LACONIA — More than a year-and-a-half after it burned, a large multi-family residence, housing six apartments, at 158 School Street in the Lakeport section of the city is being demolished.
Planning Director Shanna Saunders, whose responsibilities include code enforcement, said yesterday that Paul Fortier of Nashua, the owner of the property, was on "a countdown clock," explaining that he had been ordered to demolish the building by a date certain or face legal action. "It has been a very lengthy process," she said, adding that she is pleased that demolition has begun.
Last May, almost a year after the fire, no steps had been taken to either demolish or salvage the building. At the time, Fortier told The Daily Sun he intended to raze the most severely damaged part of the building and rebuild what remained in anticipation of selling the property. At the time, he explained said that city officials treated him fairly.
"As long as you keep them informed that there is some progress, they are very patient," he remarked.
Saunders said that once demolition is complete, the site will be inspected to ensure that the building is down, the debris removed and the lot secure. "We will want to make sure the property is safe," she said, "and that there are no problems with stormwater or erosion."
Fortier purchased the property, which sits on a 0.28-acre lot at the corner of School Street and Sheridan in May, 2003 for $237,530 as an investment. The building was last assessed at $21,800 and the lot at $51,600 for a total property value of $73,400.
Fortier could not be reached this week for comment on what his current plans are for the property.

LACONIA — A portion of Meredith Center Road was closed for two hours yesterday afternoon after a gust of wind blew a tree down onto a power line.
With the line still electrified and the tree coming closer and closer to falling during the wind gusts, police and fire officials closed the road from the corner of Eastman Road and Lane Road to the Heritage Free Will Baptist Church.
At times the burning tree would flare and the flames could be seen from Eastman Drive.
Police manned the Eastman Drive intersection while the fire department put barriers and caution tape across the road in front of the church. The road remained closed from about 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. when the power company and a tree service finished removing the tree.
At least twice, people got out of their cars and moved the barriers on the church side so they could go through the road.
Police Det. Kevin Butler chastised the people who crossed the barrier line as they reached him at Eastman Road and later said he was very angry that people would remove a safety barrier deliberately put there to keep them safe.
Fire Lt. Chris Shipp said at one point a firefighter saw one driver remove the barrier and lift the tape to allow other two cars to go through. He echoed Butler when he said police and firefighters put barriers in the road to stop people from getting hurt.

CAPTION - The charred ends of a tree the landed on power lines closing Meredith Center Road yesterday can be seen from about 30 feet away. Area police and fire departments were kept busy throughout the day as high winds swept through the state knocking trees on to wires and branches on to roofs. (Laconia Police photo)

LACONIA — The Board of Directors of Lakes Region Public Access television (LRPA-TV) was pleased with the results of a survey of its audience commissioned to lend strength and direction to its fundraising and programming efforts.
LRPA-TV is the public, educational and government (PEG) cable station serving central New Hampshire broadcast by MetroCast Cablevision on channels 24, 25 and 26. It is a nonprofit corporation with an annual operating budget of approximately $126,000 funded by contracting municipalities, grants and sponsorships.
The station is perhaps best know for its annual live broadcasts of the WLNH Children's Auction, which have been widely credited with taking the financial results of that 5-day event into the stratosphere over the last decade or so.
Denise Beauchaine, director of LRPA-TV, said that the station's signal reaches 21 municipalities in four counties — Belknap, Merrimack, Grafton and Rockingham — encompassing more than 50,000 households.
MetroCast bills its subscribers a franchise fee, which it then disburses to the municipalities in return for being able to operate a monopoly public service within their boundaries. But there is no direct legal connection between the franchise fees and LRPA-TV.
Meanwhile, LRPA-TV bills its contracting municipalities. Beauchaine said that prior to the recent recession 13 municipalities, including the 11 in Belknap County, contracted with LRPA-TV and paid their agreed upon share the station's overhead. However, the number of contracting municipalities has shrunk to a half-dozen — Alton, Belmont, Gilford, Meredith, Laconia and Northwood — which Beauchaine said share less than a third of the franchise fees they collect from MetroCast with LRPA-TV.
Although funding from the contracting municipalities is supplemented by grants from MetroCast and Lakes Region United Way as well as contributions from underwriters and sponsors, Beauchaine said "we've been running on thin margins for several years."
Beauchaine believes that the dwindling support from municipalities reflects doubts among municipal officials that LRPA-TV fails to command a significant audience and consequently is of little value to their communities. The survey was intended to test that notion.
The online survey was conducted by Dave Ferruolo, who collected data for about a year, from December 5, 2011 until December 19, 2012.
Altogether 868 viewers responded, of whom 86-percent said they watched LRPA-TV. Of these, two-thirds said that that the station returned high value to their local communities and another 26-percent said it was of moderate value. Only seven-percent, 60 respondents, found LRPA-TV offered little value.
The survey also sounded viewers about programming and found that the largest share favored the current format, but would like to have more shows about "local happenings," adventure and the outdoors, history and municipal information. Significant numbers responded they would prefer less religious and political programming.
To the embarrassment of Ferruolo, "New Hampshire Alive," which he has produced for eight years, topped the rankings of most popular shows, followed by the "Humane Happenings," a production of the New Hampshire Humane Society, "Living United," offered by the Lakes Region United Way, and "Lakes Region Spotlight," hosted by former Meredith town manager Carol Granfield.
Ferruolo said that survey remains on LRPA-TV's website, LRPA-TV.com, and encouraged interested viewers to complete the brief questionnaire.
Beauchaine said that the directors have yet to thoroughly digest and discuss the survey. But, she expected that "in the near future" the board would develop a strategy for leveraging the results to bolster LRPA-TV's financial position as well as to tailor its programming to meet the requirements of the communities and preferences of the viewers it serves.