Press Releases/What’s New

The City’s Public Art Review Committee (PARC) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from artists interested in submitting designs for a work of art on Peirce Island to be funded through the City’s Percent-for-Art program. In preparation for the RFP, PARC held three community input sessions to discuss the Committee’s role, the history of Peirce Island, and the process for determining a location for the Peirce Island Art Project.

On the morning of February 21, 2023, the Portsmouth Police Department opened an investigation into a wave of hate-motivated graffiti targeting houses of worship and other communities within the City of Portsmouth. Following an investigation, an arrest warrant for 31 counts of criminal mischief and hate-motivated criminal mischief was issued for a suspect identified through the investigation as Loren Faulkner. 

The Planning & Sustainability Department is hosting the first Market Square Master Plan Public Workshop in City Council Chambers on April 24, 2024 at 5:30 pm.

This extensive project will explore and document proposed changes for Market Square with vigorous community input and professional design assistance, to create a plan that forms a foundation for the design of necessary infrastructure upgrades and enhancements to Market Square. The planning process will continue throughout 2024 and inform the upcoming Citywide Master Plan.

In a unanimous vote on March 18, 2024, the Portsmouth City Council adopted the recommendation of the City’s Parking Division to change the 2012 Parking Ordinance which sets all on street and City parking lot rates to the same price. The change will go into effect on Monday, April 15. The new ordinance does not affect rates in the Foundry or Hanover garages.

In September 2023, the City of Portsmouth was notified that it had received $965,333 in Congressionally Directed Spending from the Federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program through the NH Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the Peirce Island Road Resiliency Project. Work on the project is scheduled to start the week of April 15, 2024 and is anticipated to be completed by mid-June 202

The City of Portsmouth’s Mosquito Control Program begins monitoring on April 8, 2024. Crews from Dragon Mosquito Control, Inc., the City’s contracted service, will be checking swamps, salt marshes, woodland pools, ditches, catch basins and other shallow, stagnant water for mosquito larvae.

Seasonal construction projects throughout the City are scheduled to resume on April 9, 2024 and the Department of Public Works is hosting public pre- construction meetings for each project.

Recorded meetings and presentations are available on the City’s website for the following:

Celebrate 50 years of Community Development and Community Development Week April 1-5, 2024!