PORTSMOUTH – A group of Connors Cottage residents have presented a petition to City Council opposing recent plans to renovate and expand the city’s police station.
Connors Cottage is a Portsmouth Housing Authority building for residents aged 62 and over and is located on the municipal City Hall campus near the existing police station.
Eighteen of Connors Cottage’s 20 residents signed the petition against the latest redevelopment plan, which was made public in May, according to local resident Lucille Therrien, who organized the initiative.
The petition states, among other things, that “the police station expansion project, if built where planned, will directly affect us.”
The most recent design plan, presented by the city administration in May, called for an extension in front of the existing police station.
Residents of Connors Cottage express their concerns
Many residents opposed the proposal after learning that the addition would block the view from City Hall to North Church, the Middle School and other parts of downtown and might require the removal of cherry trees near the banks of South Mill Pond.
“The biggest threat is that we, the residents, would suffer the most. We would be on an island and there would be construction on both sides of our building,” says the petition signed by the residents of Connors Cottage. They would be exposed to “dust, noise, constant disturbance and all-day stress.”
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Therrien, who appeared at a recent city council meeting, said her building is home to “retired medical personnel, widowers, artists, musicians, authors and more. In order not to jeopardize our well-being and peace, I would suggest the lower parking lot for an expansion (of the police station) as the police want to stay close to home.”
Connors Cottage resident Patricia Robinson told councillors she loved Portsmouth and had “really enjoyed” her time living in the building.
She pointed out the view of the town hall grounds as people approach it.
“It’s welcoming, inspiring and embraces the city,” she said. “From here you can see many of the city’s attractions.”
If the expansion goes ahead as planned, Robinson said, “it will not only block us, but also the access, especially from the city.”
“From what I understand, trees are being relocated and things like that,” she said. “We can’t imagine something like that disappearing, but once it’s gone, it can’t be restored.”
Complaints were heard “loud and clear”
Joe Almeida, the city’s facilities director, said city staff are “busy in meetings developing design concepts that directly address all of the concerns we’ve heard over the last year and a half.”
“First and foremost, the desire was expressed loud and clear to minimize the impact on the privacy walls in front of City Hall,” Almeida, a member of the police station’s working group, said at a recent city council meeting.
He later added: “We didn’t pay much attention at all to the previous concept, which didn’t … meet with enthusiasm. We left that aside for now.”
He reported: “We currently have three concepts that we are developing. Some of them do not envisage a building in front of the town hall at all… aesthetically they are successful, in reality they are not successful at all for the program. It is very difficult for the police not to have their own premises, the adjacent areas are very important for the various functions of the police.”
Staff have been working on “some concepts that have a much smaller addition to the front that will minimally impact the view, but it’s nothing compared to the full station along the driveway,” he said. “We’re also very open to the idea of using as much of the station as possible, so that’s what we’re doing.”
He noted, “The more we engage with the building, the more we influence other people in other departments.”
“We’re trying not to move other departments in City Hall because those are just projects that would need to be done before the station gets their attention,” he told the council. “It’s a fine line. I look forward to presenting the concepts soon.”
According to Almeida, a meeting of city staff and the working group is scheduled to present the latest concepts.
The working group meetings were not public.
City Manager Karen Conard said city staff likely won’t present the new concepts to the City Council until September.
Mayor Deaglan McEachern said there will be “a lot of advance warning” when the concept or concepts for the new police station are presented.
“We intentionally keep things quiet during the summer because we don’t expect everyone to take advantage of their beautiful summer days to be here,” McEachern said.
