The problem with Bay Street project is parking – or is it?

LACONIA — The proposal to replace a burned-out home with supportive housing aimed at saving 12 people from homelessness has been going before city boards since January, and was again tabled at the Planning Board meeting on Tuesday night.

Again at issue was parking. The backers of the plan, Lakes Region Community Developers and Lakes Region Mental Health Center, assert that 10% or fewer of the population they intend to live in the building they are proposing at 17-19 Bay St. will own a vehicle, so the five parking spaces, plus one more for a staff person, should be more than sufficient. They also point to the city’s own zoning regulations, which allow for parking restrictions to be excused from discussion in the case of a project approved under so-called performance zoning, which the Bay Street project has achieved.

Performance zoning allows for proposals to go forward without having to follow usual zoning requirements if the project is seen as performing in a beneficial way in the community.

As has occurred at prior meetings for this proposal, neighbors and owners of nearby properties spoke against the project, often referring to the experiences they had with previous residents of that address. Residents who, they said, often displayed symptoms and behaviors associated with substance misuse.

Yet several people also spoke in favor of the proposal’s passage. Those included individual residents, as well as representatives of other organizations.

Daisy Pierce, who serves on the Mayor’s Housing Task Force, said such a project was “urgently needed” as part of a solution to the city’s homelessness problem. “We must put aside fear and prejudice and work collaboratively to ensure that every individual in Laconia has access to a safe and affordable home.”

Gretchen Gandini of the Taylor Community read a letter of support from the nonprofit's Chief Executive Officer Michael Flaherty, who praised the organizations behind the project, and cited the need for such projects as a means to prop up the local labor market.

Mayor Andrew Hosmer also urged the Planning Board to approve the project despite concerns about parking.

“We have a parking issue in this city; we have a housing crisis,” Hosmer said. “We can’t put our heads in the sand.” The city’s homelessness numbers have been sharply rising in recent years, and there’s no grand solution in sight. There are, however, several small ideas, he said. “Bay Street is a small but significant step forward for 12 people. ... I support this project wholeheartedly.”

After public comment closed, the board’s discussion showed divided opinion. Member Mike DellaVecchia suggested some were leveraging the parking issue as a convenient means to sink the project for other means.

“To use parking as an excuse is just blowing wind,” DellaVecchia said, noting Lakes Region Community Developers’ offer to make available parking spaces at its office, located one property away on Bay Street. “The perceived harm to the neighborhood is minute compared to the benefit to the city.”

In countering, Bruce Cheney, the city council’s representative to the Planning Board, seemed to speak to DellaVecchia’s point.

“I don’t think there’s many people at this table who would be anxious to have one of these things move in next door,” Cheney said, though he recognizes the need for such a project. “We know there’s a need, the question is, should you shove 12 people down that small street neighborhood? And I don’t think we should.”

DellaVecchia countered that a private developer could build a three-unit apartment building on that very lot, which could end up housing 12 people.

“But they wouldn’t be all mental health folks who need help. They would be families and folks that live in that neighborhood. I hope that we can find something for the folks that need this help,” Cheney answered. “The density and type is what the neighbors are concerned about. And I am sensitive to that.”

The matter was tabled until the November meeting. In the meantime, the board asked LRCD to investigate board member Rob Mora’s suggestion to add a few more parking spaces to their plan as parallel spaces along their driveway.

Speaking afterward, Lakes Region Community Developers Executive Director Carmen Lorentz called it a “productive meeting.”

“We are analyzing an idea suggested by some of the planning board members to help address their concern about parking,” Lorentz said. “However, we maintain our position that six parking spaces is more than enough for a building that will serve people that typically do not own a vehicle. Lakes Region Mental Health Center has stated that historically about 10% of their clients who lack stable housing own a vehicle. This is the population that will live in the building. If we want to be conservative and say 25% of the tenants might own a car, then we’d still only need three parking spaces for tenants.”