Belmont selectmen will wait for engineers evaluation of Main at Gale St. intersection

BELMONT — Following a request by local hardware store owner Steve Woodbury to make Gale Street one way, selectmen said they would like to wait until an engineer scheduled to do an evaluation of the downtown area makes a professional recommendation.

Woodbury went to Monday's board meeting to object to a letter sent to the N.H. Department of Transportation by resident Mike Moyer to eliminate parking on Main Street, immediately on either side of Gale Street, because it impairs traffic sight lines. Woodbury's store is located at that intersection.

Woodbury said the request should be a "non-issue" because the topic was included on Monday's selectmen's agenda but Moyer, the former Laconia police chief, didn't attend.

Recently, Main Street parking has become an issue and Woodbury said yesterday he believes it's because he installed two temporary holding racks in an area in front of his Main Street hardware store.

He said was forced to move them from one part of the area in front of his store to another at the request of the town planner, but since he has done so, local police have stepped up parking enforcement on Gale Street.

"To date I can document 14 parking tickets on Gale Street," said Jim Woodbury who lives on Main Street.

He went on to say he lived in that house since the early 1980s and his father bought Belmont Hardware in 1976 but the parking issues just began.

The Woodbury's particular objection to Moyer's complaint was that he provided a picture to the DOT that they estimate was at least two years old.

"He waits two years to put in a complaint then he doesn't even show up at the meeting," said Steve Woodbury.

Moyer's request for the state to stop parking on either side of Gale Street is one of safety.

"Something needs to be done before a serious accident at the intersection," he wrote. 'I certainly would be willing to met with any of your staff at that intersection to go over, not only my concerns, but also the concerns of the residents in the vicinity."

In the DOT reply to the community and copied to Moyer, William Lambert the administrator of the Bureau of Traffic said the state could only consider Moyer's request if the town also supported it.

He also said Moyer cited a state law that prohibits parking within 30 feet of an approach to a stop sign of traffic sign. Lambert explained that the restriction would apply to the approach from Gale Street to Main Street but not along Main Street because there is no stop sign or traffic signal.

For the Woodburys, the solution would be to make Gale Street one way. At 17 1/2 feet wide, two-way traffic is problematic they said.

As for pulling out on to Main Street from Gale Street, they said it has actually gotten easier because until the mid 1990s, there were gas pumps and an island in front of their building.

He said the lease for the gasoline company expired in the 1990s and the family didn't want to invest the money to upgrade the underground tanks so it chose instead to remove them.

"The front of this building never has been used for parking," said Jim Woodbury.