the Raymond A. LaRoche Sr. Transfer Station and Recycling Center at 100 Durham Point Road. 2024 passes will be available beginning on December 18th at the Durham Public Works main campus located at 100 Stone Quarry Drive or at the Durham Town Hall. This pass is free of charge and allows residents to dispose of municipal solid waste and recycling materials. The disposal of bulky waste and construction debris is not covered by this pass and requires separate coupons which are available for purchase at Durham Public Works or the Transfer Station.

The UNH Technology Transfer Center in conjunction with Durham Public Works hosted a winter maintenance seminar this week for 35 snow fighters from NH municipalities and private contracting firms throughout New Hampshire at the Durham Public Library. The all-day event covered a range of topics and best management practices for snow and ice control. Driver safety protocols including, operating during extreme conditions, risk management, hazard identification, and mitigation strategies, were discussed. Strategies for de-icing, anti-icing, including the use of organic based performance enhanced liquids were reviewed in addition to methods for effective snow and ice removal. Participants also learned about weather forecasting and interpretation and the technology available to aid in making informed decisions. The seminar concluded with a material spreader calibration exercise as seen in the photo. Durham Public Works would like to thank the staff at the Durham Public Library for providing the conference space for this event. 

DURHAM PUBLIC WORKS RESPONDS TO 1,427 CALLS FOR SERVICE IN 2023

In addition to its routine maintenance and program/project management responsibilities, the Operations, Water, and Sewer Divisions of the Durham Public Works Department have addressed 1,427 calls for service so far this year. These calls cover a wide spectrum across all Public Works Divisions and range from issues like a broken door handle at a facility, to Dig Safe marking, to flooded roadways. A breakdown of most calls by type is as follows:

1)    Facilities: 170

2)    Dig Safe (water/sewer): 864

3)    Roadway Maintenance: 94

4)    Traffic Signs: 62

5)    Street Lights: 19

On December 14 Durham Public Works and engineering design consultant Environmental Partners hosted a pre-bid meeting at the wastewater treatment plant in advance of the January 11, 2024 bid opening. The project meeting was well attended by several high-quality prospective bidders. The Town completed a preliminary assessment of this critical infrastructure in September 2021 which identified several deficiencies and recommended rehabilitation of the facility’s primary and secondary clarifiers as well as completing concrete repairs for the underground pipe gallery tunnel, the retaining wall adjacent to the aeration basins, exterior surfaces of the control building and stormwater improvements. This first phase of construction improvements are expected to occur during the spring and summer of 2024 and 2025 which will take advantage of lower wastewater flows while students are on break allowing the impacted tankage to be taken off-line.

The Durham Professional Firefighters Local #2253 would like to introduce Smokey the Fire Dog. Smokey will give short tips on Fire Safety, weekly so Parents and guardians can generate conversation with their children about Fire Safety. Keep an eye out in the weekly updates These small questions and tips are a great way for you as a Parent to teach your kids about Fire Safety, the more they know the safer they will be.

WEEK #48

OK KIDS Smokey is looking for HYDRANT HELPERS!!!!!

When we get snow, the firefighters must go out and shovel out the Hydrants. So, Smokey is asking for your help. Adopt a Hydrant near your home shovel it out and have your parents submit a picture to the Durham Professional Firefighters Facebook page HERE via direct message. We will draw a winner from the photos and have you and your family in for dinner one night with the Firefighters at the Firehouse.  

OYSTER RIVER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Community members interested in learning more about activities taking place during the school day at Oyster River schools are invited to visit the district website's news section HERE. Recent news items include Moharimet School's Nautilus Research Vessel assembly offered in collaboration with UNH's Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping, last week's Coding and Cocoa activities, the Oyster River Middle School's dodgeball fundraiser benefiting eighth grade students' trip to Washington, DC, in April 2024, and more. 

UPCOMING OYSTER RIVER SCHOOLS' CALENDAR

Friday, December 22: Early Dismissal for All Schools

On December 22 students will be served a lunch at school and buses will provide service to their usual routes.

• Oyster River Middle and High Schools 12:10 p.m.
• Mast Way and Moharimet Schools 12:35 p.m.

Winter Break December 25 through January 1. 

School will resume on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

Tuesday, January 23: Teacher Workshop Day