Friday Updates - June 28, 2024

Friday, June 28, 2024

Durham's flagpole at Town Hall -- Happy Independence Day! Courtesy, Todd Selig

All Town offices and the Durham Public Library will be closed Thursday, July 4, for Independence Day. Due to vacation schedules, there will be no Friday Updates on July 5.

There will be NO refuse and recycling collection on Thursday, July 4th. Thursday’s collection will be delayed until Friday, July 5. There will be NO commercial recycling collection on Friday, July 5. 

The Raymond A. LaRoche Sr., Transfer Station and Recycling Center will remain open on Tuesday, July 2 and Saturday, July 6, 2024.

REMINDER - PROPERTY TAXES ARE DUE WEDNESDAY, JULY 3

Property Taxes are due on Wednesday, July 3, 2023. The Town Clerk-Tax Collector’s Office will be open on Monday, July 1st, from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, and open Tuesday and Wednesday, July 2nd & July 3rd from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. The town will accept the postmark on all payments received on or before July 3, 2024. Questions may be directed to the Durham Town Clerk-Tax Collector, Rachel Deane by email: rdeane@ci.durham.nh.us or telephone: 603-868-5577.

The Children's Ice Cream Eating Contest at Durham Day last weekend. The winner was Jackson Brenner (in orange shirt second from the right) Courtesy, Todd Selig

MADBURY ROAD COMPLETE STREETS PROJECT UPDATE - Traffic Pattern Modifications Still in Effect

To facilitate Phase 1 Roadway and Drainage Improvements, Madbury Road continues to remain open for Northbound traffic only between Pettee Brook Lane and Garrison Avenue. Please follow the posted detour. Access to businesses within the project limits will remain OPEN at all times.

Additional updates on this project can be found further down.

Due to last week's rain, the Durham Historic Association Picnic was rescheduled to this Saturday, June 29, with a rain date of Sunday, June 30. Pack your picnic supper and join the Durham Historic Association at the Milne Nature Sanctuary from 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. to explore this peaceful park on Mill Pond Road.

Diana Carroll will share her recollections of her long relationship with Margery and Lorus Milne, the Keepers of the Swans, who gave this land to the Town.

Parking is limited in the area to about 20 cars, so plan to carpool, contact a friend in Faculty Development to share their driveway, or walk from the Town Hall or Community Church parking lots.

Thursday afternoon the Strafford Regional Planning Commission held its annual meeting in Durham at The Three Chimneys Inn. In addition to a local solutions 10-year retrospective within the planning region, two annual excellence awards were awarded, one of which went to the Town of Durham for the community’s work in regional leadership and vision in coastal resilience through the Living Shoreline Project at Wagon Hill Farm.

A fairly impressive severe thunderstorm produced concentrated downburst wind damage from West to East between Newmarket Road and Cedar Point Road last Sunday evening. The storm, which produced an EF-1 tornado in Dublin, NH, resulted in several road closures within the Stagecoach Farms, Durham Point Road, and Sunnyside Drive neighborhoods.

Durham Public Works responded to multiple occurrences of trees on wires or complete blow-downs and spent two days cleaning up the resulting damage. Durham Public Works believes that this was the most amount of tree damage Durham has experienced from a thunderstorm since the May 4, 2018 bowing line segment which affected Durham Point Road and Sunnyside Drive. 

Following a national search, Elizabeth S. Chilton, a native of the Northeast who most recently served as chancellor of Washington State University’s (WSU) Pullman campus, has been appointed the 21st president of the University of New Hampshire, effective July 1, 2024 – this coming Monday!

President-elect Chilton will succeed President Jim Dean, who is retiring after six years leading UNH. She was appointed the inaugural chancellor of Washington State’s Pullman campus in 2022 after joining WSU in 2020 as provost and executive vice president of the WSU system.

WSU Pullman is the system’s flagship campus and Washington State’s land grant university, serving about 18,000 students. Prior to becoming chancellor, her role as chief academic officer included oversight of research functions across the six-campus system, a role she continued in while serving as chancellor for the last two years.

