Friday Updates - December 10, 2021

Friday, December 10, 2021

Amtrak Downeaster at the Durham/UNH station. Courtesy Todd Selig

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AMTRAK DOWNEASTER CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY NEXT WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15TH

In Durham and at UNH, we collectively have a lot to be celebrating:

• over 940,000 boardings/alightings at UNH-Durham;
• five daily roundtrips from Boston-Freeport (the Downeaster originally stopped in Durham just Fri-Sunday, ran only to Portland, and was only four daily roundtrips);
• bikes now allowed on all trains with reservation;
• small pets allowed on trains with reservation;
• enhanced quik-trak and e-ticketing;
• renovation of the UNH/Durham historic train station in 2008-10, the UNH Dairy Bar, and UNH’s planned completion of the northern canopy and site improvements in 2022-2023 (with $1M of Federal Transit Admiration funding awarded in 2019).

The Downeaster remains one of Amtrak’s most highly rated train routes. It was also one of the first to pilot wifi, e-ticketing, and local vendor food service in a café car. It’s one of the many attributes that makes Durham such a special place to live, work, and attend college.  

This year saw a gradual return of passenger count as Amtrak and the Downeaster maintained rigorous safety protocols including Ride-Reserve, real-time capacity tracking and enhanced e-ticketing. Durham ridership for the UNH academic year was only 13,040 – this is 1/5th or prior year ridership. Ridership ranged from a low of only 350 riders in January 2021 and rebound to over 1,500 in June 2021. 

LIKE THE REST OF NH, DURHAM’S COVID ACTIVE CASE NUMBERS ARE ON THE RISE

State-wide, the Covid-19 positivity rate is quite high at 12%. In comparison, the positivity rate in Durham on campus as part of the UNH campus testing program is .73%. The NH DHHS reported 75 active cases in Durham.  

Remember to take appropriate COVID precautions such as mask wearing indoors around other people, becoming fully vaccinated, getting your booster vaccine dose, getting tested if you display COVID symptoms, etc. Vaccine is now available for younger children as well.

PLANNING BOARD SITE WALKS

The Planning Board is holding two site walks on Saturday, December 4. The public is always welcome to join the board at its site walks. An inspection of the proposed new residential building at 32 Madbury (at the intersection with Garrison) will start at 1:30 pm. The board will then meet at 74 Main Street (next to Aroma Joes) to discuss a proposal for a four-story mixed-use building.

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS REPORT AT THE OYSTER RIVER MIDDLE SCHOOL

The construction of the new Oyster River Middle School is in the home stretch with the goal still being to have students and staff occupying and utilizing the facility when they return from winter break in March.

The fourth floor is in final punch list and cleaning mode with all components of the building in place.

The third floor is scheduled for architect’s punch list to be done next Tuesday and also is complete construction wise.

The four stairwells are receiving their flooring and stair coverings starting Monday and are otherwise complete.

The second floor is nearly complete but still undergoing some flooring installation and pre-punch list work prior to the architect’s inspection in late December.

Elevators are scheduled for completion and inspection the final week in December which will allow classrooms to begin receiving furniture and supplies in early January.

The gymnasium floor is receiving its last two coats of finish and the gym will only need to have the safety crash pads installed on the walls to be fully complete. One of walls of the gymnasium features an accent of giant paw prints across its upper portion. These paw prints were projected onto the wall and then hand painted during a Saturday volunteer work session which included the SAU’s superintendent Dr. Morse, project architects from Lavallee Brensinger, supervisors from Bauen Corporation, and some school staff members. This team did a great job and the paw prints add a great feature to the gym!  

The concert hall is coming together nicely with most acoustical treatments in place. There is a fantastic difference in the sound transmission and acoustic features within the room since they were all put in place. The seating will begin being installed next week followed by the wood flooring scheduled for the main performance area of the hall.

Also on the first floor, equipment for the main kitchen space will begin its installation on Monday next week. In the student commons area, casework and millwork are being installed and all the first floor spaces are being prepared for flooring as the month progresses further.

On the outside, all masonry work has been completed and the other sidings are scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Remaining site work has been put on hold until springtime but much of the parking and walkways are in place for the start of school. Final areas of exterior storefront entrance doors and glazing are being completed. All solar panels are hooked up and awaiting the go-ahead from the supplier to begin harvesting the sun’s energy. Revision Energy has worked very well with the construction team to get the system designed and installed.

Commissioning work is ongoing and testing of various mechanical components is being done as they are brought online. Next month, SAU maintenance staff will begin familiarizing themselves with the new school’s systems and receive extensive training from the team members to help them properly monitor and operate the new building. This will be an ongoing process over the two month prior to the start of school.

Finally, the change in traffic flow on Dennison and Garrison was instituted before the start of school and seems to be working effectively. Once parents can fully utilize the new entrance drive in March, traffic should move around even more efficiently.

The construction team wishes a happy holidays to all the citizens of Durham, Lee, and Madbury.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE DURHAM HISTORIC ASSOCIATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT! 

