Speakers Oppose Rye Harbor Proposal for $1M Changes at PDA Meeting

Above, Rye Harbor Lobster Pound owner Sylvia Cheever, far right, is pictured speaking Thursday to the Pease Development Authority board. Screenshot

RYE – Residents and business owners in Rye Harbor called for more transparency after a plan by the Pease Development Authority to build what some call a “raised strip mall” in the harbor entryway was strongly opposed during a meeting Thursday morning.

Outgoing Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday he supports the project to use more than $1 million of federal post-COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act relief funds to redevelop the harbor, which he said has been floated by the PDA.

Sununu said he did not know the reason for the removal of Geno Marconi from his long-time position as director of Ports and Harbors for the state of New Hampshire, which is charged with supporting commerce and saltwater fishing in the harbors of the seacoast.

One long-time Rye Harbor supporter told InDepthNH.org he believes Marconi opposed the Rye Harbor plan of the PDA and is being politically silenced, but the governor did not address that at a press conference Wednesday. A link to that story is here: https://indepthnh.org/2024/08/07/friend-says-gov-chris-sununu-behind-effort-to-force-geno-marconi-to-resign/

Marconi was placed on administrative leave in April and his wife, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, was placed on paid administrative leave July 26 with no reason given.

Attorney General John Formella has convened a grand jury investigation into Geno Marconi. His wife, Justice Hantz Marconi had already recused herself from any cases involving the Attorney General’s Office when she was placed on paid administrative leave.

Steve Duprey, a Concord developer who has sold a number of buildings to the state under Sununu’s administration and has been a longtime ally and supporter of the governor, is now chairman of the Pease Development Authority board.

Sununu nominated Duprey and he was confirmed March 9, 2022.

Duprey assured the crowd, which gathered Thursday morning at the meeting, in response to an engineering design schematic for the project seen by some on social media, that no decision has been finalized.

He said going forward, the board will listen to everyone.

Duprey stressed that one of the principles going forward in the decision making is predicated on the fact that the harbor belongs to the state, not the town, not the business owners, and that everyone’s interest will be considered.

“The harbor is not self-sustaining,” Duprey said, noting it is losing $250,000 a year and is facing serious environmental issues with rising tides. He said the question is how to make it more economically and environmentally sustainable and what the impacts would be.

Duprey promised transparency and that the board will “give everyone a fair chance” to state their case.

The engineering plan floated for the Rye Harbor at 1870 Ocean Boulevard, on US Route 1A is to develop an elevated set of 12 units ranging in size from 80 to 445 square feet on the property.

The plan would be for it to support harbor-related businesses.

Appledore is Pease Development Authority’s on call Maritime Engineering Firm, chosen through a public RFQ process every three years. The contract for the work associated with the ARPA funded Rye Retail Platform is in the June 13 Board Packet below. Essentially the PDA Board voted to accept the design contract in the June meeting, according to spokesman Tiffany Eddy.

Public-Board-Packet-6-13-24.pdf (peasedev.org)

While it would not necessarily eliminate the current structures, some owners worried that their leases could be terminated, and they could be forced to move in at an expense into the proposed structure.

Some suggested the federal funds, which have to be committed before January or they go away, be used to build or fortify a seawall to protect it rather than move out of the colorful shacks and build an elevated business deck.

Duprey called the public comment period at the meeting a “rehearsal” for more public hearings to come.

Some town officials said they were not consulted and that any change might be negative to the harbor’s marsh areas, traffic problems, parking and other infrastructure considerations.

Fishermen and charter boat captains, and food vendors, including Sylvia Cheever, owner of Rye Harbor Lobster Pound, said the way things are now is fine and that it would be costly for them to move.

She said there are many ways to raise funds to make the port more sustainable.

“I really feel we could work together,” Cheever said, “so that all our goals are met.”

Some said the property is now already at capacity.

Beth Tuttle of Black Dog Charters in Rye asked if the federal relief funds were to be used to benefit or destroy businesses or make them inoperable, opposing the project.

“The harbor is for everybody,” Tuttle said.

Pete Reynolds of Granite State Whale Watch said he hoped the PDA would open up the process more because all anyone has is engineering schematics and not a rationale for why this is a solution.

“It seems a little closed-door this far,” said Reynolds.

Adam Baker of Vintage Fish Company in the harbor said decisions that have been made by the PDA since 2020 have harmed his operations and he indicated he is now incurring legal fees to “protect my assets.”

