South Down and WOW seeking a solution

Representatives of the South Down Recreational Association have begun working with the the Board of Directors of the Winnisquam-Opechee-Winnipesaukee (WOW) Recreational Trail in hopes of developing a phase III route that does not encroach on the interests of the gated community on Paugus Bay. The WOW Trail is envisioned as a nine-mile pathway, designed for pedestrian and bicyclists, most of which would follow the state-owned Boston & Maine Railroad corridor to cross the city between the Belmont and Meredith town lines. Phase I, from Veterans Square to Lakeport Square, is not complete. Part of a 2.2-mile stretch of the trail from Van Buren Street past Pickerel Cove to Birch Haven Road, is planned within the railroad corridor, which passes along some 4,500 feet of shoreline on Paugus Bay, through both South Down Shores and Long Bay. In 2008, at the annual meeting of the South Down Recreational Association, members resolved to prevent the trail from dissecting the property they enjoy and to assess each of the nearly 500 homes in the development $100 a year for three years to establish a legal fund "to protect South Down's interest with respect to the proposed Phase III of the Laconia WOW trail." John Walker, one of four members from South Down and three from Long Bay on the WOW Trail Committee formed by the association, said yesterday that, "We intend to work together with the WOW directors to find a route for the trail. I am absolutely confident," he stressed, "that we can get some suitable alternative that the entire community can support." Repeatedly, he said that he believes that the WOW trail represents an important and valuable amenity for the city. Walker said that last month he attended the meeting of the WOW Trail board of directors and assured them of "our cooperation and willingness to work together to find a route." Diane Hanley, president of the WOW board, welcomed the overture by South Down residents She indicated that earlier efforts to develop a cooperative relationship and seek alternative routes were interrupted when residents of South Down adopted the resolution and imposed the assessment. Hanley explained that the state, which owns and controls the railroad corridor, has urged the board to ensure the cooperation of the neighborhoods in the the path of the trail. "Things are looking much better," she said, noting that Warren Murphy, who served on the Planning Board when the trail was incorporated in the city's Master Plan, recently became president of the South Down Recreation Association. Despite his willingness to contribute to the success of the WOW Trail, Walker does not disguise his misgivings about the planned route following the railway corridor along the South Down waterfront. The railroad right-of-way is generally 66 feet wide with 38 feet west and 28 feet east of the centerline of the track. The path itself, designed for pedestrians and bicyclists, would be 10 feet wide with two-foot wide grassed shoulders offset between 16 feet and 26 feet west of the centerline of the track. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has required that a fence, four feet high, run between the railway and the pathway along the entire length of the trail. Walking the route yesterday with his wife Muff and Peter Cassell, a neighbor, Walker pointed out that the trail would consume a sizable strip of the landscaped common area along the waterfront. At the same time, more than half a dozen gates would be required to afford residents of South Down and Long Bay access to the beaches and docks that are located on land the development leases from the state. The boat club at South Down, Walker said, poses the greatest challenge. In addition to the 40 slips, 30 of them privately owned, there are 218 boats stored on racks on the west side of the tracks, which are fetched by a forklift, trucked across the railroad tracks to the launch then retrieved from the lake and returned to their berths at the end of the day. Brian Russell, the boat master, said that his team has shuttled as many as 80 boats to the water and back on a busy day and handling 50 vessels a day on fine weekend is about average, which means a loaded forklift crosses the tracks 200 times, with each trip taking between eight to twelve minutes. Walker said that not only would the crossing require a gate across the tracks but also gates to close the trail when the forklift was operating. Walker said that a trail through the development would also lead to "a loss of privacy" for residents of a community open only to those with a gate access code. "We've come to have some sense of security in here," he said, "and we could lose it." He took pains to insist that residents of South Down do not perceive themselves as a privileged elite, but at the same time noted that a measure of privacy was reflected in both the purchase prices and property taxes of their homes. Meanwhile, the issue is clouded by evidence that when the Planning Board originally approved plans for the development of South Down in the 1980s, the plan specified a "bikepath" within the railway corridor. Although the documentation of the Planning Board's review and approval of the development are scattered and incomplete, there are at least four specific references to a "bikepath" in 1983 and 1984, when the board considered the plan for the waterfront. The Planning Board granted conceptual approval to John Davidson's plan to develop as many as 400 units at South Down on September 30, 1983. The Evening Citizen reported that, "Assorted conditions were attached to approval, including preservation of a corridor for a future bikeway near the shore and a sled dog trail, and state rail administration approval for limited access across train tracks, among other things." A map of the entire project, prepared in March 1984, clearly designates a "City of Laconia Bikepath Easement," running within the length of the railroad corridor crossing the shorefront of the development. On April 9, the minutes of the Planning Board record that a board member asked developer John Davidson "if the bicycle path would be plowed in the winter." He replied that, "They were not developing a bicycle path, the city and state may or may not do this. They were merely providing space for it." A week later, when the board tabled the proposed project, it explicitly requested more information about "the recreational development schedule, including buildings, docks, and walkways with the bicycle path marked on the plan." Walker declined to comment on the 25 plus year old records, but doubted that costly litigation was not in the best interest of either South Down or the WOW board. Instead, he said that he was exploring the feasibility of several alternate routes, which would be proposed at the appropriate time. He would not elaborate. Hanley said that there was no urgency to address the issues raised by South Down since the WOW board is still in the process of raising funds for the section of the trail between Veteran's Square and the Belmont town line (Phase II). She described the stretch from Lakeport to The Weirs, which would pass through both Paugus Park and South Down, as "the longest and most difficult to engineer" portion of the trail and indicated that it was likely to be constructed "in pieces" and not necessarily from south to north. "We are not bound to any particular sequence of construction," she said. As for Walker, who true to his name enjoys hiking, he joked that he hoped the trail was open before he was in a wheelchair.