Residents plead case for stop signs on Summit Ave.

LACONIA — The City Council this week referred a petition from residents of Summit Avenue, the street leading from Weirs Road (Rte. 1-B) to Governor's Island, asking for measures to curb speeding motorists to its Public Works Committee.

Speaking on behalf of the petitioners, Richard Homsi told the councilors that although the speed limit was reduced from 35 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour and the police are doing all they can, motorists going to and from the island routinely pass his home at speeds "well over 50 miles an hour". He said that the police have recorded speeds at twice the limit.

"Something's got to change," said Homsi, who added that the Governor's Island Association was selling its members custom made signs with a posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour while "speeding on our road getting there".

He reminded the council that the petitioners have suggested placing a three-way stop sign at the corner of Summit Avenue and Wentworth Cove Road, which they believe will slow traffic.

Robert Heinrich, a resident of Gilford who regularly visits his "significant other" on Wentworth Cove Road, disagreed. He said there were not a significant number of speeders on Summit Avenue and pointed out that the speed limit sign is currently obscured by foliage. A three-way stop sign, he described as "a waste of gas and brakes". Discounting the importance of the issue, he claimed that it was simply another chapter in the longstanding feud between Homsi and the Governor's Island Association.

Two other residents of the street attended the meeting and backed Homsi's position.

NOTE: The City Council renewed the lease of the Memorial Park House to the New Covenant Church for a period of five years at a rent of $1,000 per month. Councilor Henry Lipman (Ward 3), who chairs the Finance Committee, questioned the wisdom of the city not asking for an increase in rent, which he described as providing a subsidy to the church, but joined his colleagues in unanimously agreeing to renew the lease.