From 2017 to 2020, President-elect Chilton was dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York system. Prior to that she spent 16 years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, serving in a variety of roles including professor, anthropology department chair, and associate vice chancellor for research and engagement.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University at Albany, SUNY, and then her master’s and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her academic work focuses on the pre-colonial archaeology of Northeast North America, as well as paleoecology, cultural resource management, heritage studies, and materials science. She is the author of dozens of peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles.

President-elect Chilton is an avid hiker, kayaker, and canoeist, as well as an enthusiastic choral singer. Her husband, Michael Sugerman, is also an anthropology professor. The couple have an adult son and three lively dogs.

To view a video that UNH released this week introducing President-elect Chilton to the campus community, click HERE.

Oyster River Womenade took part in last Saturday’s Durham Day. Thanks to all the people who stopped by to learn more about Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

The idea is simple. The need is great. Womenade has been helping neighbors in Durham, Lee, Madbury and Newmarket since 2006.

Go to www.orwomenade.org to see what we do and how you can help.

VOLUNTEERS ARE IMPORTANT TO THE TOWN - Read on to see how you might get involved locally in an area that interests you and can benefit the community as well!

All of Durham’s Boards, Committees and Commissions are powered by volunteers who have an interest in a particular part of Town life, be it recycling, parks & recreation, planning etc. We are always looking for new volunteers to join in. There is no need to be highly educated in the field of interest to volunteer – all it takes is a passion to serve the community of Durham! 

We are adding a permanent link in the Friday Updates (below) that will direct you to the current board, committee and commission vacancies for the town. Please check it out often and consider volunteering.  If you are interested in a vacancy, please contact Karen Edwards in the Administrator’s Office at kedwards@ci.durham.nh.us.

Be SMART for Kids took part in Durham Day to educate others on safe firearm storage. Courtesy, Todd Selig

Plastic Free July is a global event - a great time to cut back on single-use plastic and challenge yourself to create more mindful habits. 

Consider making a pledge of any size to reduce your plastic waste. Going plastic-free is pretty tough but deciding to take a few small steps is more manageable.

Remember:

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” - zero-waste chef Anne-Marie Bonneau

Ideas on how to cut back on single-use plastics for Fourth of July celebrations:

• Avoid single-use plastic plates, cups and utensils. Choose either paper or compostable plastic (BPI certified items can be brought to the Transfer Station for composting by Mr. Fox). Better yet, choose reusables! Examples of BPI Certified items can be found HERE.
•  Use fabric table linens instead of single-use plastic ones.
• Cut out plastic straws. 
• Choose canned drinks or large containers instead of single-use plastic bottles.

Skip the glow sticks. Glow sticks pose multiple problems for the environment:

• They’re disposable, designed for single-use.
• They’re made of plastic.
• They’re non-recyclable.
• They contain questionable chemicals.

For more information on glow sticks, click HERE.

Source: Earth911

Brought to you by the IWMAC Committee 

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

Check us out on Instagram: sustainable.durham.nh

Not sure if an item can be recycled? Check here: www.Recyclesmartma.org

Want to learn more about the Swap Shop? Click HERE.

AUTOMATED SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLING BATTERY ELECTRIC (BE) COLLECTION VEHICLE GRANT APPROVED BY GOVERNOR & EXECUTIVE COUNCIL - In simple English, this means Durham will move forward with the first fully electric trash/recycling collection vehicle in NH (and one of the first in New England)!

On June 26, 2024, the State of New Hampshire Governor and Council authorized the Department of Environmental Services to enter into a grant agreement with the Town of Durham for partial funding to procure up to two electric refuse collection vehicles and DCFC charging stations. Under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants funding for projects that reduce harmful emissions produced by older diesel engines, including the Town’s refuse truck replacements.

This approval will allow Durham Public Works to continue to advance the automated solid waste and recycling collection program with procurement of collection vehicles, standardized carts, necessary revisions to the Chapter 118 Solid Waste ordinances and public outreach and education. The program is planned to be implemented in phases beginning in 2025 with cart distribution followed by collection of solid waste and single stream recycling, using split body automated collection vehicles due to extended lead times for truck deliveries which can exceed 1 year from date of order. Stay tuned for more information about this upcoming program transition in future Friday updates. 

