Officials paused a proposal to spend more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief money on a retail development in Rye Harbor, following intense criticism from neighboring businesses.
The Pease Development Authority’s Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday to terminate an engineering contract for the proposal, which called for a raised structure that could house businesses including charter fishing operations, bait and tackle shops, and restaurants.
Currently, those businesses operate out of quaint shacks that routinely flood during heavy storms. In August, many of those business owners testified in opposition to the proposal, complaining that the board had not gathered public input or considered the impact on parking in the harbor, which is often at capacity on summer weekends.
Some of those same business owners testified again Thursday about their concerns, including that having to walk up a flight of stairs would harm their operations. Some also questioned how leases would be awarded for the new retail structure.
Pease Development Authority Board Chair Steve Duprey said that instead of moving forward with the new building, the agency will instead perform a master planning study “where we get the chance and the opportunity for all of you to weigh in on all the opinions we heard today, plus 100 more.” (Duprey also sits on NHPR’s board of directors but has no role in our reporting.)
The project’s funding was also recently put in doubt after the Executive Council tabled a request to extend the contract until next June.
The state still intends to move forward with a separate construction project in Portsmouth that will provide fishermen with a new facility and ice machines near the active commercial pier.
Under the current model at Rye Harbor, small businesses operate out of privately owned shacks that date back to the 1980s. They pay an annual fee to the Pease Development Authority, which owns the land underneath the shacks. The Rye Harbor Lobster Pound, a popular restaurant in the harbor, also pays 10% of its revenues to the Pease Development Authority.
Storm damage over the winter led to a budget deficit for Rye Harbor this year, according to the Pease Development Authority. Duprey said creating a self-sustaining revenue model for the harbor is a top priority, as is ensuring that all residents have access to the facility.
Adam Baker, who owns Vintage Fish Company, a charter fishing operation located in one of the shacks, said that Thursday’s vote didn’t give him confidence in the process moving forward.
“I think their intention is still to develop Rye Harbor,” Baker said. “I think that’s wrong.”
