Laconia considers requests to lease space to businesses at Weirs dock

[Woodsy]

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx...sing-city-dock

Not sure how I feel about this... I do have an issue with the Mount essentially being a monopoly, but leasing the docks to a private company decreases the amount of dock space available for the public...



Woodsy

[Descant]

There are a variety of problems with the Weirs docks, not to be rehashed here, I hope. I would suggest that many of these issues could be resolved if the tenant offered the services of a dockmaster from Friday through Sunday. In my vision, s/he would sequence waiting boats, assist or require boats to pull forward or move to allow full use of the docks. Maybe monitor a couple of spaces for short term docking. The officer on duty in Glendale does not sequence boats, but manages the docks in other ways and I believe it is an asset to a crowded docking situation.
Good management could improve efficiency of use with no diminished access for the general public.

[AC2717]

I personally would not mind this if they opened the back side of the docks for docking, there is plenty of room back there and water level is usually just fine. I hate how they rope off the back during bike week.
I guess it would also depend on the amount of space they are looking for.

Hey why not rent the old Anchor Marine location and ask that landlord or possibly have the town interview for that space

[ITD]

Why don't they entertain having this or these entities build an additional dock?

[Lakeboater]

Years ago didn't Patrick's Pub keep a nice wooden cruiser at the Weir's docks and offer dinner cruises? I think they even had a good size sign down by the docks.

[LIforrelaxin]

This issue is not an easy issue to debate. I see both the good and bad of it.

It might make a good opportunity for some business. But it will take away valuable public docking.

How do you chose on the correct division of the limited space?

[Kamper]

If these enterprises added more dock space to replace what they were using, that might work out. Or, a finger pier out to the dock/s they will install for their business.

[rick35]

Maybe Laconia should do something about bringing business to the Weirs. We've gone over to the Crazy Gringo on Friday night because Meredith is packed. We never have an issue parking the boat because people arent interested in what the Weirs has to offer. At least they dont get the boater business like Meredith does.

[RUGMAN]

Being new to the area, our neighbors , who have been here for a long time, believe the current owners of the weirs property make so much money during Bike week, that they don't need to attract crowds during the rest of the summer.Seems like an opportunity missed. It seems like a gold mine that could really be improved with other restaurants, ect. The Mount is a big attraction .
But then again I am not in the restaurant or entertainment business.

[BroadHopper]

the lack of street vendors and carts in Laconia? It's because of Bike Week laws. The requirements and fees make it prohibitive to make money outside of Bike Week. And the city is going to make an exception for the public docks? More law suits!

[laketrout]

Originally Posted by rick35

Maybe Laconia should do something about bringing business to the Weirs. We've gone over to the Crazy Gringo on Friday night because Meredith is packed. We never have an issue parking the boat because people arent interested in what the Weirs has to offer. At least they dont get the boater business like Meredith does.

I live in Laconia and when we go out on the boat we skip right past the Weirs and head straight over to Meredith. Unforunately there are not enough reasons to stop in the Weirs most of the the time. The railroad is fun, drive in etc. but not to much else.

Merdith In my opinion is a lot cleaner and has more to offer in terms of restaurants and shops that are family freiendly. Weirs beach , all be in quaint needs a TOTAL Overhaul and a Master plan by the city of Laconia that I pay $$$ taxes too.. Or individual business investors with incentives from the city. But what will happen is a private group will turn the whole Weirs into upscale condos or housing. Is there a master plan for the Weirs? Or just kick the can down the road.

Unfortunate to see the Weirs Beach languish in mediocrity year after; year same ole stuff, I'm not talking bike week either. It's really to bad that the City of Laconia doesn't invest or plan more for the Weirs, the area on the water has so much potential.

[TiltonBB]

Originally Posted by laketrout

I live in Laconia and when we go out on the boat we skip right past the Weirs and head straight over to Meredith. Unforunately there are not enough reasons to stop in the Weirs most of the the time. The railroad is fun, drive in etc. but not to much else.

Merdith In my opinion is a lot cleaner and has more to offer in terms of restaurants and shops that are family freiendly. Weirs beach , all be in quaint needs a TOTAL Overhaul and a Master plan by the city of Laconia that I pay $$$ taxes too.. Or individual business investors with incentives from the city. But what will happen is a private group will turn the whole Weirs into upscale condos or housing. Is there a master plan for the Weirs? Or just kick the can down the road.