The Town of Durham is working collaboratively with the University of New Hampshire to finalize a capital improvement plan following a Pedestrian Crossing Safety Review of several crosswalks throughout Durham and on campus. In June 2023, the team contracted with Engineering firm Tighe and Bond and a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) to undertake a review of the crosswalks to identify enhancements (i.e. signage, pavement markings, lighting adjustments, sightline improvements, roadway geometric changes, and crosswalk relocations) which 1) comply with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), 2) are contextually appropriate and 3) are appropriate based on the mix of users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorists).

The team identified several crosswalks throughout Town that would benefit from the installation of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) Systems. An RRFB consists of two rectangular LED bars, pole mounted on each side of a crosswalk that is activated by pedestrians as a warning device to alert drivers of their presence prior to entering the roadway. Capital funding was allocated in FY24 to fund this type of improvement at the following crossings:

1)     Newmarket Road at Schoolhouse Lane

2)     Dover Road at Young Drive

3)     66 Main Street and Main Street at Park Court and

Durham Public Works’ contractor, Electric Light Company, is seen in the photo completing the installation of the 66 Main Street set recently.

We are also working with UNH to evaluate potential enhancements to the sidewalks along Mill Road adjacent to the Mill Plaza.

UNH/DURHAM WATER SYSTEM WATER QUALITY - Consumer Confidence Report indicates our joint water supply complies with required standards.

We are pleased to announce that the 2024 Water Quality Consumer Confidence Report for the Town of Durham is now available for viewing online and will be sent to all customers on July 1, 2024. This annual report provides important information about the quality of our drinking water and reflects the Town’s commitment to transparency and public health.

Key Highlights of the Report:

• Detailed analysis of water quality testing results
• Compliance with state and federal drinking water standards
• Information on potential contaminants and their sources
• Steps taken to ensure the safety and reliability of our water supply

You can access the full report by visiting the Durham Public Works, Water Division website HERE. We encourage all residents to review the report to gain a better understanding of the Town’s water system and the efforts made to deliver clean and safe drinking water to your tap.

Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact Durham Public Works at (603) 868-5578.

Thank you for your continued support in maintaining the quality of our water supply.

The Stormwater Phase II Final Rule was promulgated in 1999 and was the next step after the 1987 Phase I Rule in EPA's effort to preserve, protect, and improve the Nation's water resources from polluted stormwater runoff. The Phase II program expands the Phase I program by requiring additional operators of Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) in urbanized areas and operators of small construction sites, through the use of NPDES permits, to implement programs and practices to control polluted stormwater runoff. Phase II is intended to further reduce adverse impacts to water quality and aquatic habitat by instituting the use of controls on the unregulated sources of stormwater discharges that have the greatest likelihood of causing continued environmental degradation. Under the Phase II rule all MS4s with stormwater discharges from Census designated Urbanized Area are required to seek NPDES permit coverage for those stormwater discharges.

On May 1, 2003, EPA Region 1 issued its Final General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (2003 small MS4 permit) consistent with the Phase II rule. The 2003 small MS4 permit covered "traditional" (i.e., cities and towns) and "non-traditional" (i.e., Federal and state agencies) MS4 Operators located in the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This permit expired on May 1, 2008 but remained in effect until operators were authorized under the 2016 MS4 general permit, which became effective on July 1, 2018.

The Town of Durham, NH submitted a Notice of Intent to discharge Stormwater under the 2017 NH Small MS4 General Permit and was granted Authorization to Discharge in the updated Permit in 2019. As part of fulfilling the requirements of the MS4 permit, Durham Public Works working with our GIS program have been in the process of updating and assessing the Durham stormwater distribution system. This mapping effort also greatly enhances the ability to manage the Town’s Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) program.

