Since its establishment, the mission of the WAC has expanded, and now encompasses the following:
"The natural beauty and attributes of Weirs Beach and its community provide the opportunity to attract a broad spectrum of visitors to enjoy the unique attractions and amenities, thus enabling local residents and businesses to prosper and enjoy a continually improving quality of life.
• Restoration of the world-famous neon Weirs Beach sign, which was erected on Saturday, July 21, 1956, and celebrated early its 50th birthday on Friday, May 26, 2006. The sign features 696 11-watt chaser bulbs, 200 feet of neon tubing, and lights up in a distinctive pattern beckoning visitors to Weirs Beach. Weighing in at 4400 lbs, the sign was restored in mid-January 2002 to a relocated traffic island, 8 feet closer to Lakeside Ave and off the state right-of-way on Route 3. The relocation resulted in an improved traffic flow, with two lanes of one-way traffic on either side of the sign (previously, there was one-lane, two-way traffic on either side of the sign.) The relocation plan had called for a left-hand turning lane off of Route 3 southbound, but there wasn't enough room.
One interesting feature of the sign is that it is two-sided. For visitors coming from Laconia and other points South of Weirs Beach, and who are travelling North on Route 3, it will point to the right; while for visitors coming from Meredith and other points North of Weirs Beach, and who are travelling South, it will point to the left.
Also note the topmost pole, visible in earlier photos. Before restoration, power to the sign was fed from overhead utility lines and down the topmost pole (below left). After restoration, power was fed from an underground line and up the main bottom pole. Unfortunately, during the restoration, a key element of the original design, the topmost pole, was removed. Previously tall and well-proportioned, the sign now appears short and squat . Still very attractive though!
Another old photo of the Weirs Beach sign
• Landscaping of Weirs Beach parks and traffic islands
• Provision of flower-topped trash receptacles on both sides of Lakeside Avenue
• Donation of park benches for the boardwalk
• Construction of a handicap ramp to the beach
• Purchase of a beach sand cleaner
• Installation of decorative lighting at Endicott Rock park
• Financing of an irrigation system for plantings along the boardwalk
• Installation of improved signage to parking areas and the public beach
• Installation of telephone pole banners on Lakeside Avenue that change color and message along with the seasons
• Provision of flower-topped trash receptacles on both sides of Lakeside Avenue
• Donation of park benches for the boardwalk
• Construction of a handicap ramp to the beach
• Purchase of a beach sand cleaner
• Installation of decorative lighting at Endicott Rock park
• Financing of an irrigation system for plantings along the boardwalk
• Installation of improved signage to parking areas and the public beach
• Installation of telephone pole banners on Lakeside Avenue that change color and message along with the seasons
Any person, group or business having an interest in the objectives of the WAC may become a member, and in fact, the WAC has attracted a wide membership of both local residents and businesses.
You can find out more about the Weirs Action Committee by visiting their website at weirsbeach.org; by emailing the committee at info@weirsbeach.org; or by writing to: PO Box 5481, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 03247-5481.
A new sidewalk was constructed on the East (Lake) side of Lakeside Avenue, along the fencing which separated the railroad tracks and boardwalk from the street. Whereas previously, visitors parking cars on the East side of Lakeside Avenue had to walk some distance in the street to reach the safety of a crosswalk, visitors could now walk safely along the new sidewalk to reach a crosswalk.
At several corners, where Lakeside Avenue intersected with New Hampshire Avenue, Tower St, and Foster Avenue, new stone curbing provided handicap access.
Finally, the sidewalk in front of the Half Moon, which had been a conspicuously narrow sidewalk for the center of town, was widened by 3', providing a comfortably broadened walking lane.
On May 14, 1998, the City of Laconia made a deal with the State of New Hampshire, whereby the Lakes Region Correction Facility's (photo, above) inmate population could be expanded from a temporary 300 to a permanent 500. (The prison, which opened in October of 1991, had previously been the Laconia State School for the Developmentally Disabled. Originally, it had been known as the Laconia State School for Feeble Minded Children.)
As part of the deal, the state would pay for the installation of sidewalks along the state-owned Route 3 in Weirs Beach.
