Friday Updates - June 20, 2025

Friday, June 20, 2025

Sunset over the Oyster River. Courtesy, Maria Isaak

It’s a beautiful and blustery day in Durham’s Hundred Acre Wood!  Welcome to the first day of summer.  

UPDATE RE: MILL POND DAM REMOVAL - WETLANDS PERMIT ISSUED TO DURHAM FROM NHDES ON JUNE 13, 2025

The Town received the Wetlands Permit from NHDES for this project last Friday June 13, 2025. Additionally, construction bids were opened this afternoon, June 20th, and are currently being reviewed.

The project is funded through over $4 million in state and federal grants that the Town has sought and been awarded, including:

•  $284,226 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) via the NHDES Critical Flood Infrastructure Grant for design and permitting.
• $290,000 from NOAA’s Community-Based Restoration Program for fish passage design at the Oyster Reservoir Dam.
• Approximately $3.2 million in construction funding expected from NOAA upon completion of design and permitting phases.

This restoration effort will improve fish passage, restore natural river functions, and address safety concerns. As part of compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies and consulting parties have evaluated potential impacts on historic and archaeological resources. Mitigation measures have been developed to offset adverse effects and will be formalized in a Memorandum of Agreement.

The Implementation Start Date (i.e. removal of the dam and restoration of the river channel) is planned to begin late summer 2025. Installation of the fishway at the Oyster Reservoir Dam is expected to occur in 2026.

For more details about the project including the NHDES Wetlands Permit, click HERE.

Mark your calendar to attend the re-enactment of Lafayette’s visit on Sunday, June 22, at 10:15 am on the Town Hall grounds. The program will include: Arrival of General Lafayette by horse-drawn carriage, escorted by the New Hampshire SAR, Welcome remarks by Alan Hoffman, President of the American Friends of Lafayette, A re-enactment of the speech welcoming Lafayette featuring John Herman as Stephen Mitchell, Esq. of Durham, Lafayette’s reply to the citizens of Durham, Lafayette mingles with the citizenry and is available for photos.

Refreshments provided by RiverWoods Durham on the Town Hall grounds. Visitors, please park on Millpond Road or Schoolhouse Lane – the Town Hall site will be a pedestrian area during this event. There will be a 3-gun salute by the New Hampshire SAR during the program.

The previous stop on Lafayette’s Farewell Tour is 8:45 am Sunday in Dover, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5 Hale Street. After our Durham celebration, the Tour continues to Northwood, Chichester, and Concord.

Last week’s Trivia answer:

Lafayette was nineteen years old when he sailed from France to volunteer with General George Washington. He was from a wealthy French noble family, and he arrived in his own ship.

SWAP SHOP WILL BE CLOSED TUESDAY, JUNE 24

The Swap Shop will be closed on Tuesday, June 24 due to the anticipated extreme heat that day. 

When the doors of the Swap Shop are closed, the Swap Shop is closed. Please do NOT leave items when no Swap Shop volunteer is available. The Swap Shop is run entirely by volunteers and is not overseen by the Transfer Station staff. Items that are left after hours are out in the weather until the next day the Transfer Station is open, and these items often need to be thrown out. 

The Swap Shop has been busy! It’s been wonderful to see so many items come in and leave with delighted new owners. It takes a lot of volunteers to keep the Swap Shop open, please consider becoming a volunteer. Go to https://swapshopdurham.wordpress.com/ for information.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY: SOUTH DRIVE ON THE UNH CAMPUS

Please be advised that beginning Monday, June 23, 2025, South Drive from the Wildcat Stadium Parking Lot to Colovos Road will be closed in both directions to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

South Drive will re-open no later than Friday, August 22,2025. Please seek alternate routes. Thank you for your patience.

HB 457 MOVES TO GOVERNOR FOR SIGNATURE

Despite strong objections from the Town of Durham, we’ve received word that the NH House has “concurred” (179-170) with the NH Senate on the amended HB 457. This bill as amended prohibits the legislative body of a city, town, village district, or county in which there are located unincorporated towns or unorganized places from adopting or enforcing any ordinance that restricts the number of occupants of any dwelling unit to less than 2 occupants per bedroom or is based on the familial or non-familial relationships or marital status, occupation, employment status, or the educational status, including but not limited to scholastic enrollment or academic achievement at any level among the occupants of the dwelling unit, including but not limited to college students. The bill now goes to the Gov. for signature.  

