Seabrook Beach Civic Association 2013-2015

 

The first public meeting for the 2013-2015 Officers/Board of Directors was held October 21, 2013.

Following are the minutes of the meeting.

Approximately 45 beach village district homeowners attended.

The Seabrook Beach Civic Association "public meeting season" begins in May and ends in October.  However, the officers and board of directors meet in earnest during the ‘winter months’ coordinating the events and meeting schedule for the upcoming season. As much work is done during the “off” season as is done during the "on”. 

 

Highlights of the October 21, 2013, meeting:

 

Welcome to Roland Jacques, our new treasurer:

We would like to thank Maureen Carey for her many years of service a treasurer.

You have received a copy of our past expenses. As you can see our operating expenses and our income are pretty well matched.  I will be happy to help clarify any questions you might have.

 

Beautification:

The Seabrook Beach Civic Association thanks David Ritchie for stepping up to take over the Chairmanship of the Beautification Committee from Roland Jacques. Roland has been the chairman of the committee for over 10 years and has decided it was time to hand over the reigns. Our thanks to Roland, as well, he has done an amazing job over the years.

 

Beautification is a minimum 9 month a year job. While there is a bit of a rest and certainly no leaves to rake, once the snow begins to disappear begins the process of preparing the areas we are responsible for begins (i.e. ready the flowers to bloom, shrubs, raking, removing debris, etc.).

This winter, David and his crew will be keeping a close eye on the condition of the "welcome" sign. Want to assist in beautification?

Contact us at Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874.

 

 

“Welcome to Seabrook Beach and Harbor” sign - David Ritchie addressed the issue.

The sign itself presently requires additional repairs to the frame before it can be ready to be hung. At this time,

it is believed that the sign is on state owned land. David Ritchie is consulting with town hall as to the physical

location of the sign prior to it being hit.  If the sign was on state property and the Town of Seabrook is willing,

the Association will work with the town to find an appropriate location on town owned land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 American Flag Program:

The life expectancy of the American made American flags the Association flies along 1A (Ocean Boulevard, Seabrook) is approximately two seasons (8-10 months). Among the reasons for the low life span are the conditions along 1A ,the specific height requirement from the ground up that the pole must be located and the fact that there id  lack of trees, houses, etc. to act as a buffer from the high winds that rip through the area.

 

The two year sponsorship of the previous flags has ended and solicitation for sponsorship of new American flags has begun. The sponsorship will remain at $50.00 for two seasons (June through September). 

Forms for sponsoring an American Flag can be found at the end of this meeting synopsis as well as under Raising the American Flag. A line item also exists on the 2013-2014 Membership Form and may be used to sponsor a flag.

Volunteers are needed The American flag and the pole are purchased separately and must be combined prior to when the flags are placed on the telephone poles, normally the first week of June.

Those interested in helping with this project can contact us at Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874..

 

 

Beach District Parking:

Summer 2013 was perfect.. a series of hot, sunny days and the beach was packed. Between the hot sun and frazzled nerves of folks trying to locate a space to leave their cars, the parking situation on Atlantic Avenue, Hooksett and Haverhill Streets escalated to nearly war proportions with nearly everyone seeming to raise objections to everything and anything having to do with putting their vehicle close to the Atlantic Ocean. There are fewer than 100 parking spaces for approximately 8,000 uptown homeowners on the “preferred” streets.  Village Beach District homeowners are not allowed to park on the three streets mentioned above.

 

It was after one of the last heat waves when the water and the sand hit the street and the "officials" became involved. It was then discovered that while there is a parking code, it is not being followed- parking passes were being given out to folks who did not fall under the guidelines of the current code.  Instead of calling it what it was, a mistake, letting it go (since by then it was the end of August) and make preparations to adhere to the code in 2014, it was decided to create a committee to study the situation.  

The committee would include 7 people 3 from "uptown" (no restrictions) and three from the beach district (one had to be a commissioner).  While nowhere in the Seabrook Code or Seabrook's Charter, the ruling by today's selectmen regarding who can be on a committee was found in a ruling signed by the 2008 selectmen (Richard McCann, Robert Moore and Brendan Kelly) when they voted to ban taxpayers who are not registered voters in the town of Seabrook from any and all committees and boards. Seabrook Fire, Police and DPW would be involved in deliberations in an advisory capacity and the town manager would be placing one person on the committee.

 

Since only Seabrook registered voters were eligible to be on the committee, the homeowners/taxpayers effected the most by any change (even if it went back to the current code) were shutout from  a position on the committee as they are, by code, shut out from parking on any street in the beach village district.

The members of the Seabrook Committee for Parking at Seabrook Beach are:

Ted Xavier (Commissioner)

Tom Fay (Tyngsboro Street)

Rose Flanagan (Portsmouth Avenue)

Mary Dow (Seabrook‘s Certified Assessing Clerk)

Amy Davis (Secretary to the Town’s Selectmen)

Paula Wood (Chair of Seabrook’s Budget Committee)

 

The Seabrook Code regarding parking within Seabrook Beach Village District is under Article 1V… 249.19 Parking Permits.

 

Link for complete Code is:   http://www.seabrooknh.org/Pages/Seabrook%20Town%20Code.pdf

FYI: This is an 800 page document and takes a long time to download.

 

Bench Program:

Several benches have been destroyed or have rotted out over the past year; these benches will be removed from their location by Seabrook's DPW. The sponsors of the benches have been located and are in the process of deciding where or not to re-sponsor the bench. Depending on their decision, and the Board's decision whether to lift the moratorium on new benches and/or new sponsors... work will begin to replace what has been taken away. This will including watching the weather and the tide over the winter months since several of the benches were and some still are close to the high water mark. Once there is no longer a chance of foul weather, the replacement of the benches can begin (normally in late April or early May).

Chairman contact at Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874.

 

Membership:

Several years ago, our membership was around 400… a little less than ½ of the number of homeowners had joined the Association that year. Unfortunately, a few months later, our membership chair passed away and not only did we lose a wonderful friend in Dick Kirsch, but an amazing spokesperson for our group.

For the last few years we have not had someone as committed as Dick was in getting the “numbers up” until Peter Volpe joined us as Membership Secretary this past summer. Peter’s goal is to match Dick’s and perhaps pass it. Peter has some wonderful ideas and is looking for help to implement them.  Contact at Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874.

 

Newsletter and Website:

The newsletter and website are year round projects. Photographs, stories, poems and recipes for the both are welcome. Items are kept in a file until January for the newsletter when the work of putting it together begins. The information and layout for the newsletter must be in the hands of the printer by the beginning of March to assure it will be mailed out to Seabrook’s Village District's homeowners by April 1st. 

Submit items for both the newsletter and website to Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874.

 

Newsletter Ads:

Ads for the newsletter will be accepted from October 2013 to February 1, 2014. *Ads have included birthday and anniversary wishes along with the "normal" business ads (i.e. restaurants, banks, realtors, etc..  A business card size ad is $50.  A double business card size ad is $75.  The newsletter is distributed to approximately 1,000 households/businesses and seen on the website as newsletters are included..   

Contact us at Seabrook Beach Civic Association at P.O. Box 1601, Seabrook, NH 03874.

*When purchasing personal ads keep the timeline in mind - the newsletter is distributed mid-late April.

 

 

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