Durham Public Works applied for, and was approved, a Stormwater Asset Management Grant through the EPA to continue and refine the Town’s stormwater mapping. Staff partnered with Environmental Partners (a regional environmental consulting firm) to map and inspect 651 catch basins, 86 manholes, over 769 pipes, along with inlets and outlets in November/December 2023 and May/June 2024.

Inspections of stormwater structures included material type, condition, rim elevation, pipe depths and orientation, depth of structure, and overall observations of anything needing attention. The information obtained greatly improves the ability to maintain, repair, replace, and plan for future to achieve stormwater distribution that both protects the community and reduces the impact on our environment. The information also allows for topography modeling to identify system vulnerabilities in the event of man made or natural disaster.

In addition, Severio construction continued to make steady progress with the construction of the concrete box culvert which conveys Littlehale Brook beneath Edgewood Road. Severino is in the process of backfilling the sides of the box culvert with structural fill, compacted in 1-foot lifts, while placing wing walls on the south side of Edgewood Road. The project remains on schedule for completion late summer/early fall.  

Durham Public Works completed several targeted repairs to the bituminous asphalt surface at the Raymond A. LaRoche, Sr. Transfer Station and Recycling Center this week where delamination and alligator cracking was present.

These repairs are the beginning of a larger project slated to begin this year at the Facility. The proposed plan integrates ground-mounted MSW and single stream recycling stationary compactors with standard detachable and enclosed roll-off containers. This much needed addition will significantly streamline the waste handling process, resulting in more resource efficient and sustainable facility operations. Presently, Durham Public Works utilizes a backhoe for the compaction of materials within the roll-off containers. This antiquated method produces a relatively low compaction rate ranging between 3 to 5 tons per roll-off container. Incorporating ground-mounted material compactors will substantially enhance compaction rates for MSW, ranging between 10-12 tons per container. This increase in compaction efficiency will reduce the number of landfill disposal trips by Solid Waste Division Operators by 65%, which translates into a significant reduction in diesel fuel consumption, vehicle wear and tear, increased productivity, and a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This funding proposal encompasses the procurement of four compactors, six material containers, and all related construction expenses. The inclusion of two spare containers ensures seamless operations, preventing any disruptions in the event a container reaches its capacity during a time when the facility is open to the public.

The facility currently operates under a multi-stream recycling collection setup, with discreet disposal locations for specific commodities such as commingled containers, mixed paper, aluminum cans, and old corrugated containers. This arrangement often results in crossover traffic flows, backing of vehicles, unnecessary pedestrian traffic and recurrent bottlenecks around individual disposal locations frequently creating less than desirable conditions for facility users. The reconfiguration of the existing layout will allow for the addition of the ground-mounted material compactors and facilitate the transition towards a single-stream recycling program. This reconfiguration will include two redundant locations for the disposal of household trash and single-stream recycling compactors/containers, in a revised setup with one goal of mitigating traffic and pedestrian conflicts.  

Furthermore, a redesigned traffic pattern with new paint markings will improve the facility traffic flow of the approximately 800 daily visitors. The increased popularity of the Linda Hollister Swap Shop over several years has resulted in logistical hurdles associated with the lack of available parking. This congestion will be reduced by an expansion of the parking capacity on the Northwestern side of the facility and designating parking adjacent to the swap-shop for active loading/unloading only. This will reduce chokepoints at the exit of the facility, further streamlining traffic flow.

Lastly, Durham Public Works will complete the installation of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliant protective barriers encircling the upper perimeter of the saw-tooth wall. This important addition will aid in ensuring a secure and risk-mitigated environment for facility users.

Durham Public Works and stormwater catch basin cleaning contractor, Thompson Pipeline Services, recently completed the 2024 Catch Basin Cleaning Program. Silt and other debris were removed from 170 storm water catch basins. The success of the Town’s storm water conveyance system is heavily dependent on a catch basin structure that is free of damage and sediment build-up. Operators utilized the Survey123 application, an ESRI suite product, to digitally document the condition of each basin. Durham’s network consists of roughly 650 basins. 

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.

WEEKS #26 & #27

Holidays and summer fun mean Fireworks. For some helpful tips to stay safe, click HERE.

