Penacook Gets Buried Power Lines

The Concord City Council met on March 11, 2013, and approved $1.735 million in bonds by a 14-0 vote for the fifth phase of the Route 3 Corridor project.

The fifth leg of the project includes Village Street in Penacook from the Boscawen town line to Stark Street.

The plan included $1.5 million in appropriations to bury power lines from Village Street from Coral and Washington Street to north of the Contoocook River Bridge, in an effort to beautiful the area and attract more business and development to the village. Another $350,000 would be spent on Village Street Bridge repairs and $425,000 spent on overlay. According to a memo from the Engineering Division, $540,000 is left in the Route 3 project fund.

Roy Schweiker, a Concord resident, called the expense to bury the lines a waste of money and a “special interest” project while calling on the money to be spent on more work on the city’s roads.

“It’s just outrageous,” he said. “If you figure that out per person in the city, that’s, over $30 per person. Hardly anyone would be in favor of that if you went around and asked them.”

Schweiker also noted that while road projects were done in various parts of the city, no one was getting their power lines buried. Instead, he suggested getting the residents of Penacook who would benefit from the expenditure to contribute directly to the cost, especially since neither the utility companies nor the government would ever spend the money to do that and taxpayers shouldn’t either. Schweiker suggested requesting the city request a New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority for burying the power lines instead of trying to get the money for the downtown Main Street improvement project.

Schweiker also complained that this project – and the grant request for the Downtown Complete Streets project – were perfect examples of how city officials were making decisions on public policy issues without public input.

“You say, ‘Well, we haven’t decided anything, we’re just applying for the grant,’ but in effect, you’ve made a decision by making a decision on what grant to apply for,” he said. “And then let’s say you get the grant. Sure, the public gets to go to a public hearing to say, ‘Yes, let’s accept this for Main Street,’ but that’s your only choice. They get no choice on what grant to apply for. The public really needs to have more input.”

Schweiker suggested moving to Phase 6 of the project and seeing if there was private money from residents to pay for the burying of the lines.

Ray Miner, a board member of the Penacook Village Association, however, spoke in favor of the project, calling it an opportunity to help the village improvement its economic development opportunities.

“It’s a great opportunity to enhancing our quality of life, with the reconstruction of Village Street, while increasing attention to its historic character,” he said.

Councilors argued against Schweiker’s comments with at-Large City Councilor Steve Shurtleff noting that everyone in the city paid property taxes towards projects everywhere around the city. Ward 5 Councilor Rob Werner suggested that the improvement would probably bring in more in tax revenue over the long haul when economic growth improved in the village. Ward 3 Councilor Jan McClure noted that the council had spent more than 10 years in an effort to improve Penacook.

Matt Walsh, the assistant for special projects, was asked how much had been spent in the area so far. Walsh said more than $4.78 million had been spent on the tannery site alone, with about $2.11 million in city money spent at the site.

The councilors unanimously approved of the project.

The Friendly Kitchen bus stop

The council also approved the installation of a bus stop at the intersection of South Commercial Street and Constitution Avenue right near The Friendly Kitchen.

Kevin Flynn, of New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority, spoke in favor of the stop, noting that NHCDFA helped the kitchen with an emergency $500,000 grant and $300,000 in tax credits for the building. He said having the stop “removes an obstacle” to low- and moderate-income people accessing the facility.

“It seems like a simple thing but it really is important,” he said.

Ward 2 Councilor Jennifer Kretovic stated that the bus stop was one of six shelter that was deemed as needed and necessary.

In a memo to the council, Assistant City Planner Steve Henninger noted that the stop was approved by the Traffic Operations Committee, Concord Area Transit, and the Engineering Division.

The proposal was approved.

After the approval, Mayor Jim Bouley quipped, “Mr. Flynn, there you go … now if you could write Mr. Schweiker a check, he’d be very happy.” 

Other stuff

The Council also approved of a memo from Walsh suggesting the city of Concord apply for a $1.5 million community development improvement program tax credit from the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority to pay for the Downtown Complete Streets project. Walsh wrote that normally, the NHCDFA grants requests in the $25,000 to $1 million range.

The Council accepted consent reports including accepting nearly $4,000 in monetary to the library, and various reports about fund balance policy finance structures and building projects.