Council approves bond for Weirs docks project

WEIRS BEACH — A long-awaited project to rehabilitate the public docks at Weirs Beach will soon be underway with city council approval on bonding given on Monday night at their meeting at City Hall.

The spaces between the various fingers of the Weirs Beach public docks are too narrow to accommodate newer, larger and wider boats that’ve become commonplace on Lake Winnipesaukee. The docks themselves are decades old and in need of repair.

A new project to reconfigure and repair the docks has been in the works for several years. Before the COVID pandemic, the city received a Boating Infrastructure Grant from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, but was unable to complete the work before the award expired due to complications which arose during that period. 

Now, a request for bids is active on the city’s website and city leaders say the work will be completed before the beginning of the summer boating season. The request for bids was published online in November. 

In the city’s fiscal budget for 2025, councilors allocated $100,000 to the Weirs Beach Tax Increment Financing District to help fund the docks project. Councilors approved City Manager Kirk Beattie to seek full financing for the project in October, and approved a resolution Monday to allow the finance committee to contemplate specific bonding options. 

The city is seeking a $1.1 million-bond to complete the rehabilitation of the public docks at the Weirs. The cost of the bond will depend on the interest rate at the time a bond is issued, but it’s anticipated based on current rates that the cost over 20 years will be $569,000. The bond is meant to be funded through Weirs TIF revenues.

Councilors are seeking a tax-exempt bonding opportunity. The tax-exempt status of the bond could limit the city’s ability to lease dock space to for-profit entities due to IRS regulations pertaining to for-profit use of tax-exempt bond funds. 

State Rep. Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia) had previously suggested councilors consider installing parking meters on the docks, similar to those already in place along Lakeside Avenue, and Ward 2 Councilor Robert Soucy expressed support for the idea, but no action has been taken to that effect.

The project description in the bid notice requires work to be finished on the project within 120 days after the date specified in any “notice to proceed”. 

As the docks are presently configured, there are 10 fingers which extend varying distances into Lake Winnipesaukee. Fingers at the northern end of the span are generally shorter than those at the southern end. Drawings included in the request for bids show four fingers to be removed and four others to be extended further into the lake, allowing for more space between each finger.

Major aspects of the project include the selective removal and partial salvage of the docks; providing dock extensions including new piles, pile caps, stringers, decking, cross bracing, fender piles, existing finger redecking and footbridge replacement; replacement of electrical services on the docks, with new conduits, wiring and aquatherm outlets near the ends of the dock extensions and marina power post at the fire boat berth; provision of a fire line; and incidentals including sign and lighting installation.