Oyster River Middle School (ORMS) dedicated the month of May to the importance of giving back to the community. Principal Sullivan and Assistant Principal Carter worked with students, staff, families, and community members to organize several events and the Student Leadership Committee coordinated a food drive. Over 5,000 food items were donated to local food pantries and $3,067 was donated to End 68 Hours of Hunger. 

Additional information can be found HERE.

ORCSD PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT

The ORCSD Preschool Education Program (PEP) is accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year. For information, please contact PEP Coordinator Diana Eisenhaure at deisenhaure@orcsd.org.

Nicknamed 'nurseries of the sea,' estuaries provide critical nesting and breeding grounds for many animal species, help clean and filter ocean waters and support a growing shellfish aquaculture sector in northern New England. They have also increasingly begun to play a central role in the movement of microplastics between fresh and saltwater watersheds, with potential implications on the resilience of plants, animals and economies that rely on healthy estuarine ecosystems. To determine the extent to which microplastics could impact New England estuaries first requires an understanding of how these tiny particles move and accumulate throughout the waterbody—a main research goal of scientists at the University of New Hampshire.

Researchers working on this issue include New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station scientist Bonnie Brown, professor and chair of the department of biological sciences, and Gregg Moore, associate professor of coastal restoration and resilience, both in the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA). They are investigating the accumulation of microplastics within some of the region’s most important estuarine environments: New Hampshire’s Great Bay, the Hampton-Seabrook estuary and New England’s largest salt marsh, the Great Marsh in Massachusetts. They hope the data they gather help develop predictive models that can indicate where and when the greatest concentrations of microplastics will occur, potentially offering guidance to recreational and commercial fishermen and seafood farmers on how areas with high concentrations of microplastics.

While research is nascent about their impacts on human and animal health, microplastics—pieces of plastic smaller than 0.04 inches (roughly the size of a medium-sized grain of sand and smaller)—represent potentially serious threats. In freshwater and saltwater habitats, they can particularly impact fishing and aquaculture industries. The findings show that microplastics accumulate in areas with weaker water flow, submerged vegetation and limited seabed erosion. The researchers also determined that the Hampton-Seabrook estuary, the smallest estuary sampled, had a significantly higher number of microplastics than the other two estuaries, likely due to the rapid flushing of water from the larger estuarine environments. 

To learn more about this research, read A Baseline for Microplastic Occurrence in Three New England Estuaries, published in Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics by clicking HERE.

The USDA has announced $55 million in grant funding through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to support innovative agricultural production systems research, including a project by University of New Hampshire researchers who will investigate ways to adapt cropping systems for increasingly variable weather. The UNH project, led by Rich Smith, a professor in the department of natural resources and the environment, and Natalie Lounsbury, a research assistant professor in the department of agriculture, nutrition, and food systems, will focus on how alternative crop row orientation and spacing strategies affect the amount of light or solar radiation plants can absorb and how these strategies can be combined with innovative cover cropping approaches like interseeding to improve soil moisture dynamics, weed suppression and soil health.

The research will address climate change-related challenges farmers face, such as variable precipitation and increased weed pressure. In the Northeast, extreme precipitation events have increased by 71 percent from the mid-1990s to the 2010s, heightening the risks of both summer droughts and excess moisture​. Higher temperatures and elevated CO2 levels are predicted to increase weed competitiveness and reduce herbicide efficacy, further stressing the need for integrated weed management​. In addition to research that will be conducted in New Hampshire, the UNH team will work with researchers at North Carolina State University to leverage an extensive national on-farm dataset from the Precision Sustainable Agriculture Network to identify the effects of row orientation on crop yields, soil moisture and weed suppression across different environmental conditions and under different cover crop management.

The four-year study, which will take place at UNH’s Kingman Research Farm, will measure crop yield, soil moisture, weed suppression and other agronomic and soil health variables, with continuous monitoring of light and soil conditions using wireless sensors.

Captain Jason Best and Firefighter Ken Lundberg enjoyed the brand new blueberry shakes at Durham Day from Campus Creamery! Courtesy, Todd Selig