Council to talk Colonial contract, social districts Monday night

LACONIA — Councilors will discuss the city’s management agreement with Spectacle Live for the Colonial Theatre, set to expire in June, during their regular meeting on Monday night. 

The city council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, April 13, at City Hall downtown. 

The 5.5-year contract with Spectacle Management Inc. will expire on June 30. Late in 2025, the City of Laconia published a request for bids on two separate occasions for services to manage the Colonial Theatre. Spectacle was the only firm to respond which met all requirements, according to a staff report. 

City Manager Kirk Beattie and representatives of Spectacle had several discussions regarding a potential contract renewal. The city’s finance subcommittee met on April 2, and discussed a proposed contract. Changes to the contract were proposed. 

The fiscal impact to the city is a first-year operating subsidy of $166,935 with 3% increases for each additional year of the contract. The term of the contract, if agreed, would be for two years beginning on July 1, and ending on June 28, 2028. The contract will have three, automatic one-year extensions unless councilors vote to end the agreement. Except for termination for a specific cause, a one-year notification to Spectacle is required to end the agreement within the five-year period. 

There are a number of management services expected of Spectacle: in cooperation with the city and local organizations and businesses, Spectacle will seek to maximize the economic impact of the theater upon downtown; and Spectacle will be the exclusive manager of the facility, providing year-round services and a full-time operations manager, among other requirements.

They would be required to deposit $10,000, or 15%, of annual concession revenue, whichever is greater, into a Colonial Theatre Expense Fund to be used toward repairs, preventive maintenance, systems inspection, capital improvements and to subsidize municipal and nonprofit events. 

The city would have 18 days of use of the theater per year, with no more than three Thursdays or Sundays, and three Fridays or Saturdays, with no two Fridays or Saturdays falling within the same month. The public library would also get 12 dates each year. 

In other business, councilors will consider the creation of the city’s first social district, where public drinking would be allowed under certain circumstances and with restrictions. 

At their meeting on Jan. 26, councilors referred the matter of creating a downtown social district to its public safety subcommittee, which took the question up during their meeting on April 7.

Councilors may review a proposed ordinance and management and maintenance plan, and could schedule a public hearing on the ordinance for Monday, April 27. Councilors could approve both the ordinance, and the management and maintenance plan, at that meeting. 

Within a social district, if created, patrons could purchase alcoholic beverages from licensed establishments and consume them outdoors within clearly-defined public spaces. According to a draft management and maintenance plan, social districts would operate between noon and 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a tentative start date of Thursday, May 28. 

Permanent businesses within the boundaries of the social district would pay $250 per year for a permit. The city will waive permit fees for calendar years 2026 and 2027. 

The Laconia Police Department would provide one officer in the social district at all times during its operation. Enforcement priorities include: preventing underage drinking; preventing over-serving; ensuring beverages don’t leave the district; and addressing disorderly conduct or public safety concerns.