Friday Updates - August 26, 2022

Friday, August 26, 2022

DURHAM FIRE STATION UNDER RENOVATION

In keeping with the approved Town of Durham 2019 Capital Improvement Projects, renovations have begun at the Durham Fire Station to improve functionality and incorporate health and safety features into the existing facility.  The project has been delayed due to product shortages and other unanticipated delays.  Project goals include relocating the administrative office space as well as constructing an area for SCBA maintenance and the compressor, relocating PPE and station laundry areas, replacing firefighter lockers in living quarters, and relocating the fitness training area.

While the renovations are in progress, please excuse our appearance during your visit.  During office hours, Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, please call ahead 603-862-1426 for assistance prior to arrival so that we may better serve your needs.

If you are visiting after office hours, please call 603-862-1426 and follow the prompts to speak with a Shift Captain.  Voicemail is not monitored outside of business hours and messages left will not be answered until the following business day.

If you are experiencing an emergency, please call 911 for immediate assistance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

A MESSAGE FROM THE SWAP SHOP - Please use the Overflow table if you are making a large drop off. 

The Swap Shop continues to be a great success thanks to everyone's donations and the great crew of volunteers who donate their time to making the shop work — but we need your assistance when you deliver many items at one time. 

Recently we’ve had generous donations come in, and the number of items has created a bit of a snarl at the front table. 

To reduce this congestion when multiple people arrive at one time, we will ask people with three or more boxes to take them to the Overflow table located by the garden items and bicycles. 

This will allow volunteers to assist others and efficiently find homes for additional items arriving at the same time.  

We appreciate your donations and your support.

ATLANTIC BROADBAND OPERATING AS BREEZELINE MOVES FORWARD WITH CABLE/HIGH SPEED INTERNET INSTALLATION IN DURHAM

You may recall that a cable television franchise agreement was approved by the Council in 2021 for Breezeline Communications (formerly Atlantic Broadband). The work includes installation of aerial and underground fiber within Durham.  

Recently Public Works met with representatives of Breezeline and JBC construction, who will be performing the initial installation of the underground work. The majority of underground work will take place on residential roads and an excavation permit will be issued which will contain certain conditions such as, Traffic Management Plans, public shade tree protection, bonds and insurances, as-builts, construction notifications to impacted residents and restoration requirements. The roads being impacted by the initial phase of underground work are noted below.

Roads impacted include:  Worthen, Edendale, Roysann, Britton, Mill , Carriage, Surrey, Sullivan Falls, Cold Springs, Corson Lane, Ross, Meader, Ellison, Strout , Noble K Peterson, Coe, Sofie Lane, Shearwater, Razorbill, Cormorant, Morgan Way, Williams Way, Tirrell, Deer Meadow.  

Unfortunately, earlier today Breezeline's contractors hit the power line while excavating within the Deer Meadow neighborhood and took out power to the area!

DURHAM POLICE RECOGNIZE VOLUNTEER KIM WARD FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICE

On Thursday of this week Chief Rene Kelley presented Police Volunteer Kim Ward with a plaque honoring her for her eight years of faithful volunteer service to the Town and the Durham Police Department. Chief Kelley stated that Kim is a remarkable person who always has a smile on her face. Over the past eight-years Kim has volunteered numerous hours assisting the police department with everything from answering telephone calls to data input. She was instrumental in assisting the department with their latest CALEA inspection. “Kim is loved by every member of the team, and we can never repay her for the time and effort she has spent volunteering for the department”. Thank you, Kim, for all you do for us and the citizens of the Town of Durham!

PLANNING BOARD UNANIMOUSLY DENIES CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION FOR PROPOSED PARKING LOT AT 19-21 MAIN STREET. The proposal for a new parking lot behind the Red Tower building on Main Street was denied 7-0 on Wednesday.  The outcome of the vote had been uncertain in the course of the review but the unanimity of the decision was most surprising.  