Unfortunate to see the Weirs Beach languish in mediocrity year after; year same ole stuff, I'm not talking bike week either. It's really to bad that the City of Laconia doesn't invest or plan more for the Weirs, the area on the water has so much potential.

This has been discussed at great length in every place from this site to Laconia City Hall.

The questions remain:

1. How would you suggest Laconia go about kicking the existing Weirs Beach businesses out and obtaining ownership of their property?

2. What would you do about the veteran's buildings on Lakeside Avenue?

3. What property that the city owns in Weirs Beach do you suggest the City give a "TOTAL overhaul" to?

4. Where exactly, would you suggest the city "invest" more in the Weirs?

[Winnisquamer]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

This has been discussed at great length in every place from this site to Laconia City Hall.

The questions remain:

!. How would you suggest Laconia go about kicking the existing Weirs Beach businesses out and obtaining ownership of their property?

2. What would you do about the veteran's buildings on Lakeside Avenue?

3. What property that the city owns in Weirs Beach do you suggest the City give a "TOTAL overhaul" to?

4. Where exactly, would you suggest the city "invest" more in the Weirs?

I can't answer those questions, but I will agree the Weirs area is sad, rundown and does need an overhaul. I find it hard to justify personal business owners spending a lot of cash to overhaul an area that is barely busy for 33% of the year. If it was a year round business absolutely.

[Acrossamerica]

The Weirs suffers from the same thing all of NH tourism suffers from. They are marketing the state and the weirs etc. as if it were 1950. I love nostalgic stuff but sadly that ship has sailed and people are not coming to NH in the numbers they used to come and those that are coming (lakeside rich excepted and they bring different economic problems to the local businesses) do not have the disposable income they had years ago.

Time to rethink the entire industry before the only animals enjoying scenic NH are four legged ones.

[ITD]

Originally Posted by Acrossamerica

{snip}

Time to rethink the entire industry before the only animals enjoying scenic NH are four legged ones.

Hmmmm, maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing.

[secondcurve]

Originally Posted by Acrossamerica

The Weirs suffers from the same thing all of NH tourism suffers from. They are marketing the state and the weirs etc. as if it were 1950. I love nostalgic stuff but sadly that ship has sailed and people are not coming to NH in the numbers they used to come and those that are coming (lakeside rich excepted and they bring different economic problems to the local businesses) do not have the disposable income they had years ago.

Time to rethink the entire industry before the only animals enjoying scenic NH are four legged ones.

How do you explain the stunning success of Meredith? The Weirs can be fixed but it will take vision and leadership two ingredients that are sorely lacking in Laconia.

[Winnisquamer]

Originally Posted by secondcurve

How do you explain the stunning success of Meredith? The Weirs can be fixed but it will take vision and leadership two ingredients that are sorely lacking in Laconia.

Sadly in X amount of years they're won't be anyone who grew up in the 50s left. Time to start catering to the younger generations if we want to bring business in.

[Acrossamerica]

Originally Posted by secondcurve

How do you explain the stunning success of Meredith? The Weirs can be fixed but it will take vision and leadership two ingredients that are sorely lacking in Laconia.

The stunning (If that is what you wish to call it) is the result of a single individual with vision and a sizeable bank account then followed up by a second individual also with vision and a large bank account. Take those two people away and Meredith looks like the Weirs without motorcycles.

[secondcurve]

Originally Posted by Acrossamerica

The stunning (If that is what you wish to call it) is the result of a single individual with vision and a sizeable bank account then followed up by a second individual also with vision and a large bank account. Take those two people away and Meredith looks like the Weirs without motorcycles.

So two people were able to solve the problem in Meredith but the problem at the Weirs is virtually unsolvable?

[Billy Bob]

Originally Posted by secondcurve

So two people were able to solve the problem in Meredith but the problem at the Weirs is virtually unsolvable?

