hard deadlines

Portsmouth Town Hall will be the site of a "Bristol Ferry Town Common Working Session" this evening, September 3, at 7pm, for the purpose of discussing a draft management plan for this town property, located off Bristol Ferry Road near the old ferry wharf. While I missed the last Council Meeting where this was discussed, there are apparently conflicting ideas about use and demarcation that prompted this working session, and according to several sources, the meeting tonight may well be contentious.

At the center of the brouhaha ("hahaha" (Okay, that Firesign Theatre reference clearly dates me...)) is a kite-shaped piece of property, known as the Bristol Ferry Town Common, which was established by the Town in 1714 as a waiting area for people and cattle being ferried across to Bristol. It is located on Plat Map 6 (pdf) (look for Lot 30, at the little jog where Bristol Ferry Road turns into Bay View) which I've tried to superimpose on a Google Map here. (It goes without saying that this map is just a best-guess from looking at Town documents and is only roughly accurate; no implications about actual boundaries should be inferred.)

According to sources in the neighborhood, there are concerns about appropriately delineating the boundaries of the Common — which is Town property available for all — and ensuring continued access to the shoreline, which was officially obtained by the Town through a 10-foot easement at the Northwest corner of the lot. Sources in Town administration made available a draft copy of the Management Plan being developed to address these and other concerns, which includes sections on landscape management, boundary markers, and signage. I expect there will be a lot of discussion around this tonight, so if you've got an dog in this fight, see you there.

Personally, I will confess that although I've been going down to this spot since the 1960s when my grandfather used to take me to look at the Mount Hope Bridge (after we'd go to Gray's for ice cream), I had no idea this was Town property, nor where the boundaries were. I've been there three times in the last two days, and even after looking at aerial photos at Town Hall, I could still find only 2 of the four granite markers at the corners of the property.