New housing development straddling Laconia, Belmont will access city water

LACONIA — An order from the Public Utilities Commission approves a city petition to extend its existing water service to include 18 residential lots in Belmont.

The order, issued March 25, is a response to a petition submitted by the City of Laconia on Oct. 1, 2024, seeking permission to extend its water service. The commission also received a petition to intervene from Mountain Lake Village LLC on Nov. 6, 2024, and that petition was granted on Dec. 12, 2024. 

Mountain Lake Village, a cluster residential subdivision located on the Laconia-Belmont line at the south end of the city, received planning board approval in February 2021. Their plan called for the construction of 33 houses to be built within city limits off of Mile Hill Road. The development already earned approval from Belmont to build 18 houses on adjoining land there.

The 18 residential lots Laconia sought to extend municipal water services to are owned by Mountain Lake Village, and that party will incur the expense of the extension of water mains to new residences. That arrangement will serve to minimize the city’s utility infrastructure costs and ensure current customers of the municipal water service will not in essence subsidize the expansion, according to the language of the order issued March 25.

The expansion was approved by the City of Laconia, the Town of Belmont and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, who gave their nod prior to the city’s submission of the petition. NHDES determined Laconia Water Works met suitability and availability criteria set under RSA 374:22, III for expansion to Belmont.

The city intends to provide water service to customers in the proposed expansion area of Belmont the same as they provide to customers in Laconia, but Belmont customers will be billed at a rate 15% higher than the rate charged to customers in Laconia, in accordance with RSA 362:4, III (a).

In findings of fact in granting the order, the PUC notes the City of Laconia Water Department has been in existence since 1955, employs 17 people full-time — four of whom meet or exceed operational standards set by NHDES for “Grade III Distribution” — and maintains a NHDES-licensed water system which provides general service metered water to residential customers in two other expansion districts in Belmont and Gilford.

Department of Energy staff also reviewed the city’s petition and associated materials and recommended the approval of the expansion, noting the city possesses the required level of expertise to operate and maintain water services in the proposed service area in Belmont. Department staff also noted, in approving prior expansions, the commission found those to be in the public good. Staff opined the proposed expansion is also in the public good.

In creating their own analysis, the commission found the city possessed the managerial, technical and financial capabilities to provide water service, and the city’s request is in the public good. 

According to state law, municipal corporations serving new customers outside their boundaries are exempt from regulation by the commission, except for in seeking territorial expansions, as long as the rates they charge expansion customers do not exceed 15% more than what they charge customers within their municipal boundaries.

Since Laconia will not exceed that threshold, the commission found they’ll remain exempt from commission regulation, other than for territorial expansion. 

To read the entirety of the order, navigate to laconianh.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11260.