Originally, sidewalks were to extend "along both sides of Route 3 in Weirs Beach, between Route 11B and Tower Street and Route 11B and its intersections with Route 3 and a point one-half mile south of the intersection."
Fast forward to June of 2007*. The State Department of Transportation will finally be installing sidewalks on Route 3, but they will only extend "along the eastern side of Route 3, from the area of Warner Street down to Lucerne Avenue, before jumping to the west side of Route 11B up to White Oaks Road."
Essentially, the project as delivered will be about 1/2 mile of new sidewalk, a quarter of the approximately 2 miles of sidewalks originally promised (1/2 mile of sidewalk on both sides of the street in both directions from the Route 3/Route 11B intersection). There is already a sidewalk on the eastern side of Route 3 beginning at Endicott Rock park and traversing the Aquadoctan stone bridge to the Alpenrose plaza, comprising about 25% of the 2/3 of a mile distance to be covered in June.
At meetings to discuss the upcoming sidewalk project, Weirs Beach community members seemed to acquiesce that constructing the sidewalk on only the east side of Route 3 might be sufficient, but strongly suggested that in exchange, the sidewalk should be extended 1 mile northward to Funspot, and ultimately, all the way to the junction of Route 3 with Scenic/Watson road. The notion of extending the sidewalk(s) southward on Route 3, a 1/2 mile down Weirs Boulevard, which had been part of the original state sidewalk plan, was a lower priority for those in attendance. However, it is the webmaster's opinion that constructing a sidewalk along the West side of Weirs Boulevard, with its beautiful view of Paugus Bay, ultimately as far as Lake Street in Laconia, should be part of any long-term plans for sidewalks in Weirs Beach.
*On January 23, 2007, it was announced that the sidewalk project would be delayed until 2008, to allow for archaeological excavations before construction.
April of 2008: The new sidewalks have finally been constructed. They only extend down the East side of Route 3 from the new Cumberland Farms store down to the Weirs Beach sign. Two extremely short sections were constructed on the west side of Route 3 directly opposite the Weirs Beach sign.
As part of the deal, the state would pay for the installation of sidewalks along the state-owned Route 3 in Weirs Beach.
Originally, sidewalks were to extend "along both sides of Route 3 in Weirs Beach, between Route 11B and Tower Street and Route 11B and its intersections with Route 3 and a point one-half mile south of the intersection."
Fast forward to June of 2007*. The State Department of Transportation will finally be installing sidewalks on Route 3, but they will only extend "along the eastern side of Route 3, from the area of Warner Street down to Lucerne Avenue, before jumping to the west side of Route 11B up to White Oaks Road."
Essentially, the project as delivered will be about 1/2 mile of new sidewalk, a quarter of the approximately 2 miles of sidewalks originally promised (1/2 mile of sidewalk on both sides of the street in both directions from the Route 3/Route 11B intersection). There is already a sidewalk on the eastern side of Route 3 beginning at Endicott Rock park and traversing the Aquadoctan stone bridge to the Alpenrose plaza, comprising about 25% of the 2/3 of a mile distance to be covered in June.
At meetings to discuss the upcoming sidewalk project, Weirs Beach community members seemed to acquiesce that constructing the sidewalk on only the east side of Route 3 might be sufficient, but strongly suggested that in exchange, the sidewalk should be extended 1 mile northward to Funspot, and ultimately, all the way to the junction of Route 3 with Scenic/Watson road. The notion of extending the sidewalk(s) southward on Route 3, a 1/2 mile down Weirs Boulevard, which had been part of the original state sidewalk plan, was a lower priority for those in attendance. However, it is the webmaster's opinion that constructing a sidewalk along the West side of Weirs Boulevard, with its beautiful view of Paugus Bay, ultimately as far as Lake Street in Laconia, should be part of any long-term plans for sidewalks in Weirs Beach.
*On January 23, 2007, it was announced that the sidewalk project would be delayed until 2008, to allow for archaeological excavations before construction.
April of 2008: The new sidewalks have finally been constructed. They only extend down the East side of Route 3 from the new Cumberland Farms store down to the Weirs Beach sign. Two extremely short sections were constructed on the west side of Route 3 directly opposite the Weirs Beach sign.
