Great Bay Rowing waterfront ground lease before Council

posted on 9/23/2024

This week, the City Council will consider authorizing the city to enter into a long-term ground lease with Great Bay Rowing, allowing the construction of their planned boathouse near the Cochecho River at the waterfront development site.

The 40-year lease received an unanimous endorsement from the Cochecho Waterfront Development Advisory Committee at its Sept. 17 meeting. The ground lease calls for an annual rent of $12,000, which would increase by $1,000 per month every 10 years, with Great Bay Rowing responsible for operation and maintenance costs. The lease also calls for Great Bay Rowing to develop programs with the Recreation Department to educate the public about paddle sports. CWDAC also gave a preliminary endorsement of the boathouse design and tasked its subcommittee to work with Great Bay Rowing to help finalize the design. The boathouse construction would be privately funded and not use any city funds.

The Council will also consider taking a step towards installing a solar array at the city’s wastewater treatment facility on Middle Road, a topic of a June 5, 2024 council workshop. The resolution would authorize the City Manager to execute a letter of intent with ReVision Energy, allowing the city to partner with ReVision to submit an interconnection application to Eversource, the first step in the process. The Council authorization would also allow the city to expend up to $75,000 for the process, with $10,000 for ReVision and $65,000 for the required Eversource studies.

The meeting will begin with three public hearings on pending resolutions. One is on a substantial amendment to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) actions plans for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, which received the Planning Board’s endorsement on Aug. 27. Two others are on accepting and expending two N.H. Department of Transportation grants. One is a $4.5 million Congressionally Directed Spending grant for reconstructing Central Aveue between Stark Avenue and Silver Streets. The grant requires a $1,125,000 million city match. The other is on $3 million Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant the city would utilize to improve Route 108/Durham Road from Mast Road to Daley Drive based on the recommendations of the "Route 108 – South Corridor Study" from Aug. 2017. The grant requires a $600,000 city match.

Click here for the complete agenda.

The meeting will be held in City Hall’s Council Chambers starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25. It will be televised on Channel 22 and online at https://dovernh.viebit.com, where it will also be available for on-demand viewing.