Amendment to HB457

Amend the title of the bill by replacing it with the following:

AN ACT relative to zoning restrictions on dwelling units. Amend the bill by replacing section 1 with the following:

1 New Paragraph; Zoning; Grant of Power; Dwelling Unit Occupancy. Amend RSA 674:16 by inserting after paragraph VII the following new paragraph:

VIII. In its exercise of the powers granted under this subdivision, the legislative body of a city, town, village district, or county in which there are located unincorporated towns or unorganized places shall not adopt any ordinance that restricts the number of occupants of any dwelling unit to less than 2 occupants per bedroom, and the governing body thereof shall not enforce any such ordinance. Such legislative body shall not adopt any ordinance based on the familial or non-familial relationships or marital status, occupation, employment status, or the educational status, including but not limited to scholastic enrollment or academic achievement at any level among the occupants of the dwelling unit, including but not limited to college students, and the governing body thereof shall not enforce any such ordinance. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the enforcement of the state building code or state fire code.

Dogwood tree blossoms Courtesy, Carol Birch

UPCOMING TOWN COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARINGS ON TWO HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

At the July 7 Town Council meeting, the Council will hold public hearings on two zoning amendments first recommended by the Durham Housing Task Force, then moved forward following public discussion as Council-initiated zoning changes, followed by discussion, public hearing, and recommendations by the Planning Board, aimed at expanding housing and commercial opportunities in key areas of town. Both measures have received support from the Planning Board. The process for these initiatives dates back to 2024.

1. Removing the Three-Story Height Limit in Part of the Central Business-1 District

Currently, certain sections of Main Street and Madbury Road in the Central Business-1 (CB-1) District are limited to buildings no taller than three stories. This amendment would eliminate that three-story height limit, allowing buildings up to four stories by right and up to five stories with conditional approval by conditional use. The change also reduces the requirement for commercial space in five-story buildings from two floors to one floor.

This update is designed to encourage more development, including mixed-use buildings with commercial space on the first floor and housing above, helping to create more housing options and increase taxable property value downtown.

The fifth story would remain subject to conditional use approval to ensure appropriate design and location. The Planning Board has recommended a future review to consider where five-story buildings should be allowed by right or conditionally.

2. Allowing Multi-Unit Residential by Right in Three Commercial Districts

The second amendment permits multi-unit residential buildings by right in the Professional Office (PO), Church Hill (CH), and Courthouse (C) zoning districts.

Currently, multi-unit housing is very restricted in these areas, even though there are existing student housing developments that are technically nonconforming. This change aims to attract a broader range of residents, including non-students, by making it easier to develop quality multi-unit housing close to the downtown core.

The amendment does not apply to the Central Business District itself, where the first floor of buildings will continue to be reserved for commercial uses. Building height limits in these three districts remain at 30 feet by right, allowing for about three stories.

How does these proposals fit in with the larger plan? Both amendments are part of a broader effort by the Durham Housing Task Force, the Council, and the Planning Board to address housing needs and support smart growth in the community. With the proliferation of an additional 2,000+ off campus student beds over the last fifteen years in Durham, combined with declining enrollment at UNH, the economics around student housing may well be shifting to support more varied housing types, which has long been a local objective. 

We encourage residents to stay informed and participate in the upcoming public hearings.

There will be a presentation on Know Your Rights by Katherine Harake, Regional Campaign Manager for the ACLU NH, on June 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Durham Public Library. Ms. Harake will outline the basic rights everyone has under the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws.

A resident of Cedar Point alerted the Town recently of an abandoned dock damaging the marsh grass and the fragile shoreline. Several dock sections are rotting and getting covered with additional junk. We are investigating who might be the owner of this dock and are determining if there's a way to be compensated for the removal. 

The Administrator, chair of the Conservation Commission, Land Stewardship Coordinator, Town Planner, Public Works Director, and Code Enforcement Officer have been in discussions with several neighbors, NHDES, and the Great Bay – Piscataqua Waterkeeper about how best to address this situation. We have considered several strategies to remove the dock, including enlisting volunteers to stand on the shore and break it apart by hand, bringing in a mobile ramp for people to stand on, and towing the dock off the shore. Those methods could be hazardous and cause further damage to the shore. The best option would probably be to rent a crane to lift the dock sections into a boat and carry them to another site where they would be dismantled. 

