Belmont Charrette and history of other charrette

In the summer of 1995, Historical Society President Wallace Rhodes said he wasn't really paying much attention to the Belmont Mill.

Like nearly everyone in Belmont he was aware of the 1992 fire that gutted an extension built on to it. He also knew there was a Community Development Block Grant application in the works to do some work on the property.

What he said he didn't know the town was beginning to tear in down.

"It wasn't until I heard they were demolishing it that I started paying attention," Wallace said Wednesday as he and Linda Frawley sat on the fourth floor of the now renovated building.

Wallace said he and others formed a committee and ultimately got an injunction from a Belknap County Superior Court judge to stop the demolition.

When Meredith architect Christopher Williams approached the town about doing something called a "charrette" — French for an architect's cart — they were all for it.

A charrette, as it is known in this country, is an intensive planning process that brings the community together with volunteers architects, town and city planners, and engineers to discuss the vision of that community.

While neither Frawley nor Wallace wanted to revisit the days when Belmont was torn apart by the injunction and pending demolition, they are looking forward to the town's second charrette — scheduled for June 4 and June 5.

PLAN NH's first charrette 14 years ago led to the rejuvenation of the Belmont Mill.

"I pretty sure that most everyone, whether they were for or against saving the mill, is now glad it happened," Frawley said.

This past spring, Frawley and the Heritage Commission hosted a community preservation workshop and Williams, remembering his participation in the 1996 charrette, contacted her because he was curious to know how relevant it still was.

Frawley said his interest and the preservation workshop led to the idea that it may be time for a second charrette.

At the encouragement of Frawley and the Heritage Commission, the Selectboard applied for and were accepted for a second charrette that begins on June 4 and will concentrate on the entire Belmont Village area.

"It's been a hope of ours for a while," Frawley said who noted the 2001-2002 Master Plan also called for a similar planning process.

Paid for by the Heritage Commission with matching funds from Laconia Savings Bank, this charrette will bring back together many of the people who participated in the first one.

Frawley said the event will being will at 2:30 p.m. at the Corner Meeting House when the 12 to 15 architects, planners and engineers involved on behalf of PLAN NH will host a listening session.

Prefaced by a village walk, the purpose is to bring together the community to tell PLAN NH their visions for the village. A second listening session will be in the evening at the Belmont Middle School.

Frawley said she is embarking on a e-mail, invitation, and letter writing campaign to get as many people as possible to one of the two listening session.

"Belmont is a crossroads community," Frawley said. "Our future is very much impacted by a neighbors."

Following the listening session, there will be a community supper under a tent in the parking lot next to the Belmont Mill.

Beginning Saturday, the PLAN NH team begins working. They'll compile the information, draw schematics and plans and take community input culminating at a 3 p.m. public session.