HAMPTON UNION

Municipal campus vetted at deliberative session

Select Board chairman calls project its 'highest priority'

Patrick Cronin pcronin@seacoastonline.com
A schematic of the proposed municipal complex in North Hampton. Voters are being asked to support a $5.9 million bond in order to complete the project.

NORTH HAMPTON – A proposal to secure a $5.9 million bond for the purpose of constructing a new municipal campus on Atlantic Avenue was vetted during Saturday's deliberative session.

Town officials spoke on the importance of the project, which will go before voters at the March 10 election, answering questions ranging from the condition of the current town facilities to the impact on taxpayers if the bond is approved.

It was one of 28 articles that were discussed including 10 zoning amendments and the town's proposed $6.4 million operating budget, which is a 4.4 percent increase over the current budget.

Select Board Chairman Jim Maggiore told those who attended Saturday's deliberative session that the board has made the town campus project its "highest priority," after a similar article was defeated last year after it failed to get the two-thirds vote necessary to pass.

The project calls for the construction of a new public safety complex to house both the Police and Fire departments on the so-called Homestead Property, located just west of the existing town campus, as well as the construction of a joint library/town administrative office building on the site of the current fire and police station.

The full price of the project has been placed at $7.3 million. The warrant article on which the bonding will be asked for will also call for the town to release the approximately $450,029 that has been accumulated through previous appropriations by the legislative body.

In addition, the trustees of the library have taken on the responsibility of raising another $918,859 in private donations toward their share of the cost of a new library and cultural center.

Officials said they went to great lengths this year to answer questions that arose last year about the project including finding out what the cost to renovate would be and whether Route 1 was a better location for a joint public safety building.

Select Board member Rick Stanton said the current fire station is 50 years old and is structurally compromised with an over-stressed roof and weak walls.

The police station, he said, is 21 years old and has insufficient space for evidence storage, and is not in compliance with federal standards for jail cells.

Stanton said the study conducted showed the cost to renovate both facilities would be $200,000 more than if the town were to build new.

As for a Route 1 location for a public safety building, Stanton said they looked at several locations that led to negotiations with two landowners.

The cost of acquiring the land, $600,000 for one and more than $1 million for the other, is why the board decided not to pursue the option further.

Saturday's session was the last opportunity to make amendments to the 28 warrant articles prior to the ballot vote.

Only two amendments were made.

While Article 21 called for the purchase of an emergency generator for the police department, it was reworded to ensure that it could be used for the joint public safety building if the town campus project is approved.

Article 28 (composition change to the Capital Improvement Committee) was also amended to read "each of those boards, except the School Board, appoints one member at large from residents of the town."