We had some very good news this year. The Village Planning Committee, in cooperation with the Hancock Conservation Commission and the NH Department of Transportation, won a $94,500 Watershed Assistance and Mitigation Grant from the Department of Environmental Services to improve Main Street drainage. ThatÕs a mouthful, but the result will be the end of the huge puddles on Main St., and more importantly, will stop Main StreetÕs polluting run-off from entering Norway Pond and Davis Brook.
The new drainage system will eliminate the underground drainpipes that can no longer handle storm water from the roadway. Instead, the innovative new system will use infiltration basins to capture storm water. The town Highway Department will direct this project.
Great thanks go to Kurt Grassett, Bill Elloitt , and Tom Pisaturo, who worked together to prepare and submit the grant. This grant, and the associated work to fix the drainage, comes as a result of nearly five years of effort by the Village Planning Committee. The foundation for this work is the conceptual plan developed by the Village Planning Committee with Holden Engineering to address the seven major areas of concern that were identified in the original Hancock Vision-to-Action Forum in 2002. The drainage project is a good example of how the Village Planning Committee has proceeded, respecting the historic district and looking for solutions that will have minimal impact.
Also this year, surveyor Robert B. Todd completed the ground survey to formally document the boundaries between town property and private residences in the historic district. This is the first extensive ground survey of HancockÕs village since the middle of the 19th Century.
Todd says that this survey presented one of his greatest challenges in his 35-year career. The chief challenge was defining the 1792 Hosley Grant, and the right of way that leads to the Hosley Grant. This has now been mapped as an extensive town-maintained right-of-way that borders the more standard three-rod-wide state right-of-way for Main St. He emphasizes that the Hosley Grant right of way along Main St. was a ÒdedicationÓ by Hosley and exists today as an easement.
The survey includes a tree census, which rates the condition of the trees. Of the more than 80 trees rated, only 5 rated a score that indicates a tree in poor condition.
Todd has turned in a thick loose-leaf binder of back-up materials, a folder of field sketches, an electronic field book, a digital copy of the survey, a field notebook and a surveyorÕs report, noting methods and particular issues that the town should address.
The ground survey and completion of the drainage project will set the stage for other projects the Village Planning Committee is working on, including improving street edges to prevent erosion, adding lighting along Main Street, and improving walkways and crosswalks. Other projects that the Village Planning Committee has already begun include preserving the trees along Main Street, with removal and re-planting as needed, adding a crosswalk across from the Meeting House, testing walkway materials in front of the library, and adding a new parking configuration to conform with state recommendations in front of Fiddleheads, the Market, and the Manning house.
The Village Planning CommitteeÕs work, while carried out over a long time, is in keeping with the many years of work other towns have put into their own Main Street projects. We are fortunate to have such a quintessential New England village to call our home. It is a historic place, worthy of our continued care and attention. There are no off-the-rack solutions that fit Main St. WeÕve taken the time to find the right-sized fit for Hancock.
A few basic rules guide the committeeÕs considerations of any change in the historic district:
-- Keep it simple.
-- Preserve the historic working landscape.
-- Each change should blend in.
If you have a question for the Village Planning Committee, email us at: hancockvpc@yahoo.com, or call any committee member. The minutes of our meetings and other VPC reports are on the town website at: http://www.hancocknh.org/OTOF/villageplanning.htm
Howard Mansfield, Chair, Village Planning Committee:
Mary Covington, Jim Gamble, Kurt Grassett, Tom Pisaturo, Steve Pope, Dennis Rossiter
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