Fifth Street & Grove Street Reconstruction Project

Please return the forms to the City of Dover as soon as possible. Questions? Contact Assistant City Engineer Jillian Semprini, P.E. at j.semprini@dover.nh.gov or 603-516-6450.

Tree removal

As a matter of policy, the City of Dover tries to avoid tree removal at all costs unless necessary for a project.

Last year, the city contracted with a consultant expert to complete a city-wide condition and assessment of all public-owned sidewalks and pedestrian ramps. The consultant rated the sidewalk conditions in the Fifth and Grove project area to be poor to fair condition, and most were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The project will provide five-foot-wide concrete ADA sidewalks compliant to ensure they are accessible for all. In most locations, they will also include a vegetated buffer between the sidewalk and the road. Unfortunately, 15 trees are being removed to provide an adequate and safe travel way, with sidewalks and parking on both sides of the street within the limited public right-of-way. However, 19 new trees will be planted, including Red Maple, Northern Red Oak and Sweet Gum Tree. These improvements will ultimately benefit the neighborhood by ensuring a safer, more functional, and resilient infrastructure.

The project is in line with the City of Dover’s Central Business District (CBD) Street Tree Plan, endorsed by the Planning Board, which includes provisions for strategic tree replacements. The CBD Street Tree Plan prioritizes the retention of existing trees, when possible, but recognizes the need to remove trees that are no longer appropriate for a site. The city views street trees as a critical part of an urban forest that provides a wide range of ecological, social, and economic benefits. Among the city’s goals for enhancing tree canopy cover include improving stormwater management, filtering air pollutants, and lowering surface and air temperatures, as stated in the CBD Street Plan and the Master Plan’s Climate Adaptation Chapter. Street trees planted today typically have tap roots and deeper and more vertical roots as they have been found to promote greater infiltration than species with fibrous roots and more lateral, shallower roots. Deeper roots can help preserve sidewalks longer than trees with roots that tend to spread horizontally.

Careful consideration has been put into the recommended species selections in the CBD Street Tree Plan due to the environment that street trees inhabit which can involve poor drainage, limited sunlight, concentration of car exhaust and animal waste, and the presence of public infrastructure that can incur damage from tree roots and branches as well as interfere with tree growth. As part of the Fifth and Grove project outreach, the public also participated in surveys to help the city decide which trees to plant.

With all of these aspects in mind, the new street trees will be planted in a manner that promotes the life of the tree and a sustainable and aesthetically pleasing streetscape, contributing to the overall improvements of the project. There is also an effort underway to plant an additional 20 street trees in other areas around the CBD in the near term.

• Street Tree Plan
• Street Tree Plan fact sheet
• Master Plan Climate Adaptation Chapter 

City Council awards construction bid

The Dover City Council at its March 27, 2024 meeting unanimously authorized awarding the construction bid for the Fifth and Grove Reconstruction Project to  N. Granese & Sons of Salem, Massachusetts for a cost not to exceed $5,147,405. Click here for the resolution. 

The Council also authorized engineering consultant Woodard & Curran, of Andover, Massachusetts to provide construction oversight, which includes a resident engineer on the project site, for $436,000. This brings their contract total to $713,409, which also includes creating engineered construction documents. Click here for the resolution. 

City staff will organize a neighborhood meeting with the public and the contractor to discuss the project scope and impacts before work begins, which is anticipated to start later this spring.