By Patrick Adrian Staff Writer
CLAREMONT — The Claremont City Council gave their endorsement on Wednesday to the Claremont Conservation Commission to seek a public accessway on city-owned land to finally open the Stevens Brook Conservation Easement for public and educational use.
For several years the Claremont Conservation Commission has sought to develop a hiking trail for public recreation and education in Stevens Brook, a 22-acre conservation easement located behind Tractor Supply on Main Street. The land, which the city acquired in 2011 in a land agreement with Tractor Supply, holds a well-preserved habitat with abundant wildlife and foliage and a waterway that feeds into the Sugar River.
“It’s an area that, when you don’t hear any traffic noise, is hard to imagine you are close to the center of Claremont,” said resident Steve Woods, a Claremont Conservation Commission member.
The commission ultimately plans to develop a trail in the easement and a parking lot to enable the public and school groups to study and enjoy the small but rich habitat.
But the lack of public accessway and challenges encountered in the effort to obtain one has delayed the project, according to commission members.
“It seems that every time we take two steps forward we take two steps back,” said Claremont Conservation Commission Chair Gary Dickerman.
The commission now sees an opportunity on a city-owned 3.5-acre parcel on North Street that abuts the easement. In a presentation to the city council, the commission sought the consent to pursue a permanent public accessway on a half-acre section of the parcel to build a connecting road to North Street and a small parking lot of approximately 1,500 square feet, enough to hold two or three vehicles and allow ample turnaround space.
In July the group had proposed the access on an adjacent easement to the currently proposed land. But that right-of-way only pertains to city owned vehicles and legal counsel has advised against extending that to public use.
Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill said the remaining 3 acres, which includes a house, will eventually be put to auction.
In a show of hands, eight of nine city councilors indicated their support for the Claremont Conservation Commission’s alternative route. The commission wanted to get a consensus of the city council’s support prior to continuing working on their proposal.
Councilor Andrew O’Hearne cast the lone vote in dissent. O’Hearne, a former Claremont police officer, expressed concern about the placement of a new driveway on that section of North Street, which is relatively close to the intersection of Main Street that has recorded a high number of traffic collisions.
“It has [already] been stated that it is a dangerous intersection [and hill] so we have already put the city into a liability by acknowledging this,” O’Hearne said. “We all know that we can put signs up but how are we going to enforce that? The first time we have an accident we potentially open the city up to a liability.”
That traffic area has a long and well-documented history of traffic collisions. A traffic study conducted in 2020 reported a total of 77 vehicle collisions and 16 injuries at the junction of Main and North Streets between 2011 and September 2020, including 11 collisions and two injuries in the last 12 months of that study.
As previously reported by The Eagle Times, the documented safety concerns include the limited visibility to approaching driveways and street entrances due to road curvatures and steep gradients, particularly at the bottom of North Street.
A $4.8 million joint project by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and the City of Claremont plans, in addition to other improvements, to regrade North Street at the junction to reduce the severity of the slope, which expects to improve visibility.
O’Hearne also pointed out that commercial truck traffic on North Street is expected to increase following the city’s new truck routes, which will take effect this year.
Dickerman said the sought access is located on a flat section of North Street beyond the hill, which does not pose the same visibility challenges as the most southbound section.
Additionally the proposed accessway appears to be located outside the targeted construction area of the intersection-reconstruction project and will not be hindered by that project’s timetable.
City officials said it will conduct a safety and technical assessment, with recommendations from the fire and police chiefs and the Director of Public Works, with the final proposal.
“This will be a collaborative effort to ensure the safety of all residents and visitors to that area are taken into account,” said Claremont City Manager Ed Morris. “If we need to, we can also incur some expertise from the Department of Transportation to make sure things are done properly.”
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