The board has been reviewing this proposal for a long time. The preliminary application was submitted in October 2019 and the formal application followed one year later in October 2021. The applicant is Toomerphs, named for property owners Pete Murphy and Tim Murphy (not related). A parking lot that supports on-site buildings is allowed by right, but a parking lot that is open to any user, i.e. a parking lot that is a principal use rather than an accessory use, is permitted by conditional use. An applicant must meet eight stringent criteria in order for a conditional use to be approved.

The 150-space facility included several dozen existing spaces close to Main Street which were to be reconfigured. The lot was presented as one that would be available to any interested parties, including downtown residents and employees of downtown businesses, but it was assumed that the majority of users would be UNH students. During the review of the Mill Plaza project, Colonial Durham Associates reached out to Toomerphs to lease the proposed lot for future residents of the Mill Plaza redevelopment. The Mill Plaza project was rejected by the Planning Board recently but Toomerphs proceeded with the application, citing innumerable requests they receive from students and others desperately seeking parking.

There was considerable opposition to the proposal from the beginning, from residents in the Faculty Road neighborhood and beyond. Concerns were expressed about lighting, glare, stormwater runoff, noise, hours of operation, the scale of the parking lot, the amount of fill to be brought in, trees to be removed from the site, traffic generated on Church Hill, and impacts upon neighbors. Toomerphs, their engineer Mike Sievert, landscape architect Robbi Woodburn, and their attorneys Tim Phoenix and Monica Keiser, made a number of revisions to the plans and spoke to the various issues that were raised but the concerns remained.

The role of the Planning Board is to listen to the presentations from the applicant and comments from the public, discuss the issues, seek improvements to the proposal, solicit professional guidance from Town staff and outside experts, facilitate the review, and ultimately deliberate whether or not the project meets requirements of the Site Plan Regulations and the Zoning Ordinance (the conditional use criteria are part of zoning). Through the process, board members work to remain objective and open to new information until final deliberations. For this reason and due to some uncertainty about which members will be on hand at the final vote one cannot anticipate the outcome of a controversial project like 19 Main Street.  

Going around the table each member stated their opposition to the conditional use based on one or more of the conditional use criteria, citing requirements related to suitability of the site, external impacts, compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood, preservation of resources, and impacts on property values. The Town Planner will now prepare a notice of decision with the specifics of the denial for a final vote of the board at an upcoming meeting. No vote was taken on the separate site plan application. It was not necessary because the site plan could not be approved if the conditional use is denied. At the conclusion of the meeting on Wednesday applicant Pete Murphy, surely disappointed with the result, graciously thanked the board for their patience and hard work. 

John Hart holds “loppers” as he prunes invasive plants at the Town-owned Milne Nature Sanctuary. Volunteers and Durham’s Land Stewardship Coordinator Tom Brightman planted native flowers and shrubs to attract pollinators to this Monarch Waystation. Little bluestem grass, Common milkweed, Beebalm, False sunflower, and Brown-eyed Susan have all struggled through the drought this year. The site, located on a promontory jutting into Mill Pond and the Oyster River, is accessed from Mill Pond Road. Courtesy Robin Mower

DATA VERIFICATION FOR 2023 REVALUATION IS UNDERWAY

As you may be aware, the State of New Hampshire requires all real estate within the municipality to be reappraised at least every five years (per RSA 75:8-a) so property tax assessments are at their full and true value. To keep in compliance with this law, the Town of Durham has contracted with Municipal Resources, Inc. to reappraise all residential and commercial properties in Durham for TY 2023.

Staff members from MRI have started the process of measuring the exterior and inspecting the interior all structures in Durham to make sure the data regarding each property is accurate. Post card notifications will be mailed to residents letting them know they will be working in specific neighborhoods during the next few weeks. If, for any reason you are not comfortable allowing an interior inspection, we kindly ask you to verify information at the door. If you are not home, a notification will be mailed to you requesting an inspection or to verify information by phone. If you do not wish to have a representative from MRI visit your property, please notify the Durham Assessor’s Office as soon as possible. All MRI representatives will have a photo ID and a Municipal Letter of Introduction.  

