Friday Updates - January 22, 2021

Friday, January 22, 2021

President-elect Joe Biden and incoming First Lady Jill Biden arrive for his inauguration as the 46th president on Wednesday. Courtesy Chang W. Lee/Pool/AFP via Getty Images as appeared in The Boston Globe on line on 1/20/21

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Members of Congress, former presidents, and many others attended the inauguration this Wednesday of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The proceedings were toned down significantly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with significant security precautions in place due to the recent attack on the US Capitol, with the number of guests reduced and the usual crowds on the National Mall absent, as the nation (and the world) remotely looked on.

FILING PERIOD FOR ELECTIVE OFFICES IS NOW OPEN

The Town and ORCSD elections will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at the Oyster River High School. Polling hours will be from 7AM to 7PM.

The filing period for local elective offices in the Town of Durham is Wednesday, January 20, 2021 through Friday, January 29, 2021 at 5PM. 

The following TOWN elected positions are open during this election cycle: 

[The names of those who have filed as of 4:00 PM on 1/22/21 are written in orange beside each category.]

Durham Town Council: Three (3) positions with 3-year terms [Nicholas B. Germain, James Lawson, Carden Welsh]

Library Board of Trustees: Two (2) positions with 3-year terms [Stanley Reczek, Susan C. Wagner]

Trustee of the Trust Funds: One (1) position with a 3-year term [Michael H. Everngam]

The following ORCSD elected positions are open during this election cycle: 

School Board representatives: Three (3) positions for each town with 3-year terms

                                                 One (1) at-large seat with 1-year term

Moderator: One (1) position with 1-year term

THANK YOU FROM JOHN PACHECO

"Thank you to everyone on my postal route for all the well wishes of appreciation on my last day delivering mail in Durham. I truly am humbled and grateful by your kindness and generosity. I've enjoyed every minute of the past 11 years serving you bringing you your daily mail and packages throughout all seasons. I've also enjoyed being part of your lives and social activities. I leave Durham with many good memories. It has been my privilege and honor to have been a part of your community. I look forward to visiting soon. Thank you."

John M. Pacheco 

PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIER CONSTRUCTION PILOT PROJECT TAKES AIM AT USING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO ADDRESS POLLUTION FROM AGING SEPTIC SYSTEMS IN DURHAM

Durham Public Works met with the Project Team lead by the Strafford Regional Planning Commission to discuss next steps in the Oyster River Watershed Management Plan Implementation Phase II, Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) Installation Pilot Project. 

This project is by a grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under section 319 of the Clean Water Act.  The goal is to implement and monitor nitrogen-reducing technologies to address non point source pollution from aging septic systems to shallow groundwater and surface water in the Great Bay watershed. 

Two rounds of pre-installation monitoring and four rounds of post installation monitoring will help determine the project’s success. Project implementation challenges and solutions are expected to inform the use of PRB technology in future projects in the Great Bay watershed.  

Durham Public Works will begin construction of this innovative technology in late January/early February as conditions allow.  

PORTSMOUTH WATER LINE REPLACEMENT PROJECT - The line currently comes across Wagon Hill Farm (and will remain unchanged)

The Conservation Commission reviewed an application from the City of Portsmouth to replace a water line across Little Bay at its meeting in December. The commission’s role was simply to convey any comments to the New Hampshire Division of Environmental Services as part of the wetland application. Commission members did not have any concerns. 

The City of Portsmouth owns a cross-country transmission line that brings treated water from the Madbury Water Treatment Plant to Portsmouth. The line provides 60% of the water to a regional system that includes Portsmouth and several neighboring communities. The water is conveyed across Little Bay through two 3,200 foot-long 20” cast iron pipes from an easement on a private property just to the east of Wagon Hill Farm to the Fox Point peninsula in Newington. A dive inspection in 2016 revealed significant corrosion in the pipes, installed in the 1950s, with loss of more than 50% of wall thickness in some locations.

One new 24” HDPE (high density polyethylene plastic) pipe will be placed in between the two existing pipes, which will no longer be used but will remain in place (potentially for future use as back up lines). The new pipe will be assembled in a staging area on the Newington side and then floated into the bay and lowered onto the bottom of the bay where it will rest. The pipe will be anchored with concrete collars. The ends in shallow sections on both shores will be buried under the soil to prevent freezing and avoid pressure from tidal currents. Best practices will be employed to minimize turbidity underwater (stirring up of soils) and erosion and sedimentation on land. There will be temporary impacts to tidal wetlands including salt marsh and mud flats.

Plans call for the work to commence in Fall 2021 and the project to be completed in May 2022.

ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BY VHB TO ADDRESS THE DAM/IMPAIRED WATER QUALITY IN THE MILL POND IMPOUNDMENT ON THE OYSTER RIVER...

The VHB project team developed a set of five preliminary alternatives to address the known structural deficiencies of the Oyster River Dam. The review considered the 2018 NHDES Letter of Deficiency, but also incorporated new data and modeling generated during this feasibility study. Based on an initial analysis that considered cost, constructability, and compliance with regulatory requirements, two alternatives were determined to have merit and were therefore advanced for detailed study. A description of alternatives follows from the feasibility executive summary:

Alternative 3 – Dam Stabilization: This alternative would fill the interior spillway cells with reinforced concrete to create a mass concrete section. The concrete would be reinforced, and the dam would be anchored to the underlying bedrock. Additionally, repairs would be performed to address scour of the existing right training wall and undermining of the fish ladder downstream of the spillway. This alternative would retain the dam in essentially its current configuration, and therefore maintain the impoundment, with no measurable changes in water depths or surface area.

