Downtown Laconia Urban Renewal 2020

[Urban Renewalist]

Here is my proposal renewing Downtown Laconia, primarily:

1. Removing 25' from the east portion of the Sawyer's Jewelry building, and adding 40' to the west side of it.

2. Making Main Street from Melnick's to the bridge two ways again, with parallel parking on both sides, and thus making the primary southern thoroughfare through downtown be Pleasant Street to Main Street (not Beacon Street West).

3. Now that Beacon Street West is relieved of the duty as primary southbound traffic, reroute the street to create two T intersections with Water Street, making it two way traffic with parking on both sides.

4. Reconnect Water Street to Pleasant Street - at 17' it's narrow, but it's possible to get a one-way east bound lane in there plus sidewalks.

5. Reopen Mill plaza to one-way westbound traffic

6. Make Beacon Street East two way traffic

7. Renovate the garage. Despite public sentiments, I believe that this building still has tremendous value to the city. For one, it is already built, and has businesses on the first floor and a capacity for 175 cars (very few parking garages come to mind that have retail on the ground floor, which is one of its successes). To tear it down and build anew would be the most energy-intensive solution. I believe that by widening main street, realigning the entrance ramps, creating a pedestrian-friendly zone on the ground floor, the building can appear much more attractive, and benefit the city greatly.

I only have vague notions as to the cost of this entire project, but I suppose the Sawyer's Jewelry building construction/demolition/renovation around 3 million dollars, and another 3 million for the parking garage renovation. Less than half a million would be needed for street alignments, grading, landscaping, curbing, and so on. Bringing the total project cost to under 7 million dollars, or less than half the cost of the Colonial Theatre project.

I believe both projects (Colonial Theatre and this one I am proposing) could have tremendous impact on our beloved city. By far the most compelling reason is that it opens up Main Street again; downtown will appear far more attractive, it will create several more pedestrian-primary locations throughout downtown. Simply put, it will feel better moving about downtown. Never again can people near and far complain about the eyesore of Laconia's urban renewal project, which was happening exactly 50 years ago. As a nod of appreciation and respect to those civic leaders, I believe we owe it to ourselves and future generations to continue the journey they started in creating a town we can be truly proud of.

At 17 city blocks (roughly speaking), downtown Laconia is the largest urban area in NH north of Concord. It can be an exciting place to live and work and explore. Future projects I envision (and which are included in these plans) include developing the municipal parking lot into apartment or commercial buildings, creating a new street to the east of the old police station and connecting to Beacon Street East, and redeveloping the flagpole intersection by the Bank of New Hampshire.

Thank you for reading all of this. I will now post the plans below.

This has been percolating in my mind since I was a child, and I have spent several months developing these plans. I will love to hear your comments. Please keep the discussion civil.

Thank you!