Councilor Bruce Cheney defends comments made to Planning Board about apartment project

LACONIA — City Councilor Bruce Cheney, speaking at a council meeting on Tuesday night, defended his comments at a recent Planning Board meeting and accused a member of the Lakes Region Mental Health Center’s leadership team of taking his words out of context.

“I don’t think there’s many people at this table who would be anxious to have one of these things move in next door,” Cheney said on Oct. 3, in reference to the proposal to build a 12-unit apartment building on Bay Street as housing for individuals currently experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. The project is sought by Lakes Region Community Developers, and is designed with the partnership of Lakes Region Mental Health Center, which would provide services, support and case management for the residents. Cheney represents Ward 1.

“I am not discriminatory or internally biased. I am a city councilor who seeks compromise. I am a city councilor who hears citizen concerns. And I am a city councilor who seeks alternatives while still hoping to support the mission. I can be criticized for one of my turns of a phrase, but I will not be criticized for intending to find a reasonable compromise,” Cheney said Tuesday.

The project, which has been before city boards since January, and which is slated to be taken up by the Planning Board again in November, has proven controversial. Residents of neighboring properties have urged the planning and zoning boards to deny the application, with the primary complaints centered around density, parking and, as they’ve described in public comments, their expectations for the behaviors of future residents.

The proposal’s applicants have countered that density is necessary to achieve affordability, that the intended residents would not have the means to own a vehicle, and that the concerning behaviors described by abutters would not be permitted under their rules.

The divide was also apparent among Planning Board members. Mike DellaVecchia, at the Oct. 3 meeting, suggested that parking was being used as a polite excuse by opponents, with the implication they were actually opposed to the facility because of the people who would live there. DellaVecchia noted another developer could propose a three-unit apartment complex, which could end up housing 12 people, on the same lot.

“To use parking as an excuse is just blowing wind,” DellaVecchia said at the meeting.

It was Cheney’s rebuttal that drew criticism, despite his acknowledgement of the need for supportive housing in the city. DellaVecchia’s imagined apartment building might take form, Cheney said, “But they wouldn’t be all mental health folks who need help. They would be families and folks that fit in that neighborhood. I hope that we can find something for the folks that need this help.

"The density and type is what the neighbors are concerned about. And I am sensitive to that.”

Those comments were criticized by Beth Vachon, who wrote a letter to The Daily Sun, and who also wrote a letter to City Council, requesting that Cheney be removed as the representative to the Planning Board, and that he be permitted to retain his council seat only if he agreed to education.

In an extensive defense, delivered under the “Council Comments” section of the meeting on Tuesday, Cheney listed his lengthy career in public service, which included the U.S. Marine Corps., law enforcement in the city, and service at the state level, both as director of emergency communications and as homeland security advisor to the governor.

“I take umbrage at any suggestion that somehow my failure to agree with her idea of what is right means I am biased and discriminatory and therefore not qualified to perform my civic duty,” Cheney said. He said she overlooked some terminology by other planning board members, perhaps because they seemed more agreeable to the project. “If a citizen wants to know the whole truth, please review the video of the meeting and you will see my repeated statements for support of the project. I recognize the need, I just question the density and the less than 24-hour or around-the-clock-supervision.”

It appears Cheney has the support of at least a majority of his fellow councilors. Robert Soucy, Ward 2, and Mark Haynes, Ward 4, both attested to Cheney’s fairness, and Steven Bogert, Ward 5, said the letter should prompt questions about the mental health center.

“I must say that I am greatly disappointed in the Lakes Region Mental Health Center, and their director of development and public relations, by taking a bullying tactic in trying to smear the character of a board member and a city councilor. This kind of tactic does not show well for the organization,” Bogert said. “I would like to believe that, overall, the organization does not believe in this philosophy, and they should review and recalibrate their public relations with the city. If this is truly how they’d like to operate, then the city should review their relationship with the Lakes Region Mental Health Center.”

Asked for comment after the meeting, Vachon acknowledged that she had intended the letter she sent to City Council to be from her as a private citizen, rather than as a representative of LRMHC. She said she indicated as such in her letter, though she now understands that separation to not be possible.

"Lakes Region Mental Health Center has no comment at this time," Vachon said. From her own perspective, though, Vachon said wishes that she could engage with Cheney in a dialogue.

"I welcome any conversation," Vachon said, and said she extended an invitation to discuss the matter in her letter. "It's easy to talk about each other without being in the same room, but I don't think that's a good way to gain any understanding."

Asked if she thinks that Cheney can be a fair evaluator of the Bay Street project when it next comes before the Planning Board, Vachon said, "I really want to think so.

"I want to think that all the members are elected officials [and], like all of us, are committed to learning and growing. I think people can make mistakes with what they say, we would look at that as an opportunity for conversation. I feel like there's hope."