City Council meeting

The agenda gives no subject beyond the statute citation. RSA 91-A:3, II(l) covers consideration of legal advice from the City's attorneys.

The draft records the September 14 parking decisions, which take effect October 1: the nonresident rate rising to $3 an hour for the first three hours and $6 after (passed 8–0); the resident rate held at $1.25 and $2.25; the Parrott Avenue lot limited to residents and downtown workforce permit holders at no charge; and the Parrott Avenue stretch from Rogers Street to Richards Avenue made free parking with a four-hour limit (roll call 5–3). It also records an 8–0 request for a municipal solar plan, a 7–1 vote to form a shuttle loop and public transit working group, and a request for a report back on the former recreation area under the I-95 bridge.

The Mayor proclaims Thursday, October 8, 2026 as Children's Environmental Health Day, a national observance on the second Thursday of October. The Housing Blue Ribbon Committee is listed under committee reports, invited for the Housing Action Plan information and input session.

Related: 15.A, where the input session and the vote on the plan sit.

The current rule has three parts: each member with an expiring term gets a notice from the City Clerk 60 days ahead, a copy goes to the City Council, and the upcoming vacancy is advertised in the local newspaper. The amendment strikes all three and replaces them with a requirement that the Clerk give “reasonable notice” to members of expiring terms, and reasonable notice to the public of vacancies and expiring terms through the City website or other municipal tools.

The City Manager's report describes the change as removing the newspaper requirement and making notice more flexible, and compares it to the earlier procurement update, which the report says saved publishing costs and staff time.

Worth knowing: the redline also drops the fixed 60-day lead time and the copy to Council, not only the newspaper ad. The report does not mention those two changes.

Notices. Today, when the Board of Adjustment hears a variance, special exception or appeal, everyone owning property within 300 feet gets notice (except in the CD4 and CD5 character districts and the Downtown Overlay). The amendment strikes the 300-foot rule and says notice follows state law. The City Manager's report points to the 2024 change in state law that standardized who counts as an abutter, and says the change will reduce the number of notices and mailing costs. The report also cites the City's email subscription service for agendas; it lists 57 subscribers for the Board of Adjustment and 65 for the Planning Board.

Conditional use permits. Now a permit lapses after a year without a building permit, with one Board-approved one-year extension and no more. Under the amendment, a permit approved with a site plan stays valid as long as the site plan does. For a stand-alone permit, the Planning & Sustainability Director can grant a first one-year extension, and any later extension needs a Planning Board public hearing and is capped at a year. Wetland permits follow the same rules.

Between Congress and Hanover Streets, Fleet Street would become one-way northbound for vehicles, with a marked 6-foot contra-flow bike lane letting cyclists ride south. The eight parking spaces on the block move from the west side to the east side, where the closing of the Gilley's lot makes room. Staff say the 18-foot pavement meets the Fire Department's minimum.

Staff's case for moving the parking, per the City Manager's report: drivers park on the right-hand side, don't cross the bike lane to reach the spaces, don't open doors into it, and don't pull out blind into oncoming cyclists. The report also says it improves the turn into the Hanover Garage and ends left-turn backups that block both lanes.

Both ordinances passed second reading 8–0 on September 14. Staff told Council then that construction could run from late fall into early spring.

Public comment: ten submissions in this packet address Fleet Street or bike lanes. Nine support (one of them bike lanes in general); one, from a downtown resident, asks Council to pause, arguing Fleet Street works as a two-way bypass around congested intersections. See the correspondence section.

The Planning Board approved four detached single-family condominiums on the site in April and recommended this easement as a condition. It lets the City enter to detect leaks and operate valves; the City takes on no responsibility for maintaining the owner's water lines. Legal and Planning reviewed the deed and recommend acceptance.

When the Planning Board approved the office building in 2019, it recommended a license for the owner to install and maintain planters and landscaping in the Raynes Avenue and Vaughan Street right-of-way. That license was never issued. The City's compliance planner found the gap during final review.

Under the draft agreement the owner maintains and replaces the plantings, bricks and raised beds at its own cost, must start repairs within 30 days of notice, indemnifies the City, and carries $1M/$2M liability insurance. The City maintains the roads and sidewalks. The City can end the agreement with six months' notice.

Worth knowing: the attached map is titled “Proposed Easements” and labels the area a “Proposed Sidewalk Easement,” while the item itself is a license, not an easement.

The pocket park was donated to the City by Jay Smith. The plan replaces the current sculpted head, which the report says did not depict a known person, with a bronze bust of Smith by South Berwick artist Carl Aichele, removes overgrown lilacs, and relocates plaques honoring Smith and Kate Crowell. The Public Art Review Committee reviewed it favorably. The report says the bust is complete.

The packet's attachments add up to the request: a $5,000 proposal from landscape architect Terrence Parker for coordination, detailing and installation oversight, and a $4,500 invoice from Green Foundry for casting the bust, dated June 10 and marked due on receipt.

Scarecrows of the Port returns for its 18th season: 26 scarecrows downtown and 4 at Pease, up Sunday, October 4 and down Sunday, November 1. Volunteers handle setup on weekends, when Public Works isn't available.

Active encumbrances: four temporary permits to use City property — siding work at 24 Market Street, tree pruning on Tanner Street, roof work on State Street, and a storm drain connection by Ricci Construction at 134 Pleasant Street and the Parrott Avenue lot, October 5–23.

Related: the Parrott Avenue lot became resident and workforce-permit parking only as of October 1 (see 17.B). The storm drain work is in that lot's parking area for most of October.