In the spring of 2001, the city of Laconia appropriated an inital amount of $160,000 to relocate the utility wires on Lakeside Avenue, beginning at Route 3, and continuing on to Tower St. Some wires were to be relocated to existing utility poles on Veterans Ave, while other wires were to be relocated by traveling up existing utility poles on Route 3 and down existing utility poles on Tower St.
As it became clear that the true cost of the project was roughly double that of the initial appropriation, an additional amount of $160, 000 was sought. At a May 8, 2002 meeting of the Laconia city council, a vote to appropriate the additional funds was defeated.
The reason for the defeat was that the Weirs Beach community was itself divided on the issue. While actual burial of the wires was estimated to cost upward of $1.5 million, far more than the cost of their relocation, certain members of the Weirs Beach community did not want the wires to be relocated, as the wires were to be relocated in front of their properties.
Burial of the utility wires will remain a top priority of the Weirs Beach community for the forseeable future. Commercial resort areas where wires have been buried have attracted considerable new business investment. For example, Maine's Old Orchard Beach, which began a series of improvements in the late 1980's to give the resort a more Victorian look, that eventually included the burial of its wires, can now proudly point to a resurgence of its waterfront which includes not only upscale shops, but a brand new, 5-story retail and condominium complex opened in 2007 called the Grand Victorian, "modeled after the Grand Hotels of the 1920's and 1930's".
In this case rather than an amphitheatre, the dominating feature of the plan was a huge, triangular shaped pier, protruding beyond three large enclosures of water. However, this plan did call for a convention center up on the hillside (the tall, rectangular building in the upper part of the drawing, slightly left of center) and, directly across from the convention center on the water , a large bathing facility facing north to a swimming pool surrounded by a deck on 3 sides.
Sounding more and more like a Disney-type development, Lakeside Avenue would become a pedestrian mall, with visitors conveyed by "gaily designed old-time vehicles shuttling between [parking lots] and principal activity areas"; the core would be rebuilt with a new cruise pier and "Tivoli Gardens" area (Tivoli Gardens, in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the world's oldest amusement park); and, like the 1940 revitalization plan, an amphitheatre (diamond shape at the center of the circular traffic pattern on the map) would be constructed, with seating for "500 or more."
To put this plan in context, in 1966, NH's interstate highway, Route 93, was less than a decade old, having been formed in 1957. When Exit 20 in Tilton was first constructed, a 3-phase plan was proposed by the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation, whereby the exit would be connected by a divided highway directly to Weirs Beach!
In phase one, a bypass highway would be built around Laconia; this was actually completed in the 1970s. In phase two, the Laconia bypass would have been connected directly to Route 93. While the NH DOT seriously studied this second phase for many years, it was never environmentally feasible, passing as it did through Lakes Winnisquam and Silver Lake. The 3rd phase, which would have extended the Laconia bypass down the White Oaks Road corridor to the junction of Route 3 and Route 11B in Weirs Beach, died a very quite death in the 1990s when rights-of-way the NH DOT had acquired in the 1960's formally expired.
The authors of the 1966 plan fully expected Weirs Beach to be directly connected to the interstate highway system by the end of 1970's, so their exuberance is understandable.
Like the 1940 and 1947 plans, the 1979 plan proposed expanding the public docks significantly, in this case bridging the gap between the existing Winnipesaukee Pier and existing public docks with a huge wharf.
Like the 1940 and 1966 plans, the 1979 plan proposed the creation of an amphitheatre; in this case the stucture was proposed for placement in the historic Veteran's Grove, rather than on the waterfront (1940 plan) or central core (1966 plan).
The idea of an amphitheatre in Weirs Beach is an idea that seems to just keep going and going, although the proposed location of the amphitheatre is forever changing. The latest plan for an amphitheatre would locate it far from the core, in the Weirs Community Park, located on Lucerne Avenue. The Park is now nothing more than woods and a parking lot; but a trail system, a baseball field, outdoor classrooms, and the amphitheatre have all been proposed for this city property, acquired in 1979 with funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation act.
