PORTSMOUTH The owner of a historic 1860 mansion is scheduled to appear before the city Planning Board Thursday seeking an approval he needs to continue to rent eight apartments in the building.
Owner Robert Vaccaro recently described the historic building at 411 Middle St. as “a residential community with intentions around personal development, mutual support, health and planet friendly living in a beautiful and well-maintained setting.”
“I rent rooms in two of my larger apartments. I rent those rooms from between $800 to $1,000 a month,” he said during an interview earlier this month as he showed visitors around his historic building. “Where else can you live in a mansion like this and have all these amenities at that price in Portsmouth?”
Credit Robert Geiger / Flickr Creative Commons
Portsmouth is the first community in the state to ban some single-use plastics as of Thursday, but the city’s new rules won’t be fully enforced just yet.
The city council voted last year to bar most restaurants and businesses from distributing polystyrene cups and containers, beginning at the end of 2020.
In addition, vendors on city property – such as the farmer’s market or concessions at a school sports game – are barred from giving out most single-use plastic straws, bags and containers.
Nonprofits and food stamp or WIC users are among those exempt from the rules. Plastic bags can also still be distributed on city property as a safety precaution, or with a surcharge of 10 cents.