Council votes to keep status quo on 2 Weirs streets

LACONIA — Residents of two streets in the northeast section of Weirs Beach will continue receiving city services for the time being, the City Council has decided.

The council unanimously voted Monday to allow the city to continue doing minimal maintenance of Plantation Road and Colonial Drive, including snowplowing and sanding of the streets during the winter.

The vote came after about 30 minutes of discussion among the councilors on what to do with the two unpaved streets which do not meet the minimum city standards.

By its vote, the council designated the two streets as emergency lanes for three years. During that time the city will work with the residents to come up with a plan to correct the streets’ deficiencies to bring them up to city standards, as well as reach an agreement on how those improvements will be paid for.

The streets were put in as part of a subdivision that was created about 60 years ago. The development was halted in 1974 when the city said the developer was not following city regulations. The streets and the unsold lots have changed ownership a number of times in the ensuing years.

Prior to council’s discussion and vote Plantation Road resident Nicole Doherty told councilors that she and other residents were told officially that the streets had by default become city-accepted streets because the city had been doing basic maintenance on them over a period of years.

In the discussion leading up to the vote, Councilor Bob Hamel alluded to the letter which he said had been written in 1998 by then-Public Works Director Paul Moynihan.

City Manager Scott Myers told the council he was opposed to having the city accept the streets “as-is” because the city would have to spend what he said would be millions of dollars to install a storm drain system that would meet federal clean-water regulations.

Noting the bare-bones physical shape of the two streets, Myers said, “These streets were never built, they were roughed in.”

Councilor Tony Felch, who represents Ward 6 which includes the two streets, urged the city to formally ratify the streets.

“I can’t see putting the burden on these taxpayers to pay for improvements to a city-accepted street,” he said.

But City Councilor Henry Lipman called for a compromise solution that would give the residents assurance that city services they have been relying on — plowing, sanding, police and fire protection, and garbage collection — will continue while a permanent solution is worked out.

“It’s messy,” Mayor Andrew Hosmer said of the situation. “Now it’s at the residents’ feet, and it’s at the city’s feet.”

Council Bruce Cheney said while the vote gives the city and residents three years to come to an agreement he urged that the matter be resolved sooner if possible.