“No solution will make everyone happy,” said Duprey.

Tom Sedoric, a fiduciary based in Rye, said the PDA has done an exceptional job with the resources of the port, which includes a number of ports in the region from air to water and that they have “grown this exceptional resource” in the past.

“This resource does not exist for one entity,” Sedoric said.

State Rep. Peggy Balboni, D-Rye, who represents Rye and other towns urged the PDA to listen to the public.

She read a letter from state Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, who was not able to attend Thursday’s meeting.

Altschiller wrote of her concern for a “distinct lack of communication” by the PDA with the Town of Rye on the matter and she asked how the engineering vendor, Appledore Marine Engineering, was chosen.

She asked about Geno Marconi’s involvement and noted that his absence, due to being on paid administrative leave, makes him unable to provide insight on the project.

She urged the board to “pause” the “full steam ahead” approach the PDA is now taking.

But the clock is ticking on using the federal money by the end of the year, or at least committing to using it.

Sununu met with the press on Wednesday following the Executive Council meeting at Pinkerton Academy and discussed the $1 million ARPA allocation for the project approved by the council May 1. A link to the request is here as item 76: https://media.sos.nh.gov/govcouncil/2024/0501/076%20GC%20Agenda%20050124.pdf

There is another $1 million ARPA project which Sununu called the “ice house” for Peirce Island in Portsmouth, which was also approved then.

Sununu said he is still in support of the project and unaware of the opposition.

“…what I know of it. I mean I don’t know all the details. I know the PDA came to us and we said there could be some money, is there anything, any high-priority needs that might be there? One of them was the one on Peirce Island the other was this other structure that they recommended in Rye, Rye Harbor and you know, at the time there was never any pushback.”

Asked about Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi’s leave, he said that was a decision not made by him but Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and the other members of the Supreme Court.

Asked by NHPR if he has been in contact with Justice Marconi, “Since she was put on leave? No,” Sununu said.

Asked by WMUR about why there is not more transparency related to the legal process given the high profile leave of Justice Marconi, he said, “I can completely appreciate the frustration. Again, our office doesn’t know a whole lot. I mean we really don’t do that, my understanding is that if there is an investigation if something is going on, that’s ongoing. That’s all we know and I completely respect that whoever is doing that wherever that process is, that has to be held confidential. So I can understand everyone’s frustration but you can’t compromise an investigation, you know. Whatever is, it hopefully comes to some conclusion, I think the sooner the better. But that is really up to those doing the investigation.”

The mission of the Pease Development Authority is to develop, maintain and manage a variety of New Hampshire entities including Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, New Hampshire Port Authority, Skyhaven Airport, Pease Golf Course and Pease Tradeport. They also provide the necessary planning, design and construction of infrastructure to maintain the attractiveness of Pease to potential tenants.

The New Hampshire Port Authority, under the PDA is responsible for maintaining and developing the state’s waterways to support and grow commerce, including freight shipments through the state’s ports and the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor. The agency also supports saltwater fisheries in the region.

In March a letter of request for $2 million in ARPA funds, half of which would go to Peirce Island, was drafted to the governor by Paul E. Brean, executive director of the PDA.

He noted that the Rye Harbor property was developed in the 1960s with the sand and materials left by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the harbor area. That dredge made the harbor available to recreational and commercial vessels to use the sea.

Brean wrote that the area of development for ARPA funds would be about four acres that is marginally above the Mean High Water and floods with up to four feet above high tide at full moon and even higher when coast storms occur as did one Jan. 13 which is photographed and part of the request letter https://media.sos.nh.gov/govcouncil/2024/0501/076%20GC%20Agenda%20050124.pdf

Brean said on the property right now are 13 small buildings including 10 small businesses owned by the businesses who work off a commercial pier use permit which is usually connected to pier use of the water. They include two food vendors, fishing and whale watching operations and others.

“Over the decades, the buildings have evolved from storage buildings to places where retail business is conducted. The buildings have been an important part of the economic fabric of the facility and allow the general public to interact with marine businesses. All of the structures are affected, to some degree, by tidal conditions…”

Brean added that the proposed ARPA project would determine an appropriate method to construct a structure to allow for retail space at Rye Harbor to be protected from tidal surge, improve public accessibility and give the division the ability to safely manage retail property in Rye Harbor.

Some of the speakers at the meeting said the proposal would reduce parking space, add demand to an already crowded space and cause more problems than currently exist.

No dates for future meetings on the subject have been posted on the PDA website.