By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

The Amoskeag Rowing Club could be moving upriver from Hooksett to Pembroke.

Hoping to open communication lines, a representative from the club visited Pembroke selectmen to introduce plans for a boathouse at a seven-acre parcel adjacent to Memorial Field.

The club has owned the land for nearly a decade, and a civil engineer working for the club has been studying the site for possible construction, said club President June Larkins.

Larkins said she hopes a garage-type boathouse structure, some parking and a path to the river can all be built eventually at the Pembroke location. "It's all very preliminary," she said, "but we would like to have enough room for several teams there eventually."

The Amoskeag Rowing Club has about 45 regular members, and also supports crew teams from schools such as the Derryfield School, Manchester High School Central and Concord High School.

The club has been operating for decades primarily from a large fenced storage shed adjacent to a boat ramp behind the Hooksett District Courthouse, off Hooksett's Merrimack Street. That structure was built after an informal agreement with Hooksett selectmen in 1987.

This summer, after hearing some citizens' complaints that the group was monopolizing the location during some informal regatta events, the Hooksett Town Council formed a subcommittee to determine appropriate uses for the ramp.

Club officials admitted then that they had taken up too much parking at times and immediately placed parking and ramp usage restrictions on their members. Yet, as the council committee pursued the matter, some club officials feared they would lose all access to the Hooksett ramp.

That committee has since presented its findings to the council, and Larkins said she's confident, based on talks with Hooksett town officials, that the two parties will reach an agreement.

"Some of that was our fault because of our lack of communication," said Larkins, adding that she wanted Pembroke town and planning officials to have as much information up front as possible. "Our work in Pembroke is really separate from that."

Larkins said the group's civil engineer has been studying the Pembroke site since January 2005, months before the public talks with the Hooksett Town Council.

Faced with overcrowding at the Hooksett location, the club purchased the Pembroke site in the mid '90s. But some crew teams it supported then - like the team formerly at Notre Dame College - soon folded.

"The school team plummeted at the time and we didn't have a lot of need for the Pembroke site," said Larkins.

In recent years, however, as overcrowding has again become an issue, Larkins said the club has regularly had to turn schools away.

Pembroke Selectmen Chairman Dan Crean said he appreciated the club's effort to publicly inform town officials of its plans.

"We were opening a dialogue about where we might work together for the betterment of both parties," he said.

Crean stressed that any construction near Memorial Field would be closely scrutinized by planners, as the area is already heavily used for recreation, and the field is a critical component in the town's Master Plan and capital improvements program.

Memorial Field already includes baseball diamonds, soccer fields, a basketball court, playgrounds and several access points to the Merrimack River for non-motorized boats.

Crean said Pembroke already has a public gathering ordinance in place, but that it may be in need of improvement.

"Right now it works, but it's pretty informal," he said.