Shall the Town of Hampton vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $100,000 for the purpose of hiring a consultant engineering firm to study and report on the impacts of, and solutions to, flooding from the Hampton River and Hampton Harbor onto and along the West Side Streets off of Ashworth Avenue, Brown Avenue, and the Island Path and Glade Path areas, and the flooding that occurs from New Hampshire Route 101 North to Winnacunnet Road, including NH Route 1A and in the areas surrounding Meadow Pond, including High Street, King’s Highway, Gentian, Greene and Meadow Pond Roads, with said sum of $100,000 to come from the Unassigned Fund Balance. This will be a non-lapsing appropriation per RSA 32:7, VI and shall not lapse until the work is completed or by March 31, 2020, whichever is sooner
What it means: An engineering firm will be tasked with studying how the water breaches existing environmental and man-made systems and floods the named streets. They will identifying possible solutions and costs.
Those in favor say: The flooding in the mentioned areas has become worse over time. There are days when even without any precipitation, the water pours onto Kings Highway (Kings Highway being just one example) and prevents homeowners from leaving or returning to their properties.
Those against say: No one spoke in opposition at the Deliberative Session, but subsequently some people expressed concerned that the problem is the rising tides, and there will not be an easy solution. Some people also point to the fact that history books indicate that flooding in the low lying areas is not a new phenomenon.
Fiscal Impact: No tax impact because the dollars are being withdrawn from the Unassigned Fund Balance.