Council approves downtown beautification project

LACONIA — City councilors at their meeting Monday night approved a long-anticipated plan to spruce up downtown using tax increment financing district funds. 

“I speak highly in favor of the proposal for the TIF district to provide $81,000 to do landscaping downtown, we’ve picked several areas,” downtown Realtor Warren Clement said during a public hearing. He said the planning board and Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek were aware of it and had agreed to the proposal. "Basically we take Stewart Park, Rotary Park, some other ones — fix them up, make them look better — but the main thing is we maintain them.”

At their meeting on Feb. 24, Clement told councilors about the TIF district’s plans to beautify downtown. They’ll install landscaping, benches and other fixtures. The plans came out of a TIF district advisory board meeting on Jan. 29. 

The estimated cost of these improvements is $81,000 to be funded through the existing balance of the TIF. They’ll complete landscaping at Rotary and Stewart parks, at City Hall near the Belknap Mill, near Bootlegger’s Outlet and MC Cycle & Sport, and will also plant tulips. 

“Providing window boxes downtown — we’ve had whiskey barrels that worked well, but now we’re going to try to put some window boxes up against the buildings,” Clement said Monday night. “The good news is the students at Huot Center are going to build them.”

The Huot Career and Technical Center offers a variety of building trades programs. The vocational education center is on the campus of Laconia High School.

Streetscape projects will include improvements to crosswalks and parking spaces, and there’s $12,000 allocated for trees, shrubs and benches.

“This is the beginning of the money from the TIF district, and there’s over $700,000 in that account now,” Clement said. “What’s happened before is there’s $400,000 in the WOW Trail that was done, $95,000 in Stewart Park, there’s walking trails. The [Colonial Theater] gets a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, plus $100,000 for the bridge.”

Their proposal also includes $10,000 for ongoing maintenance. 

“I was at the meeting — they’ve worked out a great plan for this program. It includes all the maintenance for the year,” Ward 6 Councilor Tony Felch said. “The flower boxes are going to be on Main Street, for the most part. Rotary Park has some work to be done in it, but it’s not the bulk of it, so to speak. The flower boxes are being made by the Huot Center, I’ve seen them as well.”

Clement and Patrick Wood were the only residents to speak during the public hearing. Both unequivocally supported the idea. 

“I’m in favor of this as well, as we all know our home represents and shows people how we care about ourselves. By making our downtown more beautiful, by adding these plantings, that helps everyone know that we care about our community,” Wood said. “I’m very much in favor of this.”