Board governing Lakes Business Park, now full, to be dissolved

Laconia city councilors on Monday night approved a resolution allowing City Manager Kirk Beattie to negotiate a successor agreement between the city and the Town of Gilford governing the Lakes Business Park inter-municipal agreement, penned and signed in 2001. 

They also agreed to set a public hearing on the matter for Monday, Feb. 9, to gather public input.

Phase I of the business park at Hounsell Avenue was initiated by the City of Laconia in the mid-1990s. The initial phase consisted of just five lots, all of which are occupied. In 2002, the city and Gilford began a joint venture to develop Phase II, 113 acres of land developed into 19 lots. Their goal was to create a high-quality business park while maintaining the rural character of the area.

The park is located adjacent to the Laconia Bypass between Routes 107 and 11-A. All lots are served by municipal sewer, water and natural gas. Property taxes there are paid at the Gilford rate.

In May 2001, Gilford and Laconia signed an inter-municipal agreement governing the joint economic activities at Lakes Business Park. Gilford voters authorized their selectboard to negotiate and execute a successor agreement with the city.

Because all lots have been sold, and therefore the purpose of the original agreement satisfied, successor agreement negotiations were triggered. According to the language of the original agreement, the term would expire automatically upon the completion of actions and responsibilities outlined through the agreement.

“The successor agreement has 25% of the taxes from those properties coming our way, that’s part of the negotiation as to what we’re going to do, but it’s at 25% right now,” Beattie said. “There is a formula in there, it’s 25%, but it also includes, some of the money goes into the capital improvement program for over there, but that caps out at $1 million. So once they hit that, our 25% would come our way.”

The capital improvement program is not for basic maintenance, but is meant to cover major projects, like infrastructure problems or paving.

“Before we do the successor agreement, our attorneys have already been made aware, I want them to go through it to make sure. Does just the successor agreement work, or is it an addendum to the original?” Beattie said. “Our attorneys will work on it — it’s going to come back to you guys anyhow if you approve this, to see it.”

Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman asked Beattie what happens if the property requires a capital improvement in excess of the amount of money in the fund.

“One million dollars sounds like a lot, but that doesn’t buy a lot if it needs serious infrastructure upgrades at some point,” Hoffman said.

“I’ll look at that, but I would say it’s in the Town of Gilford,” Beattie said. “That would be how I would tend to look at it.”

The proposed successor agreement includes the dissolution of the park board of directors, and the implementation of a payment schedule. The agreement is to be reviewed by the city’s legal counsel.

According to the proposed successor agreement, the Town of Gilford will continue to fund the capital replacement trust fund provided the town’s obligations “shall pause or be capped” whenever the balance of the fund hits $1 million and, further, that Gilford's annual appropriations into the fund don’t exceed $50,000.

Gilford would pay Laconia 25% of property tax revenues collected on the land and the buildings within the Phase II development, minus the amount to be deposited into the capital replacement trust fund.

“Said payments shall be made prior to December 31 each year after the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration has established the Town property tax rate, to be accompanied by a detailed, written summary of the manner in which the revenue sharing payment was calculated,” the proposed agreement reads, in part.