Meredith had a LOT more to work with and willing sellers in the Church property and the Bank building among others . The other cute towns around the lake have also improved, there is nothing cute about the weirs. The Weirs doesn't present the same opportunity as Meredith. You have the Veterans property that just get worse and worse with no reasonable chance they will sell or improve it , their buildings will eventually fall down or be the victim of some disaster . the old dock and arcade are just worn out. short of that the entire hill situation makes development very difficult.
Laconia needs to put its limited resources into somehow finding more employment for its depressed poverty stricken town center and fixing its Huge drug issues. developing the 2 month a year beach area shouldn't be a top priority

[SIKSUKR]

The topograghy alone makes the Weirs a lot less desirable to develop like Meredith. And so much of that Weirs bld is taken by the Veterans. Even if all the vet houses where to come to market, there is an immediate hill right behind them. Tough to develop anything like Meredith. Any investing developer looking at the Weirs area would have to buy a lot of different parcels from many owners. Very unlikely.

[Woodsy]

I respectfully disagree with you BillyBob...

Laconia's drug issues aren't just Laconia's.. its a statewide issue. And perhaps you didn't know, but downtown Laconia is doing pretty good. They are restoring the Colonial theater, rehabbing old buildings etc etc. Downtown Laconia is looking up for sure!

The Weirs has A LOT to offer. It could be awesome with the right combination of public & private development. There needs to be some thought given as to how to make the Weirs more marketable to younger types. Some of the current property owners have ZERO interest in changing anything... they just want to collect their arcade money and put the absolute minimum to upkeep or modernize their property. Until that mentality changes, the Weirs will not change.

1. Embrace small businesses in the Weirs.. encourage street vendors, Food trucks, small restaurants & cafes, live music etc...

2. Reconfigure & enlarge the town dock to allow for better access.

3. Allow people to walk around with a beer or drink in plastic containers.

4. Encourage new development & property improvement with tax breaks or other incentives.

Bottom line is there are lots of ways to make things better in the Weirs!


Woodsy

[Dickie B from HB]

I made this post back in 2014 on a similar thread. I thought it might be appropriate to dig it back up. I realize that it might not be a model for the Weirs where a lot of private property may not be available for redevelopment, but it shows what can happen when city government gets involved. In the case of the Weirs, it seems unlikely that anything will redevelop without some help from the city.

May, 2014:
I live in Huntington Beach, California. When I moved here in 1965, the town was a run down little surf spot with cheesy bars and surfboard shops, and not much else. The town council decided that the time had come to rescue the town from further decay. They created a tourism board whose sole purpose was to provide the vision and the know how as to how to redevelop the area to attract new business.
And it has worked out well. Working with the council and the population, bond issues were passed, and redevelopment took place. It took many years, but today Huntington Beach is an attraction for not only tourists, but people that live in the surrounding areas as well. In fact, tourists are not the prime supporters. The bulk of the spending comes from visitors from the nearby cities.
There is no casino, but there are nice shops, nice restaurants and street side cafes, and nighttime clubs. The tourism board has come up with events that happen almost on a weekly basis.

Where it once was a summer only type place, it now attracts people all year round. The key to the redevelopment was that the city took over most of the prime area (they bought out the old business properties)and built new structures that were very attractive, and leased them out to new business. Therefore, the new businesses did not have to invest huge sums of money in real estate. They also built a very large parking garage. It took time, but the formula has been very successful. Now the area is home to a Hilton hotel and a Hyatt Regency Resort among other large brands.

Something similar could happen to the Weirs, but it isn't going to happen if only small business is relied upon. The government needs to step in and give it a boost.

I know this sounds like liberal California, but Huntington Beach is in Orange County which is very conservative. It turned out to be a smart business move.

[secondcurve]

Originally Posted by Billy Bob

Meredith had a LOT more to work with and willing sellers in the Church property and the Bank building among others . The other cute towns around the lake have also improved, there is nothing cute about the weirs. The Weirs doesn't present the same opportunity as Meredith. You have the Veterans property that just get worse and worse with no reasonable chance they will sell or improve it , their buildings will eventually fall down or be the victim of some disaster . the old dock and arcade are just worn out. short of that the entire hill situation makes development very difficult.
Laconia needs to put its limited resources into somehow finding more employment for its depressed poverty stricken town center and fixing its Huge drug issues. developing the 2 month a year beach area shouldn't be a top priority

Billy Bob:

The town needs to start small but it needs to lead. The docking facility should be the number one priority followed by incentives to developers to encourage investment. Once there is one nice building another follows and momentum builds. As momentum builds folks decide to sell their properties to capture long depressed value. Look at what happened in Claremont of all places. How about what is happening at Mt. Canmore. While the Weirs has some limitations how many lake front areas have that much open space. As far as the drug users go if there is opportunity maybe it will lift some out of poverty and bad choices.

