Bay Street apartments gets thumbs-up from city

LACONIA — The proposal to build a 12-unit apartment building on Bay Street, focused on serving people who are either experiencing or at risk of homelessness, finally got approval from the Planning Board on Monday night.

The project, proposed by Lakes Region Community Developers, aims to build the residential structure on a lot on Bay Street slightly larger than a quarter of an acre. The proposal was accepted under performance zoning standards, which allow a project to be considered based on how it will perform in relation to its neighborhood and the city, as opposed to being held strictly to zoning ordinances.

The Bay Street proposal has been going before city boards all year, with much of the sticking points centering around parking. As proposed, the project would have six parking spaces, while zoning ordinances require 18 — or one and a half per residential unit. Community Developers has countered that their units are strictly single-occupancy efficiency apartments, that parking requirements can be bent or ignored under performance zoning, and that most of their intended residents won’t be able to afford a vehicle.

“Observing their properties around town, that shows,” said Charlie St. Clair, planning board chair. “I’ve been driving by their properties, day or night, there’s only one or two cars there.”

The application was approved by a vote of 8-1, with Amy Lovisek casting the lone vote against it.

The city council was represented Monday by Councilor Robert Soucy of Ward 2, who was filling in for City Councilor Bruce Cheney (Ward 1), who is the council’s regular representative to the Planning Board. Prior to the meeting, Cheney said he would recuse himself from the meeting in light of controversy around comments he made at a previous Planning Board meeting that some have interpreted as prejudicial toward people with mental illness. The Bay Street project includes a case management partnership with Lakes Region Mental Health Center, which will help provide services to the residents of the apartments.

In fact, Lakes Region Community Developers included a letter from its attorney as part of its application packet for Monday night’s meeting, laying out the legal case for an appeal on grounds of discrimination, should the project be defeated, based on comments that some board members made during public meetings.

“I think it’s good that this is done,” St. Clair said. He said the applicant had revised its plan for property security in response to some concerns from other residents of the street, and the board required the applicant to add a dumpster to its plan rather than using individual trash and recycling barrels for each unit.

He said the security plan update “was a big help” in gaining approval from the board.

The property currently contains the remains of a home that burned down nearly two years ago.