It's Back: Water Fountains at the Statehouse Could Return

The Concord City Council approved an initial proposal this week to have water fountains constructed outside of the Statehouse despite already removing the plans from the Main Street Complete Streets project, according to the Concord Monitor.

Ward Councilors Jan McClure and Byron Champlin raised the issue during the comment section at the end of this week’s meeting. They stated that there were interests in the community, like developer Steve Duprey and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, that wanted to raise private money for the feature. An application for $200,000 in tax credits from the NH CDFA will be issued, with a letter of support from Mayor Jim Bouley.

Most of the councilors voted to include the water feature back into the project, assuming the private money could be raised, despite previously removing the decoration due to maintenance costs, its proximity to numerous memorials to veterans, all the space it would take up, and the fear that it would become, as one project critic called it, “the homeless birdbath.”

Councilors Candace Bouchard, Allan Herschlag, Keith Nyhan, and Steve Shurtleff voted against the proposal. Councilors Mark Coen and J. Allen Bennett were not in attendance.

More than two years ago, when the project was first being debated, readers on Patch overwhelmingly criticized the proposal to put a fountain in the plaza. Proponents though think the feature will bring more young families with children to the Statehouse plaza, which will then lead to more downtown shoppers.

There is no plan to build a seasonal changing area or restroom facility near the fountains (bathrooms in Bicentennial Square have been locked for years due to drug use, safety issues, and lack of maintenance). The city would be on the hook for maintaining the feature at a time when the project’s maintenance costs are projected to set a permanent 3 percent tax increase each year for the next two decades.

The larger question for the city of Concord and its citizens to consider is this: Is it good public policy to put back in something that was so overwhelmingly rejected by the public and the council just because a handful of special interests can whip out a check for it? Many aspects of this nearly $11 million project are already off the rails. There are two public fountains downtown that aren’t always maintained. How long will it be before a check is dangled in front of the council to put back the antique Concord Coaches sealed in PlexiGlass in the median idea that was also rejected just because someone is willing to pay for it with private funds?

What do you think? Is the water feature a splashy fun idea or a drowning disaster waiting to happen? Leave a note in the comment section below.