The city of Dover has begun a series of public listening sessions in preparation for updating its Master Plan update, with one in each city ward. Residents are invited to attend and share their concerns for the city and their specific neighborhoods.

The Speak Out sessions, which were employed in 1995 before the city last updated its Master Plan, are a year ahead of schedule in terms of the need for town input for updating the document in 2007.

“We accelerated the process slightly this year,” says Ronald Cole, the chair of the Dover Planning Board. “Most of the communities in the Seacoast are being overbuilt or the citizens feel they’re being overbuilt. As a result, there were some concerns in Dover over water pressure in the North End and just a general feeling on part of the populace that building is going too fast.”

The sessions also include a survey gauging residents’ satisfaction with the city and things they’d like to see changed. Residents are asked whether they agree or disagree, and to what extent, with statements like  the following: “The City should do more to attract businesses and industry to the community”; “The City should promote and develop itself in becoming a destination point for visitors”; “The City should do more to preserve open space,” along with other issues.

“Last time (we updated the Master Plan), we asked similar questions and did something similar, and were quite interested in the results,” says Cole. “The more feedback you can get from the taxpayers, the better feel you get for what it is they want. Then we try to incorporate that. You get a very diverse group of people. Some with real issues, some who just want to vent, and that’s a good thing.”   

Attendance has been relatively light for the first two Speak Out sessions. Cole estimates 14 people attended the Ward 1 meeting on July 13, and 24 people attended the Ward 2 meeting on July 18. Still, Cole feels that ward-by-ward forums are preferable to city-wide discussions.

“Having a session for each ward helps get specific concerns that the Planning Board can address when it does the Master Plan,” he says. There is a city-wide session scheduled for August 29, after all wards have met.

One issue that has been addressed at both sessions so far has been sidewalk safety. Cole says many residents expressed concern that sidewalks throughout the city need to be repaired or, in some cases, reconstructed. The City Council cut $50,000 from this year’s sidewalk budget.

“Lo and behold, the first two forums have been people concerned with sidewalks,” says Cole. “Maybe this is something the City Council will take into account.”

Water pressure in the North End of Dover, which was one of the City Council’s prime concerns, was not mentioned at the Ward 1 meeting.

The next Speak Out session will be held Thursday, July 27, in the St. Thomas Aquinas High School cafeteria. The session will address issues in Ward 3.

“You know that saying about how you like sausage, but you wouldn’t want to see how it’s made?” says Cole. “Well, we be makin’ the sausage now, and it’s kind of fun. And the last session will be more fun than the rest of them put together.”

upcoming Speak Out sessions
For more information, visit www.ci.dover.nh.us or call the Dover Planning Department at 603-516-6008.
Thursday, July 27: Ward 3, at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, 197 Dover Point Road
Tuesday, Aug. 1: Ward 4, At Garrison Elementary School, 50 Garrison Road
Thursday, Aug. 10: Ward 6, Strafford County Courthouse, 259 County Farm Road
Wednesday, Aug. 16: Ward 5, at St. John’s Methodist Church, 28 Cataract Ave.
Tuesday, Aug. 29: All wards, at Dover City Hall, 288 Central Ave.