What's New

Mayor Rick Becksted has announced that the Grand Marshals for the 2021 Illuminated Holiday Parade & Food Drive on Saturday, December 4, 2021 are the “Project Planter Box” team – the students and advisors who designed, built and filled the wood planters that topped the street-dining barricades all summer. The Grand Marshals will lead the parade that kicks off the holiday season in Portsmouth.

Contractors for the City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works will begin work on a project to replace sewer force mains on Peirce Island on Monday, November 29, 2021, and continuing to June 2022. Construction and equipment on and adjacent to Peirce Island Road and on the Peirce Island Road Bridge will impede traffic, on an intermittent basis, on weekdays between 7 am and 6 pm.

Portsmouth NH 400, Inc. has revealed the logo for the anniversary celebration that will be used to denote official events, projects, programs and merchandise. The logo was designed as a pro-bono donation by Darci Creative of Portsmouth, with input from the Portsmouth NH 400 Executive Team and Task Force Management Team.

City Manager Karen Conard is pleased to announce the selection of Beverly Mesa Zendt, AICP as the new City Planning and Development Director. She is expected to start work on January 10, 2022.

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration has approved the City’s 2021 tax rate for Fiscal Year 2022 of $15.03 per $1,000 of valuation.

Jonathan Evans, Air Noise Program Manager for the NH Department of Transportation, Bureau of Environment, Assistant Commissioner Bill Cass and John Corcoran, Administrator of the Bureau of Turnpikes provided a brief overview of the noise assessment efforts related to the request for sound barriers along I-95 in the area of New Franklin School and in the area of Pannaway Manor, as well as Coakley Drive and Echo Ave.

In December 2019, the Portsmouth City Council approved the recommendations of the Trustees of the Trust Funds to consolidate several underfunded accounts into five, newly-created Portsmouth Community Scholarship Funds that combined accounts with fund balances too small to generate enough investment interest to make annual awards.

The Portsmouth Planning Department and Planning Board are welcoming public input on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2023 to 2028 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2028). Residents are asked to submit projects for consideration in the next CIP by October 15th. The CIP sets forth a 6-year schedule and financing strategy to accomplish necessary public improvements and meet infrastructure needs.

Portsmouth City Manager Karen Conard and the City Emergency Management Team announce that, due to poor weather forecast for Oct 30,  Portsmouth children and families will be able to enjoy Halloween trick- or-treating on Sunday, October 31, 2021, from 3 to 6 pm. The addition of daylight hours was popular last year and is being repeated.

The City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works is planning to dig three five-foot, by five-foot, by five-foot “test pits” at Prescott Park this week, as part of the investigatory engineering required to implement the Prescott Park Master Plan. The work will be conducted in conjunction with a soils scientist designated by the project consultant Weston and Sampson Engineers and an archaeologist. The work will start at 9 am (weather-permitting) and the pits will be dug and filled in one work day.