For the month of December 2021, the Durham Historic Association will receive a $1 donation from each purchase of a $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.

THE LODGES ON MAST ROAD SOLD FOR $51,500,000

On December 2nd, The Lodges sold to a Delaware LLC called SZ Durham Apartments LLC for $51,500,000.  



The 17 acre parcel was sold to the original developer in 2013 for $2,200,000. The completed project was sold to an investor in December 2016 for $40,472,000.

There are 486 occupants (It is approved for that many).

SWAP SHOP NEWS

The Swap Shop will be closing for the season no later than Saturday, December 11th, 2021. This timeline will advance should we receive a significant winter storm next week. Bulky items will NOT be accepted on December 11th, as Swap Shop volunteers will be working diligently to pack up for winter. Even though the swap shop will be closed, there are still several different options for donating items. Residents are encouraged to donate to other organizations such as the ReStore, Salvation Army or Goodwill. The containers at the Transfer Station (Discover Books, Salvation Army, and Ecosmith) will remain open throughout the winter.

MOTORCYCLE AND MOPED PERMIT SALES AT UNH CONTINUED A MULTI-YEAR DECLINE WITH PERMIT COUNTS IN FALL 2021 – Students moving instead to privately owned scooters and e-devices.

This is likely due to COVID disruptions and, increasingly, the availability of cheaper, easier to transport personal mobility devices. Although operations of these devices are regulated by Town Ordinance (effective winter 2020), UNH does not issue permits or track these devices. 

Anecdotally, privately owned scooters and e-devices are increasing significantly each semester.

TAX MAP PROJECT UPDATE

During the last three years, the Town of Durham engaged the services of CAI Technologies to update the property tax maps for assessment purposes, and in preparation for the implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) technology.  The updated tax maps and GIS will not only transform the valuation processes but can be used within municipal offices to improve efficiency, accuracy, and transparency to better serve the public.

Creating the new tax maps began with an aerial “flyover” of Durham on April 29, 2019 which was used to support the development of a planimetric base map.  Orthoimagery was also processed from the aerial photography.  In addition, CAI Technologies researched, and reviewed deeds and survey plans from the Strafford County Registry of Deeds and from the Town’s archives.  Once the compilation phase was completed and preliminary maps were created, notices were mailed to each property owner indicating their new tax map and lot numbers, and any acreage changes (if applicable).

In addition to boundary line dimensions, the new tax maps will identify either the surveyed acreage (if applicable) or the calculated acreage, and in some cases both.  If your property has been surveyed or your deed refers to surveyed acreage, your assessment will be based on that acreage.  If not, then your assessment will be based on the calculated acreage as determined by the mappers.     

The last phase of the project was just completed where CAI Technologies held informal reviews and property owners were able to meet with a representative from CAI Technologies to review their new tax map parcel and to discuss any acreage discrepancies based on information not previously available to the mappers, such as a survey that was completed on the property but not recorded at the Strafford County Registry of Deeds.  The mappers will review and revise the maps based on any new information gathered during the reviews.  If you were unable to attend the informal reviews and have information indicating a different acreage than what was mailed to you, please contact the Durham Assessing Office and we will forward your information to CAI Technologies for review.

It is anticipated that the project will be completed by December 2021 but will not be implemented until 2022 for assessment purposes.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Durham Assessing Office.

BIKESHARE AND BIKE RENTAL PROGRAMS ADVANCE AT UNH

Conversation continued through the academic year regarding the introduction of public bike share and bike rental services on campus. A working group of University constituents with invited Town participation advanced a proposal for solicitation of proposals from bike service vendors. 

As of this date in December 2021, UNH staff are working on an RFP to be issued by USNH in early 2022. If successful proposals are received, we are hopeful to have bike share and or bike rental opportunities available to the community by fall 2022.

Durham officer Mckayla Sowler lowering the flag at Town Hall to half mast in remembrance of former Senator Bob Dole who died on Sunday, December 5, 2021. Courtesy DCAT Studios

WISWALL DAM CONCRETE ADHESION CORING INVESTIGATION

Durham Public Works continues to evaluate findings with dam structural engineers, Pare Corporation, regarding the dam stability review of Wiswall Dam. Durham Public Works recently executed a contract with Pare Corp to evaluate dam adhesion through coring of the dam and analysis of the bedrock/concrete dam interface. A concrete coring contractor has been retained to take small cores in the dam to study the adhesion between the dam concrete and underlying bedrock. This work will require a small drawdown of the Wiswall dam impoundment such that no water is going over the spillway. This small drawdown is being coordinated with the UNH/Durham Water System as well as regulatory agencies and will not have an impact to water users. This analysis of the adhesion has the potential to result in favorable findings eliminating or greatly reducing the need for costly upgrades. In the event findings indicate less than desirable adhesion, it may be necessary to install shear pins into the dam bedrock interface to anchor the dam to the bedrock below in lieu of rock anchors that were originally anticipated. This work has been tentatively scheduled for Monday December 6th and is weather dependent with drawdown preparations scheduled for Friday December 3^rd.