At the March 15, 2025 City Council meeting, Deputy City Attorney Trevor McCourt recommended that the Council approve a license agreement with Chris Adams, owner of 66 Coakley Road, permitting the use of city land for a private fence installation. The request raises several questions about transparency, precedent, and possible conflicts of interest.
See story update here –> https://portsmouthpulse.com/2025/04/28/shameless-city-council-corruption-to-enrich-asst-mayor-timeline-update/
According to city records, between May 2023 and January 2025, the homeowner constructed a fence that extends well beyond the original 7,000-square-foot lot—encroaching on public land and expanding the effective property size to approximately 12,000 square feet.
Curiously, the Council meeting packet did not include a visual depiction of the encroachment or the amount of public land being incorporated into the private yard. However, a graphic generated via Portsmouth’s GIS system (included below) clearly shows the discrepancy. The blue square outlines the original lot; the fence visibly extends far beyond those boundaries.
Notably, the proposed license agreement includes no compensation to the city for the private use of public land. Additionally, there was no mention in the Council meeting of any correspondence from Eversource verifying that the fence does not interfere with maintenance or access to nearby power lines.
This situation prompts a number of questions:
- Is this standard practice for Portsmouth City Hall?
- Will other residents on Coakley Road—seven of whom abut the same city-owned property—be offered the same opportunity to expand their lots for free?
- What about other Portsmouth homeowners whose properties border municipal land?
And then, there’s the matter of potential conflict of interest.
Chris Adams, the beneficiary of this land use arrangement, is married to City Councilor Jo Kelley. The couple was married on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2024, at the AC Hotel. Given this personal connection, some are asking whether the proposal is being handled impartially.
If Chris Adams were not married to a sitting Councilor, would Deputy City Attorney McCourt still be offering up public land—or instead pursuing legal action to remove the encroachment, potentially including fines for non-compliance?
As Portsmouth continues to wrestle with issues of land use, fairness, and transparency, this case presents a question worth asking:
Are all property owners truly being treated equally?
Getting this agreement would certainly make the property more valuable, don’t you think? Adams obviously thinks so too… the property is FOR SALE, and the listing features pictures of the big back yard. He’s not even going to use the new fenced-in area, he’s just trying to get more money for his property. This insider deal smells to high heaven.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/66-Coakley-Rd-Portsmouth-NH-03801/95360071_zpid