The state does not have the resources or the inclination to remove the dock and the Town is not technically responsible for cleaning up the situation. However, the dock is causing environmental damage and its presence is a blight upon the adjacent residents. The Town has the resources to address the problem and we are now evaluating how to proceed. We will continue to investigate enforcement and reimbursement options as well.

Pack up your picnic supper and chair/blanket and join the Durham Historic Association for their annual picnic on Saturday, June 21 (rain date June 28) from 4:30 – 7:30 pm on the lawn of the historic Bickford-Chesley House (circa 1804) at Wagon Hill Farm.

Members of the DHA Executive Board will give a presentation on the rich history of the Bickford-Chesley House and its past residents, as well as an update on the current renovation project. 

Forty or so people visited on opening day of the Durham Historic Association Museum. Only half were Durham residents and none from any committees other than Durham Historic Association. Nancy Sandberg has done a great job reorganizing the space. There was a historian from Maine who spent 3 hours taking pictures of all the artifacts and exhibits.

The museum is open every Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. through Labor Day weekend. Come and explore Durham's 400-year history in eight chronological periods, from the 17th century to the present, in air-conditioned comfort. The museum is located on the second floor of the old Town Hall/District Court brick building on the corner of Rt. 108 at the traffic lights. Parking is available directly behind the building. For visits outside of regular hours, please contact museum curator, Nancy Sandberg, at nancy.sandberg@comcast.net.

The new bridge is open to foot traffic and offers great views of Crommet Creek on both sides, one being a carefully constructed beaver dam! It is located at the South end of the Blue trail where it meets the White Trail/ Sweet Trail.

Volunteers helped reroute the blue and white trail sections leading to the new bridge and away from the low and often under water old stone bridge, new trail markers have been put up as part of a joint effort with the partners of the Sweet Trail (The Nature Conservancy, NH Fish and Game and the Society for the Protection of NH Forests) to update signage on the whole trail.

The work at Longmarsh Preserve continues with more boards being replaced on the Green Trail main bog bridge crossing.

The Conservation Commission is holding a public hearing on Monday, June 23, at 7:00 p.m. to receive public input on a proposed contribution from the Town’s Conservation Fund. The commission is considering donating $50,000 from the fund toward the acquisition of a conservation easement on a 29-acre parcel at 280 Durham Point Road owned by the Gsottschneider Family Trust.

The Nature Conservancy is coordinating with the Southeast Land Trust on acquisition of the easement. The project cost (subject to change) is $505,000 +/-. The balance in the Conservation Fund is about $154,000. Money for the fund comes from the change of use tax when properties in current use are taken out of current use. The Conservation Commission is authorized to use the fund for various conservation projects in the community. You can see more information on the website for the commission HERE. 

Last year at this time we received a really good question from a resident about what to do if you see a turtle either alongside the road or trying to cross the road. We subsequently reached out to the experts at UNH to learn more.  Dr. Jennifer Purrenhage from the UNH Natural Resources and the Environment Department graciously provided the following response…

“May-June is a particularly active time of year in this area to encounter turtles on roads. Snapping turtles and painted turtles spend most of their time in and around ponds, but the females must migrate after breeding to find good nesting sites. They move away from ponds across the land to find good spots to dig nests and lay eggs before migrating back to the ponds shortly thereafter. Other turtles in our area—Blanding’s turtles and spotted turtles—also migrate away from ponds to nest, but both males and females also spend much of the summer wandering among different kinds of ponds and wetlands and so we can sometimes see these species moving across roads for a longer period of time (not just in spring and early summer). 

As your resident David indicated, it is best (when possible to do safely) to help a turtle move across the road by moving it in the direction it is already heading. Sometimes, as David experienced, a turtle may turn around a head back, but there is really no way to prevent that other than moving the turtle as far off the road as possible. In other words, rather than moving a turtle across a road and leaving it just on the edge of the pavement, it’s great to move it to the grass/sand/forest floor ≥20 ft or so beyond the other side of the road (again, if it’s possible to do this safely).

For many of us, the impulse is to always pull over and walk into the road to help move turtles across, but the reality is that on some very busy roads during high traffic, that can be too dangerous. 

