L-R Bob Gilstein, Fred Faerber, Keith Humphreys.

The Portsmouth Redevelopment Agency (PRA) and Town Planner Bob Gilstein provided an overview of plans for potentially excessed Navy land to an audience of about 25 last night at Town Hall. This was the first of half-a-dozen public meetings to introduce the plan and solicit resident input. Town Councilors Jim Seveney and Karen Gleason, as well as several members of the PRA also attended the 2-hour meeting.

"The West Side Master Plan is the 'macro' plan for the Island," said PRA chair Fred Faerber, "We're working at the 'micro' level to determine what the best use for Portsmouth and the taxpayers would be."

Right up front, Faerber and Town Planner Bob Gilstein tried to dispel some myths about the properties, known as the "Tank Farms" because of their role as fuel storage depots during WWII (and their 38 environmentally challenging underground tanks).

The Navy is not just giving away the land to Portsmouth, said Faerber. "In the past, they could just give it to the community," he said. "Now they have to sell the land for fair market value. The Town buying any of the land is very unlikely." And, contrary to what some well-circulated memes, "Rumors of developers having the inside track on anything are not true," said Faerber, reiterating that the Navy was responsible for getting the most it could for the property. "It's going to go to the highest bidder; there's nothing preordained."

Gilstein reassured the audience about the Local Redevelopment Agency (LRA), the newly formed entity which combines the efforts of the three communities to be the single group with whom the Navy discusses planning. "The Navy requires a single regional agency," said Gilstein. "It's the only way to qualify for planning and assistance grants." And of the persistent rumors that the island-wide agency would somehow take over the process? "Not possible," Gilstein said bluntly. "Each municipality's decisions are autonomous and may not be overruled by the regional LRA. It's built into the by-laws."

Gilstein and Faerber then led the group through an overview of the excessing process, through first announcement (which has not officially happened yet), through potential claims to use parts of the property by other Federal agencies (unlikely, in Gilstein's estimation, since they are still required to pay for it) and outreach to shelters and homeless agencies. At this point, the Town can make arguements for parts of the property to be transferred for less than fair market value as "public benefit conveyances," which is one of the reasons the PRA has been doing all the advance thinking.

Only after this does the actual planning begin in conjunction with the Navy, the Office of Economic Adjustment, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which can take almost another year. Then there is an EPA environmental review which could add another 18-24 months, and which might require changes to any proposed uses. The final disposal of the land, therefore, is at least four or five years out, according to Gilstein. "The Navy's tank farm remediation isn't scheduled to be completed until 2012-2014," he said.

"We do have the luxury of time," Gilstein said, laying out a scheme for at least 5 more public meetings to review the plans.

The audience had several process questions — how the LRA would actually work, how to be more informed about meetings, how to understand the decision making process — and PRA member Paul Kesson suggested an e-mail distribution list. Faerber also urged everyone to review the plan before the next meeting to support a discussion about the process.

Several of the residents of the Overlook Point development which abuts Tank Farm 3 raised concerns about some of the ideas floated for the site (wind turbine location, wastewater treatment plant) "We have an average property value of over $500K. What would happen to our property values if you put a sewage treatment plant next to us?" Another raised a question about Low-Moderate Income (LMI) housing. "You planning to put any here? They turn into slums very rapidly, history has proven that."

Gilstein and Faerber carefully noted that all of the uses identified in the plan were only preliminary, and that any final decision would be subject to public scrutiny and input. Neither he, nor the Town Council, he said, "want their heads cut off."

Failed Democratic candidate Mary Correia and sister Karen Gleason hover. Seriously. Can't these people just sit down? Lookit meeee! I'm standing at the door!

Of course, no public meeting would be complete without a couple of questions two standard deviations from the mean.

Failed Democratic primary candidate Mary Correia and her sister Tailgunner Gleason hovered at the door to the Council chamber for the Q&A. (I will point out that Councilor Jim Seveney sat discreetly in the back of the room. I report. You decide.) Correia asked if "other communities" could buy land in the tank farms. "Could Middletown purchase it?" Faerber tried to explain why that would be very unlikely: funding and tax implications, fair market value, etc., but Correia was having none of it. "So that is a possibility?" she said. Because it is theoretically possible, he said yes. Expect to see a letter to the editor — you heard it here first — that says something like "Portsmouth officials do not deny Middletown may buy tank farm land for waste treatment plant." This is how gotcha politics works.

Tailgunner wanted to know about the Raytheon wastewater treatment facility. "It was abandoned at the end of the Cold War," said Gilstein, because Raytheon downsized. Gleason seemed to be chasing a very detailed point about the treatment plant's outflow: "If you were to put a regional sewage treatment plant there," she said, "Would the outfall pipe need to go out past Dyer Island?" Gilstein replied that it depended on water mixing. Don't know what her angle is here, but you can expect to hear this come up in a future discussion.

However, I have to give the dingbat of the night award to a non-resident who said that he was going to ask an unpopular question, and did not disappoint. Complaining about the emphasis on wind turbines, he said, "You haven't talked about nuclear energy." He added, "France produces 70% of their electricity from nuclear." He promptly fled the room, not even waiting for a response.

Yeah. It's a really, really good idea to put a nuclear power plant on an island with only three bridges. Fifty thousand residents. Three ways off the rock. You do the math.

Resources:
PRA documents on Town Web site (direct link to frame; no Java)