Municipal Complex Still Eyed for 2014 After Charrette Gives Direction

North Hampton's municipal complex plan received some strong guidance and direction over the weekend during a two-day design event that featured residents and consultants helping generate and shape ideas for a sizable project slated for inclusion on the 2014 town meeting warrant.

The Plan New Hampshire-run design event, known as a charrette, featured roughly 100 residents on the first day, which Town Administrator Paul Apple said is an "amazing" turnout for a sunny weekend day in June. He said residents' involvement contributed heavily to the numerous well-developed ideas and suggestions received for the town's emergency and non-emergency buildings, located along an area of Atlantic Avenue that officials hope to turn into a community center.

The biggest suggestion to come out the charrette is for a police, fire and emergency building to be constructed west of the current North Hampton Public Library, and for that building to be separate from a series of connected non-emergency buildings located around the historic stone Town Clerk's Office building.

Here's what Apple had to say about the session and the plan in his e-mail:

"Lots of things came up: walkability, green space, a coherent design and style, library, library on the homestead, connection to the rail line if it becomes a path, connection to the school, being a good neighbor to the residents in the vicinity, etc.

...

"They weighed a number of factors in making their recommendations, most of which were developed by the citizens the night before. Green space, safety, library on the municipal complex, etc weighed heavily in the discussion. They had originally contemplated a fire department and/or safety complex next to the old town hall, but ultimately the team concluded that one of the issues with our organizational use of the site is mixing emergency and nonemergency functions. People who need to see the rec director and then register their car (or vice versa) have to cross in front of the emergency services (and, more importantly, are at some risk if the vehicles are on their way to a call).

"In short, they recommended a combined public safety center on the homestead and a town hall and library on either side and behind the stone building. The current pd/fd would be torn down and devoted to green space and parking. They’ve also advocated building a sidewalk from the school to the campus, and eventually taking the Atlantic Avenue bridge out if the rail line becomes a bike path.

...

"There would be some method by which the [non-emergency] buildings would be connected (as “lite” as a common vestibule or porch and as “heavy” as a full connection). This was just conceptual, so a lot of the design work remains to be done. The goal was to get a plan for the site."

Apple said the hope is to develop the plan in time to get the municipal complex project up for voter approval in March, although he said much has to be done before that can happen.

"The final report will be a few weeks, but we have a recommended master plan for the site. The question now is where do we go from here. I suspect that a facilities committee will be formed and go forward with studying the cost implications of the Plan NH recommendation. The CIP Committee recommended this format."