Phase Two Study Circle Reports

Portsmouth Listens – Phase II Summary
The Master Plan process was enacted in New Hampshire so that communities would study carefully what they are today and plan for what they want to be tomorrow. In their infancy, master plans focused on physical infrastructure -- roads, water and sewer systems, and facilities. Over time, Master Plans embraced more dynamic concepts such as economic development. In our community, the process has evolved even further as shown by the City’s inclusion of arts and culture as a Master Plan element. Also, in recent years, Portsmouth has strived to recognize the importance of integrating Master Plan elements with each other and make them a living part of the municipal planning process.

Downtown Study Circle
In our group discussions, we paid particular attention to a “downtown core” as being most of the Central Business Zones A and B, and the included or adjacent Municipal “Conservation” zones, and the Mixed Office and Residential Zones all loosely bounded by the North Mill Pond, the South Mill Pond and the Piscataqua River. We paid a little less attention to one leg of the Central Business Zone B along Islington Street (Congress to Goodwin Park) and to the Mixed Residential and Office Zone along Middle Street from Middle Street to Cass Street. The downtown core lies almost entirely within Historic District A, where buildings, new and old, are subject to architectural design review and approval by the Portsmouth Historic District Commission.

Building Community Study Circle
It's simple: For many of us, ‘community’ is why we live here. Portsmouth is rich in this sense of community. From neighborhood groups to nonprofit organizations, to formal gathering places such as the Music Hall and Prescott Park to informal meeting places such as the city’s neighborhood parks, the Pic’n’Pay and Ceres Street Bakery, through city commissions, gallery strolls and the Farmers’ Market, the city has a wealth of resources that nurture connections.

History, Arts, and Culture In Portsmouth
Portsmouth is a community that is teeming with artistic talent, brimming with historical ambience, and bubbling with cultural events. In each of these areas, we have an embarassment of riches. Our peculiar problem, which surely many communities would envy, is to decide how to organize and disseminate information about our cultural riches, so that we (and our visitors) might best enjoy them.

Transportation Study Circle
To provide some perspective to our report, we thought it might be informative to first consider how the automobile has changed our neighborhoods and the quality of life in Portsmouth over the past century. Here’s what it was like as told by one of our committee members, Steve Sanger.

Natural Resources
The significant importance of “public input” during the current revision of Portsmouth’s Master Plan has been brought to an elevated level with the Portsmouth Listens Study Circles. As the Natural Resource - Environmental Balance, Stewardship, and Sustainability group of this citywide planning effort, we were given an empowering opportunity to participate in “Making Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone.”

Making the Rest of Portsmouth as Special as Downtown
To determine how to make the rest of Portsmouth as special as downtown, we first had to determine what made downtown special to us. We like the architectural beauty of the commercial district, the waterfront, the natural gathering areas such as cafes, the historic South End, Strawberry Banke and Prescott Park. We also enjoy the downtown neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, attractive streetlights and brick sidewalks that invite neighborhood interaction.