Exeter Select Board to decide fate of Pickpocket Dam amid pleas to save it

EXETER — The town Select Board will make a final decision on whether to repair or remove the Pickpocket Dam by the end of June.

Select Board Chair Niko Papakonstantis announced the timeline during Tuesday’s board meeting. He also announced that Exeter did not receive a grant it applied for from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that would have helped pay for the dam’s removal.

“ … NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) received 90 applications requesting more than $688 million over three years, which was four times the funding they have available this round,” he said.

The town is being ordered to address the dam by the state Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), which has classified the dam as a high hazard.

A feasibility study regarding the town’s options was presented Tuesday by Jake San Antonio, managing director of engineering company VHB.

He offered four options to bring the dam into compliance with safety standards.

One was to spend $3.6 million to raise the top of the dam to withstand a 100-year storm event. The second alternative, the most expensive at $10.7 million, would replace the existing spillway with a labyrinth spillway to increase efficiency. A third option, at $3.5 million, would keep the existing height but add a secondary spillway on the left side of the dam.

The final option, also the cheapest, was to remove the dam at a cost of $1.5 million.

Residents rally to save Pickpocket Dam

Several residents spoke out Tuesday, reiterating their concerns over the process of the dam feasibility study, which some said lacked transparency and was done hastily.

Exeter resident Jaye Garnett said that she is “mad” opinions from abutters of the dam were not included as part of the feasibility study.

Garnett, who is a member of Friends of the Exeter River, said that 257 people have signed her Change.org petition to save the dam. Friends of Exeter River is a group of Exeter and Brentwood residents who are against the removal of the dam. The group has been vocal in recent months, including holding a protest outside of the historic town hall last week.

“What I cannot wrap my head around is how many people have chosen to voice their opinion on keeping the dam while it seems we are being ignored, and merely a footnote or an annoying fly on your computer screen that you deal with but don’t pay attention to,” she said.

Michael Edison, who said his family has owned a property near the Pickpocket Dam for over six decades, said he has a special connection to the dam, calling it a “valuable asset” to the town.

David Kovar said he’s had many conversations with people who live around the dam, calling the situation a “huge emotional issue for a lot of people.”

However, he said the impact on people who live around the dam “gets left out” in the planning process.

For example, Kovar said the first alternative, raising the top of the dam, would impact at least three surrounding residents, including himself.

“There’s a bunch of us that’s really going to be affected by that process,” he said. “I really don’t want to have a view upstream of a seven-foot-tall concrete abutment that would block the gorgeous view of the river.”

James Breeling said the removal of the dam would not only affect nearby residents, but also the wildlife that has relied on the ecosystem for decades.

“I wanted to make sure the Select Board heard from the river, that the river has a voice,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter Select Board to decide fate of Pickpocket Dam amid pleas to save it