Hearing delayed on plans for boarding house on Church St. convert delayed

LACONIA — A proposal to change a Church Street commercial building into a boarding house for a drug rehabilitation facility will be heard by the city’s Zoning Board next month after the applicant was unable to remotely attend the board’s meeting Tuesday.

Randy Bartlett, the founder of Riverbank House, had applied for a special exception to convert the building at 72 Church St. into a 10-bedroom boarding house. The conversion is part of a major downsizing of the facility which focuses on long-term recovery support for those with a history of substance abuse.

Bartlett said Wednesday he was unable to participate in the scheduled hearing on his plan because he could not log on to Zoom, the online teleconferencing platform the city is using for municipal meetings during the coronavirus crisis.

Board members Roland Maheu and Gail Ober said Bartlett’s application for the special exception was incomplete, and Maheu said Bartlett should be required to submit a new application that explains the proposal in greater detail.

Planning Director Dean Trefethen told the board he would work with Bartlett to ensure the application is more thorough.

The plan calls for the new residential quarters to be located in a building which until recently housed the Karma Cafe, a gym and a yoga studio. The cafe closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic and will not reopen for economic reasons, Bartlett said last week. The yoga studio and gym have also closed.

Bartlett said the delay in having his application heard by the ZBA would not pose any problems.

“Our census is low. We have enough rooms,” he said.

At one time as many as 50 men were enrolled in Riverbank House. Of late the number has been in the upper 20s or low 30s, according to Bartlett.