Portsmouth housing at Sherburne School faces vote. 'Robust' conversation expected first.

PORTSMOUTH — The city’s Blue Ribbon Housing Committee is set to vote Thursday on whether it believes the former Sherburne School should be developed for below-market-rate housing.

The committee’s co-chairs, Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley and City Councilor John Tabor, said the committee is scheduled to vote on the issue and then share its recommendation with the City Council.

The vote by the Housing Committee is aimed at settling “the policy question, 'what are we going to do with this land?'” Tabor said about the city-owned former Sherburne School site.

The property has long been used as the site for the Robert J. Lister Academy, Portsmouth’s alternative high school. But the school will be moving to Community Campus for the 2024-2025 school year, leaving the former elementary school site vacant.

“If the recommendation is to use it for housing, that starts another process involving the land-use boards and public and our potential nonprofit partners,” Tabor said during an interview Monday.

Portsmouth Housing Authority could take lead on proposal

If the Portsmouth Housing Authority partners with the city, it will develop a proposal for the housing project, based on input from the public and City Council, Tabor said.

“I think the PHA has shown what they can do with Griffin Place. It’s just a case study of success,” Tabor said.

The Portsmouth Housing Authority developed and opened Ruth Griffin Place in 2022. The 64-unit downtown housing project on Court Street features high-efficiency apartments renting at below market rates.

Do you rent in Portsmouth?: City councilor wants to hear from you

Tabor believes the committee would also likely recommend to the council whether the city should partner with PHA or open up the process for other nonprofits to be considered.

Tabor stressed the urgency of moving forward with a housing project at Sherburne.

“It’s a very high priority for our council, so we want to make sure this committee finds valuable ways that we can solve the problem,” Tabor said.

'Robust discussion' on housing location expected

Kelley said before the committee takes any action Thursday night, they will listen to public input from residents about whether there should be a housing project built at the site.

“That was very important to me,” she said about giving residents an opportunity to address the issue before the committee deliberates.

The City Council – working with Portsmouth Housing Authority – launched a plan in early 2023 to build as many as 80 to 100 below market rate housing units at the site. But after many residents of the nearby Pannaway Manor neighborhood voiced their opposition to building housing there, the council dropped the idea.

Mayor Deaglan McEachern revived the city’s Blue Ribbon Housing Committee early this year.

Kelley expects to hear a “robust discussion” during Thursday’s meeting about whether the committee should endorse building housing at the Sherburne School.

“This group (the Housing Committee) was brought together as a diverse group of citizens, including residents from Pannaway, but the whole community should have a say about what goes there,” Kelley said Monday.

Kelley acknowledged there may be people both on the committee and in the community who are opposed to building housing there.

“It’s understandable for any neighborhood to want to have input on any large development that goes in,” she said. “We see that all around the city for larger developments.”

But Kelley stressed that no matter how people feel about a proposed development there, “we cannot argue that we are not in an affordable housing crisis.”

She stated that coming out of the recent Portsmouth Listens housing event, numerous speakers pointed to “the necessity of speed” when it comes to creating below market rate housing in Portsmouth.

“What we heard from them is why aren’t we doing this yet,” Kelley said.

Specifics of plan are the hot button issue

Like Tabor, Kelley believes that the first decision the Housing Committee should make is if the Sherburne site should be used for housing.

After that, it will be up to the city’s partner to propose the specifics of the project.

“I think that’s always been what I would say is the hot button issue,” Kelley said about how many units will be proposed there.

Tabor is hopeful there will be some support in Pannaway Manor for any proposed housing project.

“I think there’s a quarter mile of separation between the two, and Pannaway is a cul-de-sac on the other side of the interstate,” Tabor said. “There’s a lot of separation. There’s no need for people who live at Sherburne to go to Pannaway, they’ll be heading into town.”

Tabor believes that by working with city-owned sites and incentivizing developers, the city could create 500 below market units in three to five years.

“Our challenge as a city is to get below market rate housing that fits in well with existing neighborhoods,” he said.

He added that the Housing Committee includes employers who also need affordable housing for their employees to live.

“For our town to work economically, we can’t have restaurants close because they can’t find workers or long lines at the pharmacy because there’s no one to hire,” Tabor said.

Portsmouth Housing Authority poised to take action if asked

PHA Executive Director Craig Welch said the agency is ready to begin working with the city “immediately” on housing.

“Our housing report shows that between now and the end of this decade we’ll need another 1,500 affordable housing units, and we’ve been the primary provider of that,” Welch said.

He acknowledged “we’re so far away from being able to meet the need that our entire goal should be getting shovels in the ground and getting this built.”

That includes, he said, working with the public and city to create “a thoughtful design for the project.”

He shares the feeling expressed by multiple speakers at a Portsmouth Listens dialogue on housing who urged city officials “to act with urgency” to address the housing crisis.

“What we should be doing is lining these projects up because we’re so far from being where we need to be to,” Welch said.

The Housing Authority has also worked to increase its capacity, he said recently, so they can “work on multiple projects” with the city at the same time.

Thursday’s Housing Committee meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 and will be held in Conference Room A in City Hall.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH housing project at Sherburne School faces vote