Depot Square 'Relieved' but Irresolute After Snow Pile Removed

Crews spent roughly four hours Thursday removing a massive pile of snow that had blocked several Depot Square businesses since Saturday night.

The removal comes one day after a group of business owners and residents called on Stan Brown, the owner of the southern portion of the Depot Square parking lot, and the town of Hampton to find a way to fix a glaring safety problem that was inhibiting businesses during a busy shopping period.

Seacoast Florist owner Cindy Willis said workers began removing the snow at 8 a.m. and finished just before noon. Willis said she was "relieved" to see the snow, placed in front of her shop and several others by a contractor hired by Brown to plow Depot Square after last weekend's blizzard, has been removed, although she said she's "sorry that it took what it took when the removal should've been something that was automatic."

"I will say this isn’t the end of this," said Willis. "This is a quick fix, but this isn’t then end of this. Something needs to be done. This situation needs to be somehow fixed."

It was unclear who paid for the snow to be removed, as Brown couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday or Thursday and Brown's phone wouldn't accept messages.

Willis also said she didn't have knowledge of who paid for the snow removal, which originally estimated to cost around $600 by Vic Lessard and Son, the company hired by Brown to place the snow on top of Depot Square's southern parking spaces and sidewalk. Multiple Hampton-North Hampton Patch readers reported, though, that Brown paid for the removal.

Multiple individuals also informed Patch late Wednesday that they were working to gather money and equipment to clear out the snow, which at one time was roughly six feet tall and spanned from the Lafayette Road sidewalk to Seacoast Florist.

Willis said she also received similar offers, and she said she was "very humbled" by the gesture, as well as the fact that "everyone" who had come through her door as of noon Thursday — Valentine's Day — was been aware of and sympathetic to the issue.

"There was just an outpouring of care and support from the community, and I was overwhelmed," said Willis.

The snow has been removed entirely from Brown's property, which he purchased in the 1960s. Brown had reached a handshake agreement with the town in the 1970s stating that the town would remove the snow, although Hampton selectmen eliminated all snow removal on private property a few years ago in order to comply with a 1951 New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling, according to Hampton Town Manager Fred Welch.

Welch said New Hampshire municipalities are only allowed to remove snow from private property if the snow is in an emergency or fire lane, or if emergency personnel respond to an emergency and are inhibited by the snow. Welch said the town tried to put a lane in "at one point," but doing so would eliminate all of the parking spaces on the southern side of Depot Square — something Brown reportedly wasn't willing to let happen.

Welch admitted he doesn't "see" removing those parking spaces as a "viable option to allowing the businesses to flourish at that location for a long time."

Owners of private properties — in this case, Brown — can file a petition to have a fire lane installed, after which selectmen can hold a public hearing and approve or deny the proposal. Welch said no such petition had been filed as of Thursday morning.

Willis said she hopes Brown and the town can work together to find a solution, and said she still plans to soon appear before the Hampton Board of Selectmen to discuss the issue and raise some "questions" about a problem she hopes can be resolved.

"It's very sad that this is what it takes to get something done," said Willis.