City council creates committee to review Old North Main proposals

LACONIA — City councilors are inviting community input regarding uses for a city-owned parcel on Old North Main Street through an ad hoc committee created to review proposals for the land.

In September, the city published a request for proposal for a parcel of land at the intersection of Old North Main and Parade Road, seeking input from developers on how best to use the property. Four submissions to the RFQ sat dormant until now, and councilors agreed to create a committee consisting of both city leaders and residents to open and review them. 

At the Jan. 13 meeting of the city council, councilors approved Mayor Andrew Hosmer’s request to create such a committee, and at their meeting on Monday night, Hosmer reported he’d like to appoint himself, Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney, Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman and a number of residents to sit upon it.

Community members named to the Citizens Advisory Ad-Hoc Committee include James Olie Anderson, Matt Cashman, Bill Milner, Mike Little, John Moriarty, Catherine Bowler, Asheena Miller, Meghan Daubenspeck, Laura LeMien and Jason Sproul.

“I would anticipate our first introductory meeting would take place sometime in February and then perhaps a follow-up meeting after that,” Hosmer said. “I’m not sure if a third meeting will be necessary but I think we’ll start with two and that should be adequate right now.”

The city took ownership of the roughly 10-acre parcel in exchange for breaking a 99-year lease with the State of New Hampshire on a property of Meredith Center Road. The parcel has access to municipal water and sewer, and contains just one structure, a pump house.

“Enhancing the supply of housing choices, especially the supply of permanent, primary, year-round workforce housing options, is a priority of the Laconia City Council,” read a draft request for information presented to the council by Hosmer in August. “In furtherance of that goal, the City acquired this property in 2021 with the intent of considering its future use for appropriate development, including housing options,” it continued in part.

In other business, councilors set a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 10, to gather community input regarding increasing the tire disposal fees at the transfer station and to establish a late fee for customers with a transfer station account.

Hosmer wondered if increasing the fee even higher would help the city avoid dealing with old tires at all, and Cheney said in his experience, higher fees lead to illegal dumping. 

“I recall, back when I was officially involved here, we found thousands of tires where Turner [Way] that had been disposed of illegally because of the cost associated,” Cheney said.

Ward 2 Councilor Bob Soucy asked Public Works Director Wes Anderson if tires are not recyclable in some instances, and Anderson said they are.

“They’re 100% recyclable, it’s just the term is ‘disposing’ to us and then we return them in for recycling,” Anderson said. “No, we don’t get any money back. It’s what they charge us plus a buck for handling.”

Hosmer asked if late fees are becoming a problem and City Manager Kirk Beattie said they are. 

“Yes, they get paid eventually, but there’s nothing in our ordinance that helps us to ensure that they’re getting paid in a timely manner,” Beattie said. “We have accounts that are over 90 days overdue and we’re trying to put an end to that. By having some type of penalty fee for that — and these are our larger contractors.”

According to a city staff report attached to Monday’s agenda, the city uses the state’s contract to recycle tires brought to the transfer station. Costs for recycling tires in the state contract increased which, in turn, raised the city’s cost for passenger car tires as well as light and heavy truck tires. The public works department is requesting a fee increase to cover the cost of recycling tires. 

The current transfer station fee for car tires is $6 and for truck tires over 18 inches is $10. The proposed fee for car tires is $7, for light truck tires is $13 and for heavy truck tires is $29.