DHS athletic complex before City Council June 25

posted on 6/23/2025

The City Council will vote on funding the Dover High School Athletic Complex proposal at its Wednesday, June 25 meeting next week.

The vote includes two resolutions: one would authorize debt to fund the project, and another on making necessary adjustments to the already adopted fiscal year 2026 budget. Both require a two-thirds vote to pass.

The debt-authorization resolution would authorize bonding the full project amount as recommended by the project’s Joint Building Committee for $20,037,000, though the City Council is not bound by that number and can reduce it if it chooses. The JBC’s full project scope includes shifting the position of Dover High School’s Dunaway Field, replacing the grass with turf, and replacing the track, grandstands, lights, and concessions. With the field shifted, the project also includes rotating and expanding the adjacent baseball field, converting it to turf, and creating a second lighted multi-sport field. The project was discussed at JBC’s joint meeting with the School Board and City Council on May 21. Click here to watch the video recording of the meeting; the meeting agenda materials include the JBC's final report and recommendations.

The School Board voted 4-3 at its special meeting on June 17 to recommend funding the full project amount. Click here to watch the meeting.

Also on the agenda is a resolution that would authorize an additional scope of work for the public improvements at the city’s waterfront development site for $420,735. The work is related to the area known as the bulkhead, where steel plates were added in 2007 as part of the river dredging. During a surface-level review in 2017, no significant deterioration of the plates was observed, according to the resolution background materials. However, earlier this year, the project contractor discovered that the steel plates had corroded below grade, and the structural integrity of the area had to be reevaluated. After consulting with the state Department of Environmental Services and the city’s design consultant, it was decided the best course of action was to restore the granite toe wall that existed before the steel plates were added. The work includes removing the steel plates, restoring the wall, and installing erosion control measures. There is an accompanying resolution for construction administration support for the city’s design consultant for $26,400.

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the pending resolution to rename the Washington Street bridge over the Cochecho River next to the Children’s Museum of NH to the Captain Jack T. Casey USMC Memorial Bridge in honor of the Dover-native and 2015 St. Thomas Aquinas graduate who was killed on active duty with four other Marines last year.

Click here for the complete agenda.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers. It will be televised on DoverTV and online at https://dovernh.viebit.com, where it will be available on demand.