Any questions regarding the project should be directed to the Durham Assessor’s Office at 603-868-8064. Updates regarding the project will be posted in the Friday Updates newsletter and through mailings. We greatly appreciate your cooperation throughout this project.

DURHAM POLICE TRAIN AT WHITE BIRCH ARMORY

As part of the agreement between the Town and Riverwoods Durham, the firing range located at the Department of Public Works facility closed at the end of 2021. In an effort to meet ongoing training and qualification requirements dictated by industry best practices and NH Police Standards and Training, the Police Department reached an agreement with White Birch Armory in Dover. White Birch Armory’s state of the art facility provides multiple avenues to improve the quality and efficiency of training, particularly in terms of climate and lighting control. Due to the physical constraints of the indoor facility and to maintain acceptable frequency of training, Department personnel will participate in a second training session later in the fall at an outdoor facility maintained by a neighboring police department.



NATURE IN YOUR BACKYARD TOUR IS WELL ATTENDED!

On Saturday, Aug. 13th, twenty-eight people attended the Nature in Your Backyard Tour, co-hosted by Durham’s Conservation Commission and UNH Extension. Participants visited Durham’s Milne Nature Sanctuary, along with three private gardens in Durham, Dover, and Newmarket. Perfect weather was a backdrop for a day that allowed the participants to engage with private landowners and professionals, learning methods of planning for, implementing, and maintaining native plant gardens.

Thanks to Rebecca DiGirolomo and Malin Clyde of UNH Extension; landowners Diana and John Carroll, Ellen Snyder, and Leslie and Ken Herd; Master Gardener volunteers Suzanne MacDonald, David White, and Linda Seedner; and the Milne Nature Sanctuary Committee for all their work in preparing for, hosting, and making the event so successful! We hope to repeat the program in 2023!

DURHAM’S SUPPORT OF PREP’S CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR OUR ESTUARIES (CArE) PROGRAM – An Update on the Year 3 Work Plan – August 2022

Overview: The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) partnered with the Town of Durham to design CArE (funded by monies Durham partnered with Eversource to make available as part of the Seacoast Reliability Project) - a three-year initiative to focus new resources on areas of critical need identified by PREP, its partners, and the 52 communities of the Piscataqua Region Watershed. The initiative was designed around four critical areas of need to strengthen the ability of PREP, our partners, and our communities to protect the health of our estuaries:  

1. Part A – develop a holistic approach to the research and monitoring initiatives currently managed by diverse partners; 
2. Part B – enhance capacity to manage, synthesize, and share monitoring data; 
3. Part C – develop and promote science-based metrics to calculate regulatory credit for nonstructural best management practices (BMPs); and 
4. Part D – support and facilitate a coordinated communication strategy to ignite the growing sense of stewardship among the region’s communities. 

During the first two years, PREP completed a range of activities in Parts A-C. As we enter the third and final year of the initiative, PREP has re-visited the original workplan with Admin. Selig and identified a number of proposed modifications that continue to support the above framework but direct resources where they will better reflect current conditions and current needs.

The three-year award to PREP was $525,000.  As of December 2021, a total of $289,543 had been expended, leaving a balance of $235,457.  Below is the updated Year 3 workplan and associated budget.

Part A – Develop a holistic approach and plan for research and monitoring activities

Using initial CARE funds, PREP collaborated with partners to design a Research and Monitoring Plan (RAMP) to track the protection, restoration, and recovery of our estuaries. Currently, the draft Plan articulates conceptual models and science questions related to key ecosystem resources. The next steps will be to turn the science questions into detailed methods and, finally, to prioritize science activities, critical steps that will lead to a significantly more coordinated approach to understanding our estuaries.

