Hampton voters OK state park connection to sewer system

Facility serves North Hampton State Beach

HAMPTON Residents voted Tuesday to allow the state Division of Parks and Recreation to connect a facility to the town's sewer system, paving the way for a new bathhouse at North Hampton State Beach.

Hampton warrant Article 19 passed, 2,611-596.

If all goes as planned, the new $450,000 bathhouse would be operational by summer 2013.

The septic system for the current bathrooms failed years ago, and it was replaced with a holding tank that had to be emptied so frequently that the state was forced at one point to close the bathrooms and use portable toilets. The new bathhouse would have three urinals and two toilets for men, and five toilets for women. It would also house a family restroom.

State Sen. Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, urged voters to support the article, calling the sewer connection critical for North Hampton State Beach. If the state was not allowed to connect to the town's sewer system, the plan would have been to instead install composting toilets. Stiles said she worked to bring the state, North Hampton, Hampton and Rye together on the project because she opposed the idea of composting toilets.

Rye is involved because one of its sewer pipes, which runs through North Hampton to Hampton, would be used to make the connection. Hampton already provides sewer service to more than 500 homes and businesses in Rye, based on a 1989 agreement. Hampton selectmen backed Article 19, saying it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.

Per the agreement signed by the towns and the state, the town will bill Rye per gallon, under terms of the 1989 pact, and will share capital expenses. The flow from the North Hampton State Beach bathhouse will be metered, and Rye will bill the state.

Tom Mansfield, an architect with the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, said the state plans to begin construction of a pumping station at the North Hampton site soon, with the laying of new plumbing in the spring. Work would stop for the summer so patrons could use the existing bathhouse, which will be demolished in the fall.

Mansfield estimated 50,000 gallons of wastewater per season would enter the Hampton system through the North Hampton connection the equivalent of wastewater generated in one three-bedroom house.

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Hampton voters OK state park connection to sewer system