EPA offers vision of Laconia

Playing to a packed house at the Belknap Mill, the team from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helping the city plot its future sketched its vision of how downtown, Lakeport and The Weirs could become jewels strung on the necklace of lakes. The audience included Mayor Matt Lahey, city councilors, Planning Board members, Laconia Main Street officials and other interested parties from all parts of the city.

The presentation was the culmination of a three-day visit designed explore ways to promote growth that protects local values, fosters economic development and protects the environment and public health. The service was provided to the city at no cost.

Geoff Anderson of the Smart Growth program at EPA opened by saying that although the team had studied Laconia from afar for several months, it had only spent three days in the city. "It's up to you to figure out what we got right and what we got wrong," he said, "and it's up to you to pursue what you think we got right."

"Laconia is the city on the lakes, but it doesn't feel like it," said Rick Chellman, a traffic engineer from Portsmouth, sounding the major theme of the team's presentation. The team's vision for each of the component parts of the city featured measures to strengthen and enhance its relationship to the water.

Downtown, the plan calls for redeveloping the parking lot at City Hall as commercial and professional space crossed by an extension of Messer Street linked to Beacon Street East and bordered by a footpath along the river. In Lakeport, the shoreline on either side of Lake Opechee below the dam offered space public access to the water, including a facility for launching small boats, which would complement the Opechee Inn and Spa. At The Weirs, apart from expanding the boardwalk and possibly the beach, the sloped land above Lakeside Avenue and along Route 3 offered ideal sites for hotels and housing with expansive views of the lake. Everywhere plans envisioned creating public spaces adjacent to the lakes and river connected to one another by walkways.

Rick Williams, an architect from San Francisco, remarked that much of the team's vision amounted not to redeveloping the city but to restoring it to what it once was. For example, he suggested lining the west side of Elm Street in Lakeport with mixed use buildings, providing retail space on the ground floor and housing or offices above, only to find an old photograph of the street that showed it flanked by buildings on both sides.

Dena Belzer, an urban economist from Berkeley, California, pointed out that redevelopment often consisted of making better use of existing but neglected assets. She pointed out that there are theaters in each of the three sections of the city — and two on Main Street — which if restored and redeveloped could offer the multiple venues needed to sustain an arts and entertainment festival.

The team also tackled the traffic pattern downtown, proposing a scheme that would reverse the impact of urban renewal by drawing people into the center of the city instead of diverting them around it. Under the plan, Canal Street alone would remain one-way. Main Street, Beacon Street East and Pleasant Street would all become two-way streets. Water Street would be extended to join Main Street at its intersection with Pleasant, breaking Beacon Street West in two. The street plan recalls ideas first broached three years ago when city officials began exploring how to integrate the redeveloped Allen-Rogers property — now Beacon Street West — into the downtown.

Rather than foresee change in the essential characters of the different parts of the city, the team suggested sustaining and enhancing them. Downtown would support a diverse mix of commercial, professional and governmental uses while providing market rate housing. Lakeport, they envisioned as primarily a residential community, with some commercial and resort development. The Weirs would remain a family resort, though with improved facilities and a richer mix of recreational and entertainment opportunities to sustain a longer tourist season.

In eight to twelve weeks the team will submit a written report, which will outline specific zoning ordinances and design guidelines required to pursue the broad vision they presented. The report will also suggest funding sources to support the proposed initiatives.