A planned cluster development on White Oaks Road would bring 12 duplexes and a total of 24 units of housing with three to four bedrooms, averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet. (Courtesy photo)
Members of the planning board heard a presentation from a developer about plans to build an upscale community on White Oaks Road and moved another application from the same party forward to build another neighborhood near Weirs Beach.
White Oaks Road
John Cronin, representing Skyview Acres, told planning board members his clients seek to build a “well-developed, higher-end-type duplex community” along White Oaks Road. The board took no action on the project Tuesday night but heard a conceptual presentation.
“We’re envisioning a small community, very walkable,” Peter Grenier, an owner of the property, said. “Houses are all not facing each other, privacy off of the road about 75 feet, so it’s still not inconveniencing any of the neighbors — kind of its own one in itself.”
The cluster development would bring 12 duplexes and a total of 24 units of housing to White Oaks. Units would contain three to four bedrooms, and average between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet apiece on the 10.63-acre lot. The neighborhood would be set back 75 feet from the road, and there’s an old stone wall running along the street which developers plan to keep.
“Kind of like a cutting-edge type of community,” Grenier said.
“We would have to go to get a variance to proceed back to you with a full application, which we recognize that that would be a requirement to do,” Cronin said. “We thought it would be beneficial to us and to you, which we’ve done in other cases, to submit the plans, have you take a look at it and give us some constructive comments before we go back and try to figure out how to present this” to the zoning board of adjustment.
Architect John Day of Blue Hour Design took planning board members through detailed descriptions of every aspect of the developers’ design to date, describing the proposed community as “historic New England” and “Greek revival” in character.
“Things that are more agrarian and vernacular is where we started,” Day said.
They intend to submit an extensive landscaping plan, Day said, and would build lots of common and green space, so the development feels more like a neighborhood which residents can participate in, rather than cordoned-off or reclusive.
The land in question is mostly open — just 16% of it is to be developed, while the remaining 84% will remain uninhibited.
“The initial site plan, it’s fairly open,” Day said. “There’s not much on this site.”
“I don’t think you left anything out,” said planning board Chair Charlie St. Clair, who also serves Laconia in the Statehouse.
No price point for the units to be constructed there has been determined.
Watson and Hayes roads
Planning board members approved another request from the same group of developers to merge two lots along Watson and Hayes roads near the High Octane Saloon in order to create a 52-townhouse community there.
Cronin, in representing the developers, said the new community will be comprised of small units unlikely to be purchased for principal use but rather as vacation or auxiliary homes for people who come to the Weirs to relax and recreate.
“There’s thought it might be a type of product that maybe somebody that already has a lake home, when they have all of the family up and need a place, it might be nice to have an auxiliary space for kids or relatives while they’re visiting,” Cronin said.
The homes — which will be between 1,000 and 1,250 square feet and include two stories with the first being a garage — will be sold instead of rented and will likely appeal to those who would choose to be located near High Octane, particularly during Laconia Motorcycle Week, Cronin said. It’s possible owners may choose to list them as short-term rentals.
“It would be a combination of different situations,” Cronin said. “These are going to be sold, they’re not going to be rented.”
The development will be something akin to a condominium association, with declarations and bylaws, Cronin said. Units will be priced in the neighborhood of $499,000 to $599,000, Anthony Dionne, a partner in the business, said in an interview on Friday afternoon.
“Those 52 units, they will have housing, each one of them. Some efficiency, some one-bedrooms, I like to think of it kind of, if you’ve ever been to a Residence Inn-type layout, similar to that, in that 800-square-foot range,” Cronin said. “Certainly comfortable to stay in, give you some kitchen area, some bath, sleeping and separate living space. At the same time, it would provide you ample storage below.”
They plan on erecting street lights on the property, reducing the likelihood of visibility issues for drivers, and will construct sidewalks along the Hayes Road side of the development.
If everything goes according to their plans, development there could begin as early as spring 2025, and would likely take about two years to complete.
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