Residents against proposal for campground on White Oaks Road

LACONIA — Members of the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment next week will hear a request from developers for a special exception to the ordinance along White Oaks Road to construct a campground there.

The zoning board's meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at City Hall downtown. 

The request for a special exception, submitted on behalf of developer Peter Grenier, who is represented by attorney John Cronin of Cronin, Bisson & Zalinsky, is for a campground at 238 White Oaks. 

Sky View Acres, the applicant, seeks the exception to develop a campground for recreational vehicles, according to a letter attached to their application. The property is 10.63 acres and lies within the rural residential district and the rural residential corridor district. The majority of the property, according to the letter, is along White Oaks and located in the RR2 district.

The property currently has a house on it, which the letters reads is “in a state of disrepair.” The applicants initially proposed to develop the property as a colonial-style village of duplexes, complete with circular driveways. That plan included 11 structures and 22 duplex homes.

“The feedback from the public and the Honorable Board was the proposal was too dense and duplex style homes were not consistent with the area,” the letter reads. “As discussed at the hearing, the Applicant and its consulting engineer returned to the drawing board to revise the project to address the concerns raised at the hearing.”

Though the letter notes the revised proposal was substantially different than their initial — the density reduced and homes limited to single-family residences consistent with the character of the neighborhood — “select neighbors indicated their intent to oppose the revised proposal.

“Based on these comments and the clear indication that the neighbors do not want housing on the property, the Applicant has changed course,” the letter continues.

The proposed campground would be a vacation spot with spaces for recreational vehicles, and would include a pool and other amenities.

But neighbors are still against the project, and see it as another instance of overdevelopment on White Oaks.

“There’s been a lot of development on White Oaks Road overall,” Julie Wirth of White Oaks Road said.

“It just does not fit the area,” she said. “Who would want a summer camp across from their house? To put a camp there just does not make sense.”  

Wirth and other neighbors said they hope the exception is not granted.

“I’m hoping that the ZBA will listen to the residents,” Wirth said.

In letters shared with The Laconia Daily Sun, Dean and Suzanne Ingram of White Oaks Road concurred.

"My wife and I are very upset by Mr. Grenier's latest attempt to shoehorn another overly-dense development into our rural neighborhood. We understand that he has the right to propose anything that he wants to, we just hope and pray that common sense will prevail and the ZBA will deny this ridiculous idea,” a letter from Dean Ingram reads.

Suzanne Ingram was particularly concerned with the historic home on the property.

"It saddens me to think that the Dorothy Tourart home is going to be torn down. It's such a beautiful place. Seems like it would have some historic value too,” Suzanne Ingram’s letter reads. 

And White Oaks Road resident Alicia Emery, who lives near the property in a home she built in 2000, said she’s concerned with overdevelopment along the rural road. 

“It’s just a campground in the middle of single-family homes,” she said. “It needs to be in accordance with the zoning.

“There’s always going to be some development, but it’s just too much. It’s crazy,” she said. “This whole area’s had enough of the overdevelopment. We just hope they’ll deny the request. We have zoning for a reason.”