The repainted tennis courts at Rolfe Park are now available. The two tennis courts also now have four pickleball courts painted for use with portable pickleball nets. These before and after photos show the upgrade:
Penacook Community Center ribbon cutting
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on August 9 for our new Penacook Community Center, which will house the Penacook Library and Activity Center. The video from the event is here:
More details will be provided soon on the opening of our new library branch and a schedule of planned Library and Parks & Rec activities.
Concord Community Power meeting
Concord TV recorded the informational meeting "Community Power Program – What this means for Penacook" on Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30 pm. Thank you, Concord TV!
Informational meeting on Community Power
The Penacook Village Association is hosting a free informational meeting "Community Power Program – What this means for Penacook" on Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30 pm at the Merrimack Valley High School auditorium, 106 Village Street, Penacook. The City has joined as a member of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire to allow residents an option for lower-priced electricity supply, scheduled to start this October. Representatives from Concord's Energy and Environment Advisory Committee will present information about the program and answer your questions. Information can also be found on the City's web page here.
Penacook Community Center open house/Summer Carnival
On Saturday, August 17 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Concord and the Penacook Community Center (PCC) are sponsoring an open house preview of the new center at 76 Community Drive with a free Summer Carnival. You can take a tour of the rebuilt PCC facilities and enjoy carnival games and the new playground. Fun for all ages, and a great way to find out what the new center has to offer.
Proposed zoning change
Concord City Council will hold a public hearing at its August 12 meeting, 7:00 pm in City Council Chambers, 37 Green Street, regarding a zoning amendment that would give the Planning Board authority with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to allow new buildings up to 90' tall (about 8 stories) in and around Main Street in downtown Concord. The current regulation of an 80 foot height limit for Concord's downtown buildings was put in place so as to not obstruct views of the State House dome from the highway, and has also served indirectly as a protection for the historic buildings.
This same zoning regulation applies to the historic buildings in Penacook's village center, and it will be confirmed that the amendment ordinance language will exclude Penacook.
The City's April 17, 2024, report to the Planning Board states at page 5 that the "impact to historic buildings is difficult to predict." The goal is for the new ordinance to remove unpredictability and not incentivize demolition of historic, architectural, or culturally significant buildings. You can send your thoughts to the City Clerk, cityclerk@concordnh.gov, or attend the meeting on August 12. The proposed ordinance and other related documents can be found here.
City-wide property revaluation
A full measure and list property revaluation as mandated by the State of New Hampshire is beginning in Concord. The last full valuation occurred in 1990. Representatives of Vision Government Solutions Inc., who will be carrying photo IDs and wearing identifiable neon vests, will be conducting interior and exterior inspections of all properties to verify the accuracy of information currently listed. The goal of this project is to ensure that all city property assessments are at full and true market value, to provide fairness to all taxpayers. Properties where improvements have been made that aren't reflected in the current data (adding a bathroom, finishing a basement, etc.), will see their valuations increase to reflect those improvements. Inspections are scheduled to start in the City's South End and will continue through next year. You can visit the City's revaluation web page for more information, including a map of the neighborhoods and list of addresses where inspections will occur.
Property revaluation can sometimes cause concern or confusion. If the revaluation raises your property assessment above its current level, that doesn't mean your taxes will increase by the same percentage. For example, if your property is currently assessed at $250,000 and the revaluation determines it is now valued at $500,000, that does not mean your taxes will double. It just means your property value has doubled. After the City and School Districts determine their budgets each spring, the NH Department of Revenue Administration will set a tax rate with the objective of generating sufficient revenue to cover the budgets. Residents always have opportunities to weigh in on the budget process.
Housing micro units in very preliminary planning
City Staff has had preliminary discussions regarding potential development of 100+/- micro units of housing at the former RIVCO site on Merrimack Street, marketed for young professionals. The timeline of this potential project is unknown, and there have been no formalized concepts and no Planning Board submissions yet. Watch here for more information as it becomes available.
Road work in Penacook
This summer and fall, the following road projects are planned:
Full reclamation:
Hannah Dustin Drive (from Hoit Road)
Maintenance overlay of pavement:
River Road (full length)
Bog Road (full length)
Abbott Road (from Manor Road to Sewalls Falls Road)
Memorial Day Parade 2024
Thank you to all the volunteers and to organizers Cindi Jaques and Irene Ortega for another great Memorial Day Parade in Penacook. The weather cooperated, the crowds came out, and the participants and the audience all had a great time. If you missed it, you can watch the video provided by ConcordTV and hear remarks from speakers Representative Steve Shurtleff and Mayor Byron Champlin.