However, this alternative would not comply with NHDES Dam Safety regulations, and would there require the NHDES Dam Bureau to approve a waiver to regulate the dam as a “non-menace structure.” Initial analysis and coordination with NHDES found that approval of such a waiver request would be contingent on the abutting property owner recognizing that dam failure would have a detrimental impact on its property and accepting the consequences associated with such an occurrence. NHDES would require that any such agreement would run with the land such that future property owners would also be bound.

Dam Stabilization would retain Mill Pond, but would not directly address the decreased depth and poor water quality in the pond. To do this, the project team developed a conceptual plan to remove approximately 11,000 cubic yards of sediment from the pond, which would convert approximately 2.4 acres of wetland to deepwater habitat. Because the Oyster River will continue to transport and deposit sediments, this pond restoration dredge would be an ongoing maintenance task that would need to be repeated in the future as the dredged areas are re-filled with new sediment. Based on a review of sequential historical aerial imagery, field observations, and professional experience in similar settings throughout the region, the dredge areas would likely refill over a period of 5-20 years.

Additionally, it is critical to note that coordination with NHDES and the US Army Corps of Engineers, both of whom would need to approve the dredge, indicates that obtaining a permit for a freshwater dredge of this size would be extremely difficult and perhaps impossible.

Alternative 5 – Dam Removal: This alternative would consist of a four-part plan that includes the removal of the existing dam structure, abutment preservation, channel shaping, and upstream channel restoration. The main dam spillway and the adjacent fish ladder would be entirely removed, but the left and right abutments would be left in place to help stabilize the riverbank and mitigate historic impacts. The channel would be reshaped to have a roughly 42-foot bankfull width, incorporating a 12-foot wide low-flow channel, to provide fish passage under low flow conditions. The active restoration of the Oyster River channel upstream of the dam removal site is also recommended. This would involve channel shaping approximately 600 feet upstream of the location of the dam to stabilize the channel and remove approximately 3,000 cubic yards of sediment deposited in the center of the Mill Pond impoundment. This would minimize potential sediment impacts downstream, as well as improve the stability and ecological integrity of the upstream area following dam removal.

VHB also included initial financial estimates as outlined below (all of which, including a great deal of additional information) may be found in the Executive Summary of the Feasibility Study on the Town web site by clicking HERE):

DURHAM, NHDES COASTAL PROGRAM, UNH, AND PROGRAM PARTNERS RECEIVE $257,000 NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION GRANT - Living Shoreline Stabilization at Wagon Hill Farm and within the Seacoast area for Communities and Tidal Wetlands in the Great Bay Estuary

The goal of this project is to create a pipeline of living shoreline erosion management and asset protection projects that enhance resilience of salt marsh habitat and coastal community assets and avoid future hard shoreline stabilization in the Town of Durham, the City of Dover, and the Town of Newmarket along the Great Bay Estuary of New Hampshire.

This goal will be achieved through the following objectives:

1. identify priority sites for living shoreline design around Great Bay and complete 50% designs for property owners to advance stabilization projects,
2. engage living shoreline practitioners in design and community stakeholders in conversation about living shorelines as a coastal resilience strategy, and
3. share lessons learned from Wagon Hill Farm living shoreline project and create and disseminate recommendations for future projects

Timeframe: December 2020 – May 2022

Funding: $257,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Non-federal match: $257,000 from Durham, UNH, and NHFG

Project Partners:

• NHDES Coastal Program (NHCP) | Kirsten Howard, Tiffany Chin, Kevin Lucey
• Town of Durham | Todd Selig, Rich Reine, Ellen Snyder
• University of New Hampshire (UNH) | David Burdick, Tom Ballestero, Gregg Moore
• NH Fish & Game Department Great Bay NERR (GBNERR) | Cory Riley, Rachel Stevens, Chris Peter
• Great Bay Stewards | Cory Riley
• Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC) | Kyle Pimental

PLEASE SUPPORT THE DURHAM HISTORIC ASSOCIATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

For the month of February 2021, the Durham Historic Association will receive a $1 donation from each purchase of the $2.50 reusable Community Bag at the Hannaford store located at 7 Mill Road, Durham NH.

The Durham Historic Association's mission is:

• To preserve the memory of events connected with the history of the Town of Durham, or of individuals who may have resided there;
• To serve as guardian of the town's history;
• To preserve the artifacts of the town's history;
• To inform and educate the citizens of Durham and others of the history of the town and how contemporary Durham arises out of its past.

DOE FARM SELECTIVE CUT OPERATION CONTINUES – For now, the property is closed to recreational access.

Land Stewardship Coordinator Ellen Snyder reports the diseased trees within Doe Farm have now been cut and placed in piles in various places bringing to a conclusion the harvesting and processing phases of the cut. The forwarder will be picking up the cut logs beginning on Monday, which will last for several (a minimum of three) days.  People are asked to stay out of Doe Farm as logs and debris are still on some trails and heavy equipment will be in operation.  

SWAP SHOP TO REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO PANDEMIC

DPW officials recently met with a subcommittee of the Integrated Solid Waste Committee and coordinators of the Swap Shop to evaluate the possibility or re-opening. The consensus was to continue to keep closed. A poll was taken of the volunteers to determine if there was any interest in opening and found that concerns over Covid including possible spikes in the fall and winter remained and people felt it was a better approach to keep closed until spring. We will keep updating the community as things change.