Boat storage warehouse proposed for busy Union Avenue

LACONIA — A 46-foot tall boat storage warehouse would be built on busy Union Avenue at Walnut Street, under plans to be considered by the Planning Board.

It would be constructed on a half acre of sloping vacant land where an old apartment building once stood. It is across the avenue from Irwin Marine and adjacent to the parking lot for Laconia Electric.

Planning Director Dean Trefethen said a couple of people who live near the project site at 903 Union Avenue have expressed concerns.

“The people who are directly behind it are concerned about what it will do to their property in terms of stability of the land,” he said. “The slope is pretty steep and the project will have to cut into the embankment.”

Retaining walls are typically used in such applications.

“Another neighbor was concerned about the height of the building,” Trefethen said. “It’s a tall building but it is allowable.”

Although there are residences nearby, the property is in a commercial zone where businesses dot the road.

Patricia Ryan, who lives in Lakeport a few blocks from the project site, said a large boat storage facility won’t fit in with the neighborhood.

“That to me is a horror,” she said. “I think it’s terrible. For one thing, it’s going to tie traffic up on the avenue, putting boats in and out of there. It’s going to destroy property values.”

Philip Brouillard, who is proposing the building, has delayed Planning Board consideration of the project until its November meeting.

In the meantime, there will be test drilling for ledge and soil composition and analysis of drilling results.

He said the busy nature of Union Avenue shouldn’t be a problem.

“The boats usually come out in the spring before a lot of the people get here,” Brouillard said. “At the end of the season, in September and October, they are stored.”

There is increased demand for boat storage in the Lakes Region and there have been several projects built or planned in recent months.

Brouillard received approval for another boat storage facility, at 55 Bay Street, which is in the process of being built.

He said the heated warehouse he plans for Union Avenue would store 60 to 75 boats.

“When temperatures drop, there can be checking and cracking on a boat,” Brouillard said. “If you have a really nice boat, you like to keep it at 55 degrees or so, so it doesn’t freeze.”