The question was about snapping turtles. Snapping turtles, as David noted, can be a bit intimidating to pick up. It’s always important to keep your hands at the shell behind the snapping turtle’s back legs (for your own safety) and to never pick up a snapping turtle by its tail (for the turtle’s safety—the tail is connected to the backbone and carrying a turtle by the tail can seriously injure the turtle). Snapping turtles’ necks are very long so folks should be mindful of staying by the hind legs/back of shell. For most snappers, I use the method David mentioned---pick it up by the back of the shell and carry it across. For the largest individuals, this may be untenable for some people to do without possible injury to themselves or to the turtle. If you’re on a smaller side road, you can sometimes put your blinkers on and act as a guide to alert other drivers to the crossing turtle and just wait patiently while it crosses at its own pace. Sometimes walking up behind a turtle will encourage it to move more swiftly on its own without the need to pick it up. 

I realize this message is approaching short-story length (be careful what you ask of turtle-nerds), but please feel free to reach out for any clarifications or with other questions and thanks for helping those turtles move across the busy landscape we’ve created.

One last note: We have a relatively new resource for injured turtles in our area … New Hampshire Turtle Rescue, based in Nottingham, NH (603-417-4944). Anyone who encounters injured turtles can call NHTR for rehabilitation of that turtle. If a female turtle is killed on roadway but is carrying eggs, the folks at NHTR may even be able to extract and incubate those eggs so the babies have a chance. Due to limited resources, they can typically only afford to extract and incubate eggs from our endangered Blanding’s turtles and threatened spotted turtles. But they are a great resource for your residents!”

Did You Know?  Lithium Batteries

There has been a change to New Hampshire state law regarding the disposal of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are used in a wide variety of consumer products, including: 

• Automotive vehicles
• Electric bikes and scooters
• Lawncare equipment
• Portable electronics such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, cameras, wireless headphones, speakers, toothbrushes and other rechargeable electronic devices
• Cordless power tools
• Toys

Starting July 1, 2025, all rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries will be prohibited from disposal in New Hampshire's landfills and incinerators. This applies to everyone statewide – individuals and businesses. This new law will help to eliminate the risk of fire or danger to our environment that rechargeable batteries found in a landfill can cause.

What do I do with my batteries?

1. Staples stores offer free recycling for rechargeable and single use batteries. Alkaline batteries (single use) must have their ends taped or each unit individually bagged before drop off.
2. Our transfer station in Durham will also accept rechargeable and single use batteries.Alkaline batteries (single use) must have their ends taped or each unit individually bagged. ***Single use batteries (only) are disposed of in the household trash container if brought to the transfer station. You can also dispose of them in your trash at home as long as the ends are taped, or they are individually bagged.

Other battery types

For information on how to safely dispose of the many other types of batteries (including button cell and rechargeable), please refer to this quick and helpful video created by the Northeast Resource Recovery Association HERE.

For more information about the change to New Hampshire state law, please check out the following link HERE.

Sources: The Northeast Resource Recovery Association, NH Department of Environmental Services

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.

DURHAM RESIDENT PARTICIPATES IN UPCOMING “ROCK MY SOUL” SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

Join your neighbor Chris Chance of Durham to support soul-connecting music by buying tickets now to a Rock My Soul summer concert season show. All proceeds support the roots music choir’s ongoing outreach to area nursing homes and jails. More information on the upcoming June 27th show at the Word Barn, plus August shows at the Wolfeboro Players space and at Kittery Dance Hall is available HERE.

We understand that new singers are welcome in September for foot-stomping fun with a purpose! 

OYSTER RIVER SCHOOL NEWS

Summer Nutrition Programs

Oyster River families in need of assistance during the summer months can contact End 68 Hours of Hunger HERE and Community Action Partnership of Strafford County HERE.

Summer Hours Between June 23 and August 22

The SAU office summer hours are Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The SAU and schools will be closed on July 4 in observance of Independence Day.

The schools' summer hours are:

• Mast Way School: Tuesday to Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Moharimet School: Tuesday to Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Oyster River Middle School: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. 
• Oyster River High School: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Community Survey

Superintendent Shaps invites you to take part in a community survey focused on ORCSD's strategic plan. This is your chance to share your thoughts and help us plan for the years ahead. Please consider sharing your thoughts and ideas HERE. The survey will close Friday, July 4, 2025.

ORCSD School Board Updates

ORCSD school board meetings recordings are available on the ORCSD YouTube channel HERE, and the agendas and minutes are available HERE. School board meetings are live streamed on the ORCSD Streaming channel HERE.