By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

HAMPTON – Calling the meeting “productive,” Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, R-Rye, said the governor and her top staff met last week with Hampton town officials to discuss the future of the Hampton rest area/welcome centers.

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte surprised many two weeks ago when she pulled the sale of the two properties from consideration and said she believes a lease option is better for the state and that the properties on Interstate 95 north and south are too important to not control the messaging and what is sold.

That came as a disappointment to Hampton, which Stevens said was hoping that the almost imminent sale would mean $1 million a year in real estate tax revenue, where they get none right now.

Still, a lease could bring in some real estate tax relief, though it is not clear now how much. 

This is the only rest area/welcome center option for development along the entire I-95 corridor, Stevens said.

On Monday she said Hampton Town Manager Jamie Sullivan and Hampton tax collectors “have some work to do” to look at what they charge restaurants and what sort of a tax could be placed in the event of a lease.

She said that interested people should “stay tuned.”

Stevens said Hampton officials were initially “devastated” after six years of hard work with four potential bidders. She said the deal was down to the last few weeks before Ayotte scuttled the sale.

In 2018, the legislature directed the state to sell the property and allow the proceeds to pay off liquor store debt. It stated a minimum bid would be $15 million. The liquor commission began with eight interested parties, got four bidders and only one, the Common Man Roadside, was from New Hampshire. It has operated the welcome centers on I-93 in Hooksett the past eight years in a long-term lease agreement.

Three other bidders were Global Montello Group Corporation of Waltham, Mass., Nouria Energy Corporation, of Worcester, Mass and Petrogas Group US Inc. (doing business as Applegreen) in Andover, Mass.

The selection recommendation among those four has not been made public nor has the price offered by the successful bidder.

Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, called Ayotte’s Hampton decision “monumental” and noting that the state could really use that kind of money right now, wanted to get her rationale.

While Ayotte addressed the media about her reasoning almost two weeks ago, he said Monday he would like to see a discussion at the council table for full transparency, though he said it will likely be months before the state goes out to bid on requests for proposals and they come in.

Ayotte explained to the press May 7 “that is a very important and valuable piece of property that the state owns off of I-95 and it is in a very strategic and important location that’s basically a gateway,” into New Hampshire.

When the contract to sell came to her desk as governor, she said, “I looked at the proposal and I had two very big concerns – number one that I thought and I asked ‘did we consider a leasing situation’ which is what we do in Hooksett, and that analysis had not been done. And I believe that leasing that property given how valuable it is and important is very important when we think about long-term revenue for the state. It also allows the state to have more control over that location and what goes in there. I also don’t want our rest areas to be like the Jersey turnpike, no disrespect to Jersey but we have done this a different way. It’s been very New Hampshire,” she said of Hooksett. 

She noted that New Hampshire products are sold there and instead of fast food you get at any rest area, there is more of a local food product in the meals served by the Common Man restaurants.

But also, she said it’s important making sure the state has control over it as a long-term source of revenue.

“For me, that is the consideration and that is why I pulled…” she said. “This had been in progress obviously before I was governor and then when I looked at it I didn’t think it was a New Hampshire solution.”

Stevens said not only was the governor at the meeting but also officials including her chief of staff and an official from the Department of Justice.