Hampton Beach's storm-damaged sidewalk battle: Town, state pause dispute to fix them

HAMPTON — Town officials say a long-standing dispute between the town and state won’t keep crews from clearing the rubble from recent storm damage at the beach.

Hampton and New Hampshire officials have disagreed for decades over which party is responsible for maintaining the sidewalks on Ocean Boulevard. The debate even led to a brief court battle when the town sued the state in 2018 before deciding to withdraw the lawsuit.

Town Manager Jamie Sullivan said history should not prevent the town and state entities from working together this spring to deal with the rocks, broken concrete and sand strewn across parts of Ocean Boulevard.

Several storms this winter, two back-to-back in January, left the beach’s infrastructure damaged. Sullivan said he is trying to work with the state Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, who share the beach with the town, on collaborating immediately to clean up the damage.

“Without taking a position on that issue (of whose responsibility it is), we just agreed to team up and clean the area together,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also said he was hopeful the collaboration could be the start of talks with the town and state that could settle the age-old dispute. Board members said Monday they would want clear terms on any future agreement but that it was worth a try to hammer one out with the state.

“One of my least favorite encounters in Hampton is when people tell me, ‘We’ve tried this,’” said Selectwoman Amy Hansen. “The players change all the time, and we can’t always rely on ‘we’ll never’ and ‘we should have.’”

Storms leave Hampton, Seacoast with serious damage

New Hampshire’s Seacoast was battered by a series of storms this winter, including two that occurred within the same week – one on Jan. 10, the other on Jan. 13.

Officials say the high tides caused significant flooding. Waves knocked back seawalls, while erosion caused concrete to collapse. The sand was moved far beyond the beach in some places. Bicentennial Park’s benches were buried deep in small dunes created by the storm.

Town officials have toured the damage with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and they are waiting to learn if a disaster declaration will be declared to aid in fixing damaged infrastructure. Meanwhile, rocks remain strewn across parts of Ocean Boulevard, and potholes are marked with orange cones on the sidewalks.

Who is responsible for maintaining sidewalks damaged in the storm remains up for debate. It goes back to 1933, when the town agreed to transfer Ocean Boulevard and the beach side of the road to the state.

The dispute has, at times, meant disrepair that goes unfixed to the detriment of Hampton’s residents. In 2017, 79-year-old Joan Tilton tripped on a manhole cover and broke her front teeth.

Three manhole covers were fixed at the time as a result, according to engineer Brian Scott of DOT District 6, but only because DOT owned the drainage. As far as the sidewalks are concerned, calls to DOT were typically redirected to the town, Scott said at the time.

Sullivan said Monday he was aware that complaints about the sidewalks are often sent back and forth between the town and the state. He indicated he did not want that to take place with the mess left on Route 1A since this winter’s storms.

Instead, he said he called DOT and DNCR staff about working together to clean up the damage on Ocean Boulevard. Tuesday, rocks, sand and debris remained on the road and sidewalk at the North Beach Seawall.

Sullivan said the work would get done.

“We’re all sort of tired of doing this thing and people getting bounced around,” Sullivan said. “We all recognize it needs to be done.”

Town officials, state to resume talks on sidewalks

Sullivan said he hopes talks can be held between the town and DOT Commissioner William Cass to settle the sidewalk dispute. He has the help of longtime state senator and current Hampton Beach Area Commission Chair Nancy Stiles, who reached out to Sullivan and hopes to help facilitate those talks.

“I want to get the damned thing settled,” Stiles said. She is hopeful that an agreement can be reached before the state oversees the reconstruction of Ocean Boulevard in a potentially $50 million project slated for the coming years.

The issue was never resolved in court when the Board of Selectmen filed their lawsuit against the state.

In the suit, the town argued it had gone above and beyond the responsibilities outlined in the 1933 deed establishing the east side of Ocean Boulevard as state property. It asked a judge to address cost-sharing disputes that have been long-standing in Hampton - sidewalk maintenance of Ocean Boulevard, redistribution of rooms and meals tax dollars, parking revenue collected by the state, and emergency services provided by the town.

The town, however, withdrew their suit without prejudice, leaving the matter unsettled.

Since then, the board has taken votes indicating it is not willing to take responsibility for the sidewalks owned by the state. The board decided last year not to take responsibility for the sidewalks on the bridge being built to replace the Neil R. Underwood Memorial Bridge between Hampton and Seabrook.

Some members of the Board of Selectmen Monday cautioned against an agreement that would have the town take responsibility for state-owned sidewalks.

Selectmen Chuck Rage and Jim Waddell said it will be important to determine what “maintenance” refers to before any agreement regarding sidewalks is reached as it could be costly to taxpayers.

“Are they talking about shoveling the sidewalks? Are they talking about fixing holes in the sidewalks? Can we do it as a team?” Rage said. “We have to verify exactly what the terminology is.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton Beach damaged sidewalks: Town, NH pause dispute to fix them