[secondcurve]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

This has been discussed at great length in every place from this site to Laconia City Hall.

The questions remain:

1. How would you suggest Laconia go about kicking the existing Weirs Beach businesses out and obtaining ownership of their property?

2. What would you do about the veteran's buildings on Lakeside Avenue?

3. What property that the city owns in Weirs Beach do you suggest the City give a "TOTAL overhaul" to?

4. Where exactly, would you suggest the city "invest" more in the Weirs?

Easy first step. Let's start with a new docking facility. Relatively small dollars but the payback would be large. If consumers could more easily access the area by boat then the probability of new investment in restaurants/entertainment would increase.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by secondcurve

Easy first step. Let's start with a new docking facility. Relatively small dollars but the payback would be large. If consumers could more easily access the area by boat then the probability of new investment in restaurants/entertainment would increase.

Quick question: I've only taken our boat to the Weirs once because when I did the water was so choppy the boats were banging up against the docks. This was that busy Saturday in October two years ago, but I've always associated those docks with the image of my boat being whacked around. Is it often like that on weekends? Are they ever calm?

Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Quick question: I've only taken our boat to the Weirs once because when I did the water was so choppy the boats were banging up against the docks. This was that busy Saturday in October two years ago, but I've always associated those docks with the image of my boat being whacked around. Is it often like that on weekends? Are they ever calm?

Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

I have found it to be boat rough afternoons and evenings, and as such, we stay away from docking at the Weirs "in season". We also only dock on the outside. We did dock on one of the inside finger docks, and someone nicely moved our boat to the furthest point in, and the two larger boats that were on the end when we got back to our boat were too wide to navigate safely between them. Fortunately, we only had about a 20 minute wait until the boat owner on the other side arrived and we were able to follow him out. Not a happy camper that day. lesson learned for us.

Perhaps they could widen the space between the docks, and extend them to allow more docking. Until then, it will be early June and after Labor Day for visiting.

[kjkam]

I believe back in the 80's to 90's there was a sailboat that ran tours out of the weirs docks, something like that would be great, my guess is though there are people interested in running a partial ownership boat club out of there, in either case the docks at the weirs are almost never full, and you would actually get more docking if they removed half of the fingers, slips are not wide enough to use the whole length without getting trapped.

[Lakeboater]

Originally Posted by kjkam

I believe back in the 80's to 90's there was a sailboat that ran tours out of the weirs docks, something like that would be great, my guess is though there are people interested in running a partial ownership boat club out of there, in either case the docks at the weirs are almost never full, and you would actually get more docking if they removed half of the fingers, slips are not wide enough to use the whole length without getting trapped.

I remember that.....about the same time as the Patrick's cruises

[JPC]

Originally Posted by kjkam

I believe back in the 80's to 90's there was a sailboat that ran tours out of the weirs docks.

It was a good size sailboat (at least 36ft+) called the "Queen of Winnipesaukee". I think!

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by JPC

It was a good size sailboat (at least 36ft+) called the "Queen of Winnipesaukee". I think!

A description of the "Queen":

[Kamper]

Originally Posted by kjkam

... you would actually get more docking if they removed half of the fingers, slips are not wide enough to use the whole length without getting trapped.

I think every other pier should be shortened by half and those sections added to the remaining sections. That would, in effect, reserve some areas for smaller boats. Vessels that are too big for the existing configuration could then get in safely.

[winnisquam]

If memory serves, the couple that owned and operated the QoW owned the Double Decker in Belmont. I do not remember their name, my elderly mother, from Laconia, grew up with them so she would know, to late to call . . .

[winnisquam]

A continuation of Double Decker, Dad met Mom at Isabelles in 1959, Hence me . . .