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Portsmouth council approves Ragged Island licenses, adds a citizens’ forum and asks solicitor to draft bridge-inspection support letter
Summary
Council approved Ragged Island’s entertainment license and a sound-variance request (variance passed 6–1). Members also voted to add a 3-minute public forum to council agendas and asked the solicitor to draft a letter supporting Bristol’s request to make a Mount Hope Bridge inspection report public (draft to return to council).
Portsmouth’s Town Council handled several procedural and community-items on March 23:
- Ragged Island: the council approved an entertainment license for Ragged Island Brewing Company to host multiple summer events and later approved a sound-variance allowing maximum levels similar to last year (the variance carried on a recorded vote; motion recorded as passing 6–1). The council noted that the organizer provided police and fire letters and that the event had been professionally sound-monitored in prior years.
- Citizens’ forum: Councilor Patton proposed and council adopted a standing public forum modeled on the school committee verbiage but allowing 3 minutes per speaker and a recommended maximum of 15 total minutes per meeting; sign-up procedures will be added to the agenda protocol.
- Mount Hope Bridge inspection report: At the request of Councilor Patton, the council directed the solicitor to draft a letter of support to Bristol seeking release of the most recent Mount Hope Bridge inspection materials (the council will review solicitor’s draft at the next meeting). Members discussed the legal exposure and possible redaction of security-sensitive material before public release.
These items passed with routine majorities; staff will return with solicitor-drafted language for the bridge letter and with the finalized public‑forum procedures.
