City council could reconsider grant to update master plan Tuesday night

LACONIA — City councilors may reconsider an earlier vote which declined to support the city planning department in pursuing a grant largely intended to fund the development of its master plan at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at City Hall.

Council meetings are generally held on Monday evenings, but Oct. 14 is Columbus Day, so they will meet on Tuesday evening instead.

At the Sept. 23 meeting of the city council, councilors tied 3-3 on a vote which would have given the planning department support to apply for a Housing Opportunity Planning Grant. Councilor Bruce Cheney (Ward 1) requested the reconsideration. Reconsidering the motion would require a multi-step process: Councilors Cheney, Robert Soucy (Ward 2) or Steven Bogert (Ward 5) would need to make the motion to reconsider, and that motion would be debatable. 

The HOP Grant, in the amount of $100,000, is available as part of the $100 million InvestNH initiative, $5 million of which has been allocated to provide grants to municipalities to analyze and update their land use regulations to help increase opportunities for housing development. The New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs contracted with New Hampshire Housing to administer the program.

The city’s planning department would use the grant to rewrite the land use and vision sections of the master plan and add sections on housing and implementation. Funds would also be used to audit the city’s zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations and site plan review regulations for causes of the lack of affordable housing. It would also seek to identify potential changes to those regulations. 

In other business, city councilors will discuss a request to make Howard Street one way and to restrict parking to only one side of the street. Soucy previously discussed the request with council and it was sent to the Public Works Committee for further review, where it was eventually recommended to be presented before the council with a request to schedule a public hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 12. That council meeting is shifted from Monday, Nov. 11, as city offices are closed to observe Veterans Day.

Howard Street is 19 feet wide and parking is currently allowed on both sides. The street is partially one way, from Riverside Court to the entrance to Victoria Woods, and there are two pickup trucks habitually parked at the corner between 11 and 15 Howard St. When the trucks are parked it is difficult for other cars to pass by, and there are concerns regarding navigability for fire trucks and ambulances, according to a city staff report. 

According to the report, Howard should be one way from Riverside all the way to Church Street, and no parking allowed on the odd numbered side. Riverside Court is a private street and is eligible to be included in the city’s accept as-is program.

Most of the properties on Howard Street are multifamily and some of those properties have limited parking. 

The anticipated cost to install signage is $800. If a public hearing is scheduled, abutters who would be impacted by the changes would receive notification letters.