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Laconia zoning board denies request to add fourth apartment at 35 Oak Street
Summary
The Laconia Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to deny a request to convert garage space at 35 Oak Street into a fourth rental unit after residents raised traffic, parking and neighborhood‑character concerns.
The Laconia Zoning Board of Adjustment denied a developer’s request Tuesday to add a fourth dwelling unit at 35 Oak Street, saying the project would increase traffic, worsen parking and alter the neighborhood’s character.
Attorney Tim Britton, representing owner Claudia Celebashi, said the proposal would convert one bay of an existing two‑bay garage into a roughly 1,700‑square‑foot, three‑bedroom, two‑bath unit and add two parking spaces via a new driveway from Dartmouth Street. Britton told the board the new unit would be leased as affordable housing and “will increase housing availability and improve the property utilization in the area.”
Neighbors pushed back, saying the change would not fit the immediate neighborhood. “It will severely alter the dynamic of the neighborhood,” said Chad Valancourt of 39 Oak Street, who said many nearby homes are single‑ or two‑family and that current on‑street parking is already crowded. Alice Farrell Baldock, who said she has lived at 36 Oak Street for about 75 years, told the board she feared the conversion would remove the small green space she has long valued and would increase vehicle fumes and safety risks for children near the park.
Board members discussed the five‑part variance test under New Hampshire law and the Laconia ordinance. Planning Director Rob Moore confirmed the RG (Residential General) zone requires 60 percent green space and that the property currently had about 46 percent; Britton said the proposal would reduce green space to about 41 percent. Moore also noted the ordinance’s parking design standard for multifamily uses, which seeks to avoid vehicles backing directly onto a public street.
After extended discussion and public comment, a motion to deny the consolidated request for four variances (density, green space, parking design, front‑setback parking) carried. The board chair noted that the parcel is a longstanding nonconforming multifamily use, but several members said the additional unit would add parking and safety pressures near the Oak/Dartmouth intersection. The application was identified on the record as ZB2025‑50 and was denied by voice vote.