Budget:

Technical Experts (internal and external)       $20,000

Part B – Advance technical capacity to manage and share data

This phase of Part B will support the continued development and refinement of an interactive PREP database, spearheaded by Miguel Leon (UNH), allowing for increased access to data and quicker analyses of data sets related to our estuaries. Feedback from advanced users during ongoing beta-testing throughout the State of Our Estuaries (SOOE) report analysis and development in 2022 will be incorporated into a final version of the database to be presented at the SOOE conference in 2023. This phase of development will not only include the continued incorporation of additional data, such as all historic eelgrass presence/absence data, and a bridging of NERACOOS data from Great Bay, but also the design and implementation of a clear and intuitive user interface to help facilitate end-user activities.            

Budget:

Database Development - Miguel Leon         $50,000

       User Interface Consultant(s)                  $45,000

       Total                                                       $95,000

Part C – Improving accounting metrics for nonstructural BMPs

Continuing the Expert Panel for Nonstructural Best Management Practices project, Clean Sweep, PREP, the UNH Stormwater Center (UNHSC), and ROCA Communications will partner with the City of Dover to pilot the recommended measured approach for crediting organic matter removal (e.g., street sweeping/leaf collection). The UNHSC will assist with data collection and sample analysis throughout the sweeping and collection fall program. Data analysis of samples collected will include but not be limited to weight, estimated bulk density, percent moisture, percent organic matter, estimated volume calibration of weighted samples, particle size distribution, and chemistry of samples including Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus. ROCA Communications will lead the development of outreach products including an updated calculator for municipalities to account for nutrient reductions informed by the pilot data analysis, a brief video describing the merits of an enhanced street sweeping program and how to use the calculator, and finally materials to communicate the economic value of an enhanced street sweeping program. 

Budget:  

UNH Stormwater Center                     $24,588

       ROCA Communications               $22,500

       Total                                              $47,088

Part D - Empower coordinated communication as a long-term engine for stewardship. 

Individual stewardship is critical to the health of our region’s unique natural resources and can only be achieved by leveraging the shared values of the people who live here. In 2019, PREP and partners launched a clean water initiative, Every Drop, to address this need. Every Drop was created to connect people and the aspects they inherently love about living in our region to small, personal actions they can take to help be part of the solution. While Every Drop has been recently discontinued, the need for thoughtful and coordinated communication and engagement with everyday people living in our communities remains as critical as ever. Therefore, in 2022 PREP will be expanding its communication capacity, as well as working with NH Charitable Foundation and the Great Bay 2030 Collaborative, on a new strategic plan and initiative focused on reaching and engaging people with opportunities to help improve estuarine health. The plan is to engage an external consultant to:

1. Conduct an audit of PREP’s overall communications needs
2. Develop a strategic communications plan around the release of major documents (SOOE, CCMP) as well as the maintenance of ongoing communications (web site, newsletter)
3. Develop a plan for increasing capacity at PREP (internally and/or via contract) for continued communications 

Budget:  

Communications Consultant          $73,369

Budget Summary:

A summary of the proposed budget is presented below:

Part A        Technical Support – RAMP                        $ 20,000

Part B        Database Development (Miguel Leon)     $ 50,000

                  User Interface Consultants                        $ 45,000

Part C        UNH Stormwater Center                            $ 24,588

                  ROCA Communications                             $ 22,500

Part D        Communications Consultant                     $ 73,369

               Total                                                              $235,457

On Thursday of this week, members of the Durham Police Department served pizza to the incoming freshman class at Oyster River High School. This tradition began 20-years ago by Chief Dave Kurz and allows the officers of the Durham Police Department to meet and greet the freshman class. A good time was had by all and many slices of delicious pizza from the Durham House of Pizza were consumed.  

Left to right are Captain Jack Dalton, Deputy Chief Dave Holmstock, School Resource Officer Mike Nicolosi, Officer Rob Keith, Detective Carrington Cazeau, Officer Chloe Jepson, Officer Cameron Holdsworth, POP Officer Emily Festa, Officer James Failla and sergeant Greg Ruby.