Some shocked as old fire station demolition starts

LACONIA — City officials ignored proper procedures when they issued a permit to tear down most of the old Lakeport Fire Station, Heritage Commission Chairwoman Jane Whitehead said Tuesday even as the demolition project got underway.

Workers with sledge hammers and power tools were knocking down a brick tower where firefighters once hung hoses to dry. 

The city sold the 1950s-era building to Lakeport Landing Marina, which intends to tear down a substantial portion of it to make way for a boat showroom. A section of the building, including where fire engines entered, will be preserved. A new mock fire tower will be constructed.

Whitehead said her panel is supposed to review all requests for demolition of buildings that are more than 50 years old.

“That’s the procedure set in place to prevent demolition of an old structure that may have historical importance,” Whitehead said. “City officials signed off on this, but they circumvented the process of placing the request before the commission.”

She said the demolition should be halted until the commission can consider the demolition permit.

City Manager Scott Myers and Planning Director Dean Trefethen were out of town on Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Mayor Ed Engler said the idea of involving the Heritage Commission never came up over the last several weeks as the City Council dealt with other aspects of the issue.

He said the City Council has acted to make sure parts of the building are preserved.

“We’ve made such a big deal about preserving part of the building,” he said. “A semblance of the fire tower will be reproduced. This hasn’t exactly been a secret.”

Stories in The Laconia Daily Sun have discussed the issue in recent weeks.

Last month, the City Council demanded that an independent structural engineer do a peer review of demolition plans to make sure the section to be preserved is not damaged. The city was to pay the engineer’s costs up to $1,000, with anything above that split 50-50 with Lakeport Landing.

Public Works Director Wes Anderson said that review was undertaken, and the demolition permit was issued.

If the agreed-upon portion of the building is not preserved, Lakeport Landing won’t get a city certificate to occupy the structure.

The boat dealer purchased the station from the city last year for $385,000. Its original plan called for a one-story L-shaped glass-enclosed display space wrapping around the front and west side of the existing brick building.

Those plans were changed into a two-story structure with an attached, three-sided glass showroom. The old one-story fire station will not support a second story, and that’s why extensive demolition was needed.

Lakeport Landing is moving out of another city-owned property nearby at 21 Elm St., which is being purchased for about $500,000 by a competing boat dealer, Irwin Marine. A problem emerged because Lakeport Landing hasn’t vacated that property, which led to the city starting eviction proceedings.

However, Lakeport Landing and Irwin Marine reached an agreement under which the sale could go through and Lakeport Landing could stay in the property as a tenant while construction proceeds on the new showroom.

Even though the whole building isn’t being torn down, city ordinances seem to support Whitehead’s statement that the demolition permit should have been vetted by the Heritage Commission.

A city ordinance defines demolition as “the work of total or substantial destruction.” It says buildings covered by the ordinance include those “constructed/installed more than 50 years before the demolition permit application date.”

The building itself, an example of utilitarian 1950s brick construction, is not a historic landmark, but it has been an integral part of Lakeport.  

Charlie St. Clair, a state representative who sits on the city’s Planning Board, said proper procedures should be followed when old structures are razed.

“It kind of irks me they are not going with what they set up,” he said. “I’m just puzzled, I want to see the proper process followed.”

He also said consideration of demolition permits at the Heritage Commission gives the public a needed opportunity to express their views on such issues.