One of the new ideas in the 1979 plan was a proposal for commercial development across the Weirs Channel from Endicott Rock. Although the proposed pedestrian bridge across the channel was never built, the site was developed commercially; built by the Dexter Shoe corporation in the 1980's, the site is now the Alpenrose Plaza, housing the Weirs Beach post office, a restaurant, and an arcade, as well as several smaller businesses.
The 1979 plan was very cognizant of the need to protect the historical legacy of Weirs Beach; it proposed an Indian museum and a Veteran's museum, and historical designation for the Veteran's property. In 1980, the New Hampshire Veteran's Association Historic District was created, and listed with the National Register of Historic Places. Neither a Veteran's museum nor an Indian museum has been built yet; however in 2004, Weirs Beach's first museum, the Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society museum on Route 3, began operations.
The 1979 plan recommended that the fire station, which had previously been located on Lakeside Avenue, be relocated to the intersection of Route 3 and Warner Street, to take it "out of the very congested area on Lakeside Avenue and put it in an area where it could more easily service many potential danger points". In 1984, the fire station was relocated from its under-sized 1936 home on Lakeside Avenue (an "Adobe Pueblo" building with stucco exterior and softly rounded corners); but the relocation was to the corner of Lucerne Avenue and Route 11B.
The 1893-1935 fire station, hose drying tower, and hose wagon.
The wooden bridge to Centenary Avenue is seen behind the building.
The 1979 plan recommended "consistent graphics treatment of signage within Weirs Beach". While some businesses have made a voluntary effort to make theirs signs reflect Weirs Beach's Victorian heritage, others have not. The recent proliferation of electronic signboards on the short stretch of Route 3 at the entrance to Weirs Beach (by last count, there were 4 such signs) is very unfortunate and does not enhance the attractiveness of the area in any way. The 1979 plan's call for a historic district ordinance and/or a Design Review Board may be more needed than ever.
Finally, the 1979 plan pointed out the need for "revitalization of building facades and rehabilitation of many of the fine historic buildings." In the year 2002, the Half Moon, which spans the central block at Weirs Beach's core, began a 4 year effort to replace its facade. In conjunction with new signage, overhead canopies, columns, cupolas, and reconfigured entranceways, the facade is greatly improved. Only one small section remains to be completed. Meanwhile, the Veteran's Association has continued to rehabilitate its buildings with new roofs, new stairways, and new paint jobs.
Revitalization plan of 1979 - street detail.
The Weirs Beach part of the plan focuses in on four key areas: "circulation improvements, waterfront enhancements, refined zoning, and gateway development".
Among the suggested circulation improvements would be a redesigned intersection of Route 3 and Route 11B, either as a "T" with traffic lights, or as a rotary; a pedestrian/bike bridge over the Weirs Channel; and improved sidewalks radiating in all directions from the route 3 - Route 11B intersection.
The key waterfront enhancement would be a public boat ramp on the east side of the Weirs Channel, accessible either from a possible future private hotel/retail development along the Channel, and/or directly from Lucern Avenue. Additionally, stormwater runoff reductions are urged in order to reduce erosion to the public beach; and reconfiguration of the public docks to increase the overall number of spaces, as well as to allow for bigger boats, is suggested.
Refined zoning, as defined by the plan, would redirect development of Weirs Beach away from commercial uses, and instead drive development toward more year-round, residential uses, such as a "small scale, compact mixed-use development with a mix of residential types, narrow streets, and views of the water."
Finally, the plan emphasizes "gateway development". As the plan explains, a gateway is "an entrance or access point to a community, usually signaling a change in landscape." Clearly, the intersection of Route 3 and Lakeside Avenue, where the Weirs Beach sign is strategically placed, is the gateway to Weirs Beach, as the landscape does change dramatically once one enters Lakeside Avenue from Route 3.
The plan would enhance the attractiveness of this gateway by replacing the current Weirs Beach Waterslide/Volcano Mini-Golf with a new "anchor" - a higher-end, year-round resort hotel. The plan mentions several other "fine" locations where such a hotel could be appropriately located, including along the Weirs Channel; on White Oaks Road; on the NH Veterans property; and on the current site of the Half Moon. However, the waterslide would seem to be the most logical year-round location, as it would be highly visible both to summer visitors on Lakeside Avenue, and winter visitors along heavily trafficked Route 3.
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