Stormwater is paid for half from the General Fund and half from sewer funds today. The City Manager's report calls that split increasingly hard to sustain given federal permit requirements for stormwater and Great Bay nitrogen. The report also argues it doesn't match cost to impact: it says single-family homes are about 70% of parcels but about 15% of paved and roofed area.

The alternative under study is a stormwater utility funded by a fee based on each property's impervious surface. Raftelis is to build rate models, run stakeholder interviews and a public survey, help set up a public map where owners can see their impervious area and estimate a fee, design an online appeals process, and help draft an ordinance. Council would decide later whether to adopt a utility at all.

Not in the packet: the value of the Raftelis contract. The report says only that it is paid from budgeted stormwater funds.

See Public correspondence for the full catalog by topic.

The Portsmouth Housing Authority, which leases the City-owned Sherburne site for workforce rental housing, has sent a draft agreement for the off-site sewer and water improvements the project needs. The Authority would build them; the City would reimburse the full documented cost within 30 days of completion; and the Authority would repay the City through a separate monthly charge on its utility bill. The improvements would belong to the City.

Also unsettled in the draft: the cover letter describes 90 homes, while Exhibit A lists a 90-unit building, a possible 29-unit building and 8 units in the converted school. The letter calls it a sewer agreement; the terms cover sewer and water. Exhibit A's cost breakdown and Exhibit B's property description are still placeholders.

Related: 17.D, the Housing Authority's verbal update on the project tonight, requested by Council on September 14.

Both members cite scheduling. Ms. Torrez notes a standing conflict with the committee's Thursday evening meetings.

Spelling: the agenda and motion say “Patrone”; the resignation email is signed “Freddy Petrone.”

Considered tonight (vote at a later meeting): Alanna Lang to the Behavioral Health Task Force; Meganne Fabrega reappointed to the Library Board of Trustees; Alice Carey reappointed to the Conservation Commission.

Up for a vote: John Bohenko to the Public Art Review Committee; Richard Samdperil to the Library Board of Trustees; Jason Goodrich moving from alternate to full member of the Economic Development Commission; Thomas Watson and Anne Weidman reappointed to the same commission.

Three parts: a report back on the September 23 input session at the Library, a second information and input session during the meeting, and the Planning Board's recommendation. The plan itself is a short narrative plus an action table — 19 actions with leads, timeframes and milestones (see the timeline panel above).

The Planning Board took up the plan on September 17. Per the staff memo, members discussed co-living, co-housing, cottage housing, single-room rentals, manufactured housing and RSA 79-E tax incentives, and voted to recommend that Council “accept and adopt” the plan, with one member opposed.

Not in the packet: any written summary of the September 23 session. Public comment: five submissions address the plan; four ask that it make permanently affordable housing on city-owned land a standing practice.

The councilors' memo says the City has no cemetery with active burials, that residents are directed to three private cemeteries, two of them denominational, and that staff have reported the third is running out of room. It cites RSA 289:2, which requires municipalities to provide suitable cemeteries directly or by agreement. The memo describes natural burial (no vault, embalming or monument foundation) as the most cost-effective and ecological option, and says the request came from residents John and Skye Maher.

On September 14 Council defined the discounted workforce program as serving owners and employees of downtown restaurant, hospitality, retail and personal service businesses. This motion would, from October 1 until March 1, 2027, also admit hourly clerical, customer service, administrative and support staff at businesses that previously took part. A second motion asks staff to report back in October on off-peak parking options for downtown businesses during the workweek.

Related: 17.B, the amended parking policy as adopted September 14.

Asks staff to report on Council's April motion to work with the Festival on park infrastructure, including a covered stage and related structures that the Festival would fund. No attachment.

Councilor Tabor on the City Manager evaluation (15.D), Councilor Blalock on a gift from the Rice family to the Recreation Board (15.F), and Councilor Moreau with a Planning Board update on the Heritage Commission (15.G). None has an attachment or a suggested motion.

16.A — $1,000 from Mary Carey Foley to the Sister Cities fund in honor of Eileen Dondero Foley. (The City Manager's report spells the donor's middle name “Coley”; the donation form says Carey.)

16.B — $14,868 federal Justice Assistance Grant for new patrol rifles, through Rockingham County. Of that, $1,041 goes to the County as a 7% administrative fee, leaving $13,827 for the Police Department. The department's narrative plans 35 rifles at about $607 each after trade-in credit, roughly $21,245; the remainder, about $7,400, would come from local funds.

16.C — $1,600 for the Point of Graves cemetery wall: $100 from Sue and Don Kingman, $200 from Alexis Hanlon, $300 from Patricia Kennedy and $1,000 from Frank Connard and Rebecca Martin Connard.

17.A Verbal update on the September 15 Pease Development Authority board meeting.

17.B The resident parking policy as amended September 14, effective October 1: workforce permit holders pay $0.30 an hour on Parrott Avenue with no transaction fee; Foundry Garage stickers rise to 26 a month at 12 hours each, $3 per sticker; Parrott Avenue from Rogers Street to Richards Avenue is free with a four-hour limit; the Parrott Avenue lot is free for registered residents and workforce permit holders, and closed to nonresidents.

17.C Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day: Saturday, October 24, 8 am to noon, at Public Works, 680 Peverly Hill Road. Open to residents of Portsmouth, New Castle, Greenland and Newington.

17.D The Portsmouth Housing Authority presents a Sherburne project update in person. See 13.C.