PORTSMOUTH – Residents will get their chance to tell the City Council how they feel about a proposal to more than double parking fines at a public hearing scheduled for May 3.
The City Council voted 7-2 this week to pass the first reading and schedule the public hearing on the proposal, which would increase fines for people who overstay their time at downtown parking meters from $15 to $35.
The proposed hike represents a percentage increase of 133%.
Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine and City Councilor Deaglan McEachern cast the two no votes against scheduling second reading on the proposal. It needs to pass three readings to go into effect.
PORTSMOUTH A market pavilion design has emerged as residents preferred vision for redevelopment of the Thomas J. McIntyre Federal Building property.
Boston-based design firm Principle Group revealed its final redevelopment sketch to Portsmouth residents and city leaders Tuesday night. It features retail and restaurant space, outdoor performance space, underground parking and the return of a post office to the site.
Russell Preston, founder of Principle Group, told the meeting’s virtual attendees the pavilion design, which he termed a market shed design, on average, ranked the top option out of four prior design sketches in a survey of Portsmouth residents. It scored an average of 3.8 on a scale of 1-5. The survey asked for opinions about multiple visions for the property created through a lengthy public input process.
PORTSMOUTH Peverly Hill Road residents will soon get another opportunity to tell city officials whether they want a more ambitious sidewalk and shared use path project for their neighborhood, or if they only want a sidewalk.
The City Council voted 9-0 to hold another in-person public hearing so Peverly Hill Road residents can weigh in on three options being considered for the project.
City Councilor Cliff Lazenby, who made the motion to have the yet-to-be-scheduled public meeting, pointed to the benefit of allowing residents “to all come together” so they could “all have an opportunity to give input.”
That way, Lazenby said, city officials could “get an updated sense of how they (residents) feel about the project prior to the council figuring out a path forward.”
PORTSMOUTH – A long-debated, 152-unit residential development along the North Mill Pond, is moving forward after receiving key approvals from the Planning Board late Thursday night.
As part of the development, called Residences at Islington Creek, developers are creating a ½-acre public park along the North Mill Pond and donating rights to the city for about ¾ of a mile of the long-planned North Mill Pond Trail and Greenway, a public multi-use path that will connect Market and Bartlett streets.
The development at 105 Bartlett St., once was proposed to include 272 apartments before developers scaled back the project, which has been under discussion or review since 2018.