HAMPTON - About 20 people assembled around the table at the town office last week for the first pre-construction meeting for Hampton's new police facility.

"We're glad we're finally at this stage - at the stage we're writing a check," said Town Manager James Barrington to representatives of David R. Whitcher Builder, general contractor for the project, and Kaestle Boos Associates, architects for the facility.

Barrington was joined by Police Chief William Wrenn, Capt. Timothy Crotts, Capt. Jamie Sullivan, Kevin Schultz, building inspector for the town of Hampton, Dawna Duhamel, financial director for the town, and Dick Violette, who is clerk-of-the-works for the project.

One of the more significant issues raised was that of the loss of parking and associated revenue by the town due to construction, an issue Wrenn said needed to be resolved. In addition to the loss of public parking at the Ashworth Avenue lot, the site fencing to be put up by the builder will cut through the middle of the police personnel parking lot.

As a result, the decision was made to close the Ashworth parking lot except for the 50 designated as lease spots as of August 11. The change will be in effect through next year's summer season as well during the 15 month construction period, Barrington said.

Other items discussed included, the issue of erosion control as well as the occurrence of flooding. "Intent to Disturb" notices are scheduled to be submitted to the Wetlands Department, with signs to be posted at the site. The Erosion and Sedimentation control measures, as part of "Erosion and Wetlands Protection," call for caution to be exercised by the contractor when working within the 50 ft. wetland buffer zone or within the wetland resource area. As for the instances of flooding, Wrenn noted that the street flooding lasts for only an hour before the water recedes.

At the construction site, Violette will be provided a trailer with a separate entrance and a separate stairway for his clerk-ofthe-works position. The next of the biweekly meetings will be held at the onsite trailer on Wednesday, August 13 at 1 p.m.