Paving work scheduled
Approved in last year's budget, the repaving overlay for the full length of River Road and for Bog Road is planned for this summer.
Penacook Branch Library to open this fall
Our new Penacook Branch Library and Activity Center is slated to open this September. Library and recreation staffing at the new branch is also included in this year's budget. There are plans to conduct 52 programs at the new Library (an increase from the current 17), and additional programming will be created by the Parks & Recreation Department. The plan is to evaluate usage metrics of the new open hours of the Penacook Branch, so we should make efforts to visit and use it. After occupancy of the new space, the City plans to divest the property at the current library branch at 3 Merrimack Street, with the requirement to preserve and adaptively reuse the historic building.
City releases draft budget
The proposed fiscal year 2025 budget was released by the Concord City Manager. City Council will be deciding on the recommendation this year for a $170 million budget with a 3.89% tax increase. If approved, this increase in the City portion of our taxes would equate to $130 more annually on a property assessed at $350,000.
Highlights for Penacook in this budget are: $350,000 for structural repairs and design to extend bridge service life on Horse Hill Road over the Contoocook River, payable with general obligation bonds; and $500,000 for design for the collapsed Burnham Brook Culvert located at Whitney Road. The cost for the culvert is to be divided between Water Fund general obligation bonds, donated funds, and the Penacook Village TIF District.
The budget can be found here, with a helpful overview starting at page 16. Meetings will be held at 5:30 pm in Council Chambers on May 20 (discussing Police, Fire, General Services, General Government), May 23 (Library, Parks & Rec, Human Services, CIP projects, TIF Districts), and May 30 (Special Revenue Funds and Enterprise Funds), with a final meeting on June 3 to vote on approval. You can attend any of these meetings and speak to budget items, or send your thoughts to the City Clerk at cityclerk@concordnh.gov.
Update on the Monitor Way project
The Penacook Village Association hosted a community meeting for the Monitor Way project on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. ConcordTV recording the meeting for the community. The development team presented the preliminary design plans to the Concord Planning Board last October.
Canal Street Park groundbreaking and Penacook Landing ribbon cutting
The April snowstorm held back long enough to celebrate the groundbreaking for our new Canal St. Riverfront Park, and the ribbon cutting for Penacook Landing apartments phase 2. As anticipated, demand has been great for the available housing. The Caleb Group's property staff is working through a wait list of 170 people for the 20 apartment units.
Big Red Barn saved
In other barn news, you may have read in the Concord Monitor read that the landmark 1817 barn at the intersection of Horse Hill Black Water and Warner Roads will be saved. The Big Red Barn, as it's been nicknamed, has been purchased by the Cedar Mill Group developers, who plan to restore it.
Sewalls Falls/Abbott Road barn saved
At the April Concord Planning Board meeting, the Board approved plans that will allow the historic barn at 119 Sewalls Falls Road to remain. Million Dollar View, LLC purchased the barn from the prior owner, and the short-term plan is to preserve it and use it for storage. The remainder of the site is 15 lots purchased by Country Estates of Concord, LLC, who are demolishing the existing home and will be constructing 15 new residences.
PVA meeting on Monitor Way project
The Penacook Village Association will be hosting a community meeting for the Monitor Way project on Tuesday May 7 at 6:30 pm at the Penacook Elementary School cafeteria, 60 Village Street, in Penacook. Information will be presented on project updates, including a traffic study, along with an opportunity for questions and answers. Last October, the development team presented to the Concord Planning Board for preliminary design review, and you can see those plans here.
Concord joins Community Power Coalition
The Concord City Council approved at its March meeting to join the Community Power Coalition of NH for electricity supply for current Unitil and Eversource customers. Utilities will still maintain the infrastructure grid, but we will now have an option to purchase the power supply through the Coalition at an anticipated lower rate than charged by the utilities. There have been lots of questions regarding this change, but we expect a robust information rollout before this takes effect.
Unitil Customer Portal changes
For Unitil electricity customers, Unitil is upgrading their online Customer Portal, which means automated phone system transactions will be temporarily unavailable from April 3 to April 7. Credit card and ACH payments may be made online via their one-time payment portal: unitil.com/one-time-payment. Outages can be reported at: unitil.com/report-outage.