Council: No private charters at Weirs public docks

WEIRS BEACH — The verdict is in: commercial enterprises can’t use the public docks at the Weirs free of cost.

Over recent months, a group of private boat charter owners approached city council, dissatisfied with the city’s enforcement of an ordinance that restricts private businesses from docking at public docks. Doing so could result in a $100 fine. 

Charter boat business owners argue they’re doing a service to the City of Laconia and its residents by ferrying visitors to and from Weirs Beach, where they presumably spend their time and money, contributing to local businesses and tax revenue. 

Councilors say the public docks are public for a reason, and private charter boat owners need to make other arrangements. 

At the Aug. 11 meeting of the Laconia City Council, several charter boat business owners told councilors they’d like to see the ordinance changed to allow them to use the Weirs public docks fine- and fee-free. 

Chad Puzzo, co-owner of the Mini Winni Party Bus and Boat, told councilors staff at his business deliver customers straight to the Weirs and recommend they spend their money there. Commercial charter owners like Puzzo have been picking up and dropping people off at the Weirs for years, and don’t think they should have to pay a fine for parking at the docks.

It wasn’t until a recent city project saw the public docks reconfigured that signs were posted, warning of the fine, they said. They say they weren’t even aware of the rule before the signs were put up.

Jeff Hagopian, owner of Lake Winnipesaukee Pontoon Boat Charters and Tours, told councilors they should change the ordinance, because charter boat operators know how to safely navigate the lake, while many visitors do not.

Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney said at that meeting he pushed for the installation of the signs after several of his constituents approached him, complaining commercial boat operators park at the docks for lengthy periods of time, taking away their use from the broader public.

Cheney is on the ballot in the mayoral primary on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Councilors referred the matter to their subcommittee on operations and ordinances and, at their meeting on Aug. 25, learned the subcommittee decided the rule should not be changed. 

“Over the course of two meetings, government operations and ordinances met concerning the commercial use of docks at the Weirs, and we heard from quite a few of the businesses,” Mayor Pro tem Mark Haynes said. “Every time that we thought that we had come to a resolution, another problem arose. It was the committee's determination that the use of the docks would stay private.”

Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert said he hopes the question can remain open, noting the decision could have a negative impact on bringing businesses and visitors to the Weirs. Bogert also serves Laconia as a Republican in the Statehouse.

“I initially suggested that we provide some space for those folks. I didn’t mention before, but I had talked to somebody on the [M/S] Mount Washington who casually said to me, ‘You can count on one hand the number of people who leave the Mount Washington and go spend any money in the Weirs — they get back in their cars and leave,'” Cheney said. “The thing that, for me at least, pushed me over the edge: when you see ads for these services, they run $400 to $900, $400-$450 for the half day, and $900 for the full day.”

“When we said an annual fee of $1,500, they got ugly about it, some of them did, and that kind of put me off, it really did,” Cheney said. 

Numerous residents complain the docks have been non-commercial for decades, and the city shouldn’t change it now, Cheney said. The taxpayers paid a lot of money to build new docks, and the commercial boat operators aren’t willing to pay a fee to maintain them. 

“It just disappointed me, frankly, that they weren’t willing to pay a fee,” he said. 

Bill Verner, owner of Lake Winnipesaukee Boat Tours, said he started offering private tours of the lake about 10 years ago.

“Private tours, I think I was really the first one to create it,” he said in an interview. 

His goal: show off the Big Lake to its many visitors and support businesses at the Weirs. 

“I think the lake has never been busier,” he said. 

And he doesn’t buy the arguments made by individuals who disagree. Pointing to other public docks on the lake, like in Wolfeboro, Verner said its common to have 15-minute parking rules, meant to allow for commercial charters to load and offload visitors. 

“It’s an opportunity for people to get out there and see what this lake is really all about,” he said. 

Verner said he’s going to conduct a petition of Weirs Beach businesses and charter boat owners and gauge their opinions. In the meantime, he said, he’ll have to conduct his business elsewhere. 

“Most of these are businesses that pick people up in the Weirs and then bring them around the lake, then drop them off in the Weirs. There is no taxi service on Lake Winnipesaukee,” Ward 6 Councilor Tony Felch said. “They’re not picking somebody up someplace else and bringing them to the Weirs. Most of these businesses don’t even have a business or a property in Laconia, so they’re not even paying taxes for those docks.”