Wetlands to be created on Irwin property in Laconia to mitigate impact of Home Depot in Gilford

The Planning Board this week approved a project to restore and create some 49,000 square feet of wetlands on a 13.7-acre lot at 63 Blaisdell Avenue owned by Irwin Marine. The work is being undertaken by Home Depot, which plans to build on an abutting property in Gilford, in anticipation of being required to mitigate the impact of filling more than 10,000 square feet of wetland on the the construction site.

Some 1,000 cubic yards of sawdust, which has accumulated in piles between 6 inches and eight feet high over the past century, will be removed from the Irwin property. Assistant Planner Seth Creighton said that old photographs showed even larger piles of sawdust — 20 to 30 feet high — on the site, which was home to lumber yards and sawmills in the past. He said that timber felled by the hurricane of 1938 was milled on the property.

Creighton said that altogether 44,125-square-feet of wetlands on the property will be restored by removing the sawdust, adding new soils and planting wetland vegetation. In addition, another 5,000-square-feet of wetlands will be created. At the same time, an intermittent steam that flows into Black Brook, which has escaped its channel, will be returned to its natural course. On the recommendation of the Conservation Commission, bittersweet, an invasive vine that has spread over the site, will be eradicated with the herbicide Rodeo.

The project is expected to take 30 days and to be completed by October 15.

Home Depot plans to build on a wooded lot of 11.2-acres at the foot of Blaisdell Avenue, just over the line in Gilford and in the shadow of its major competitor — Lowe's, which opened a 162,000-square-foot store at Winnipesaukee Crossing last year. The company plans a 128,717-square-foot facility, consisting of 102,141-square-feet for floor and storage space, 24,204-square-feet for a garden center and 2,372-square-feet of vestibules. The store expects to employ 80 people. The store and parking lot would consume virtually the entire lot. The site, which slopes steeply, would be leveled and the rear of the building and two-thirds of the parking lot surrounded by a retaining wall rising to 40 feet in places.

Although Home Depot intends to acquire the 13.7-acre Irwin property in Laconia, which has an assessed value of $489,500, it does not plan to develop it, apart for building a parking lot with spaces for some 30 vehicles on the Gilford town line.

John Ayer, Director of Planning and Land Use in Gilford, said yesterday that Home Deport has yet to submit a formal application for the project.