City planners want new neighborhoods, more residents

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Master plan documents to be considered by the Planning Board have a goal of fostering the first population growth in decades.

A new master plan vision statement and land use chapter are on the panel's Tuesday agenda, although it's not clear whether enough board members will be present to form a quorum to take action.

David Bownes, who is a member of the board and a city councilor, said population growth is needed to ensure a vibrant city.

“What we're attempting to do is encourage development, encourage growth,” he said. “When I graduated high school many years ago, the population of Laconia was about 16,000 and it remains at 16,000 now,” he said.

The vision statement elaborates on how the city should change.

“Laconia will be an attractor city for a vibrant citizenry of all ages, and seasonal and full-time residents,” it states.

Dean Trefethen, Laconia's planning director, said residential construction could be encouraged through zoning changes. The previous master plan, written in 2007, was not nearly as friendly toward growth.

“We are trying to create areas in the city where water and sewer service could be extended to facilitate more dense construction, allowing mixed-use situations — apartments, condominiums and single-family homes,” Trefethen said.

The new land use chapter talks about bringing water and sewer to areas of the city now dependent on wells and septic systems.

“Municipal sewer is limited in the northwest quadrant of Laconia, which is a consideration for future development,” it states. “The feasibility and cost to expand these services is in part dependent on the potential for a shared private/public investment.

“Specific areas for future development would depend on these municipal services to achieve land use goals. The specific areas targeted are: the area of the intersection of Parade Road, Meredith Center Road and Elm Street, including the former State School property; Hilliard Road; and Rollercoaster Road.”

The plan recommends zoning changes and other steps that will:

Allow mixed development to transition the U.S. 3 corridor and a portion of Weirs Boulevard from a seasonal destination to a year-round center for commerce to enhance residential development.

Re-establish the entire length of Hilliard Road as a city-maintained roadway that would provide frontage for hundreds of acres of currently undeveloped land.

Allow for more compact residential development and the possibility of mixed commercial and residential uses at Elm Street and Meredith Center Road.

Create one encompassing zone for the greater downtown area, with standards to promote site redevelopment.

Trefethen said some new infrastructure could be funded in agreements where a builder enters into a contract with the city for a given development.

For example, a developer could commit to build a new neighborhood and the city could commit to providing the needed infrastructure. Another possibility would be tax increment financing, under which the city could use future property tax increases from development in a given area to make public improvements in that area.

The plan's goal of growth is based on findings that there is a lack of affordable single-family homes available in the area, the population is aging, public schools are in a 10-year period of declining student enrollment and commercial valuation is down 19 percent since 2007.