Council finalizes Colonial Theatre tenant parking, Centenary Avenue bridge rehab

LACONIA — Eighteen parking spaces, divided equally between the City Hall and Main Street parking lots, will be leased to the residents of condominiums above the Colonial Theatre, the city council approved at its May 23 meeting. The city will lease nine spaces at each lot to the owner of the nine condominium units, Rusty McClear’s EJM Holdings. 

The council voted to amend a previously proposed parking arrangement – where eight spaces would have been leased at the Main Street lot and ten at City Hall – finalizing the allocation at nine and nine. This amendment formalized a verbal agreement in favor of the equal division of spaces made to McClear by the council at its April 25 meeting. 

The nine spaces at the Main Street lot are located on the Pleasant Street side of the lot and face Pleasant Street. Designated spaces in the City Hall lot are on the river side of the lot, facing the Post Office. A map of the City Hall spaces can be found at https://www.laconianh.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/20844?fileID=43538 and a map of the Main Street spaces at https://www.laconianh.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/20844?fileID=43539. 

The agreement describes a 50-year lease of these parking spaces to EJM Holdings, transferable to new owners of the condos, with a rent of $27 per space per month for the first five years and increasing rates over time. The agreement and its amendment can be found at https://www.laconianh.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05232022-1813.  

After a rehabilitation of the Beacon Street parking garage, parking for these residents may be transferred to the garage and take on its rate. 

“Parking spaces may be relocated from the City Hall and Main Street lots to the Beacon Street Parking Garage, upon its renovation, by mutual agreement,” the lease agreement states. At the April 25 council meeting, McClear said that condo residents would be interested in spaces in the parking garage after its renovation because, based on his own research, it is closer to their residences than the City Hall and Main Street lots. More on the city’s plans for the garage can be found at https://www.laconianh.gov/1166/Parking-Garage-Rehabilitation. 

Bridge deal

City Council also voted to approve a proposal by the state for the future of the wood bridge on Centenary Avenue in the Weirs. Under the agreement, the state will fund the rehabilitation of the bridge. The city will, in exchange, make the bridge part of the city road system and thus become responsible for all future repairs, maintenance and replacement. 

The bridge goes over the train tracks, connecting shoreline communities just north of Winnipesaukee Pier to the main thoroughfare of Lakeside Avenue when the entrance to Weeks Street is seasonally closed for summer foot traffic. 

The state Department of Transportation had proposed in 2019 that the 120-foot-long, red-listed bridge be demolished. Councilor Bruce Cheney convinced NHDOT that renovation of the bridge would serve the community better than demolition earlier this spring, and city council agreed to the state’s rehabilitation proposal at its May 23 meeting. More on the history of the Centenary Avenue bridge and its future can be found at https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news/local/spanning-from-side-to-side-weirs-neighborhood-to-keep-its-wooden-bridge/article_1d660786-9b33-11ec-9a30-e31e0f4c05c8.html.

The state has allocated $1,280,623 for the project. The city’s report on this rehabilitation can be found at https://www.laconianh.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/20827?fileID=43529. 

Herbicide use permitted

Thirdly, the council removed a motion from the table to deny the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative’s application for the use of herbicides to spot-treat unwanted plants along one of its lines on Leighton Avenue. Removing the motion will allow the herbicide treatment to proceed.

Due to concern from Leighton Avenue residents for their private wells as well as fresh water sources in the area, the city Conservation Commission had requested that the council deny the Cooperative’s application at the May 9 City Council meeting. Councilors opted to table the request and acquire more information about the parameters of the herbicide use and potential alternatives. 

A report from the city manager’s office on the application, with information from a representative of Vegetation Control Service, the contractor administering the herbicide for the Coop, that the herbicide administers must “maintain a 75 ft. setback buffer for all private wells, a 250 ft. buffer for public wells, and a 25 ft. buffer for all water sources (lakes ponds, streams, vernal pools, culverts and all other wetlands).” Additionally, “all landowners abutting the easement will be notified if treatment is to be done on their property. NH law allows landowners to opt out of any herbicide treatment.” The full report can be found at https://www.laconianh.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/20851?fileID=43553. 

City Manager Scott Myers recommended that the request to reject the application for herbicide use be removed from the table. 

The Council acknowledged “that they heard the concerns of the Conservation Commission, got additional information, and are comfortable with what’s been presented and therefore take no action.”