City Hall looking at performance zoning, in-law apartments

LACONIA — Two separate proposals to ease zoning restrictions are moving forward.

A proposal to allow performance zoning criteria for Weirs Beach has been scheduled for a public hearing following a brief discussion at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Another recommendation to streamline the approval process for so-called in-law units will go back to the Planning Department for further tweaking and refining before being brought back to council for action.

Both the Planning Board and the city Planning Department are recommending using performance zoning criteria in Weirs Beach, Planning Director Dean Trefethen told the council.

Performance zoning differs from traditional land use zoning in that while traditional zoning specifies what uses land can be put to within a given area, performance zoning specifies the intensity of land use that is acceptable. In other words, it deals not with the use of a parcel, but the performance of a parcel and how it impacts surrounding areas.

“It allows development in different ways than in traditional zoning,” Trefethen told the council.

He said there are two or three parcels of land Weirs Beach that are “drastically under-utilized,” and performance zoning could provide an impetus for those parcels to be developed.

“This might be the thing that might make development happen,” he said.

The City Council approved performance zoning two years ago. It is currently applicable in two areas of the city: The downtown business and Lakeport TIF districts, including the Court Street and Union Avenue corridors, and the Laconia State School property which has been the focus of an intensive development effort since 2018.

Trefethen said the boundaries for the proposed Weirs performance zoning district would be the same for the existing Weirs TIF district which takes in the business area along Lakeside Avenue, as well as the Route 3 corridor from the Weirs Channel to Akwa Vista Road, and the Route 11B corridor close to the channel.

The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal during hearing at the council meeting scheduled for Dec. 27.

The proposed changes to the regulations regarding in-law units — formally called accessory dwelling units — are intended to streamline the process and eliminate the existing red

tape.

An ADU is a self-contained apartment in an owner occupied single-family home/lot that is either attached to the principal dwelling or in a separate structure on the same property.

Currently anyone wanting to have an ADU needs to get a special exception from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The proposed change would eliminate the ZBA from the process except for appeals. Approvals would instead be granted by the Planning Department.

“At least half of the people (who inquire about an ADU) decide to drop it because they see the process as too arduous,” Trefethen told the council.

Trefethen said that owners of abutting properties would continue to be notified and would be able to appeal an approval to the ZBA.

The council deferred voting on the proposal to give the Planning Department more time to clarify the proposed regulations and to ensure that the terms are precisely defined.